Category DOJ filed a “Special Conditions of Release”

Aug 22 2023

The Most Ridiculous Lawfare Narrative Pushed by Special Counsel Jack Smith Portends the Weakness of the Mar-a-Lago Case


Posted originally on the CTH on August 21, 2023 | Sundance 

I did not think it would be possible for those who deploy Lawfare to ever exceed the scale of fakery around Witness #8, Rachel Jeantel.  However, there is an irony in this latest Lawfare deployment being pushed by Jonathan Karl and ABC news; because it was also ABC News, via Matt Gutman, who originally pushed the completely fabricated Trayvon Martin ‘ear witness’.

Before getting to the details of the construct, I must point out two issues.  First, this specific narrative, as pushed by a supposed leak from Special Counsel Jack Smith’s prosecution unit, just highlights the insane weakness of the Mar-a-Lago document case and how much they will rely on legal fraud and pretense to maintain it.  This is where Judge Cannon will hopefully play a major role.

Second, I must emphasize that Lawfare in its most obvious construct is not a legal approach per se’, it is the intentional manipulation of the legal system to create the optics around information that is intended to be used by media to influence public opinion.

Just like Rachel Jeantel was never any form of witness to the events around Travon Martin and George Zimmerman, so too is this latest deployment entirely fabricated – ABC News pushing both.

As the story is pushed by ABC News, again based on leaks from Special Counsel Jack Smith, supposedly former President Trump’s Chief of Staff has told prosecutors that he does not remember any effort by President Trump about a standing objective to declassify documents.

[…] “former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows has told special counsel Jack Smith’s investigators that he could not recall Trump ever ordering, or even discussing, declassifying broad sets of classified materials before leaving the White House.” (see more)

The transparent fabrication of the story is crystal clear.  Whether ABC is playing a role of willful blind idiocy in their effort to support Jack Smith, or whether this is entirely fabricated by the news organization itself is unknown.  What is stunningly clear is that ABC is pushing a storyline that is entirely false, fake and fabricated.

Everyone -including every media outlet, pundit and journalist- knows that for four solid years President Trump intended to, tried to, and demanded the declassification of, tens of thousands of documents.  There are thousands of pundit hours and hundreds of articles written about the fight between President Trump and various agencies of government to declassify and release documents.  This is not a debatable issue.

Just type “declassify” or “declassification” into the search bar of CTH, and you will find hundreds of citations and examples of our discussion as this information and classification battle was waged.  In fact, the transparency of the ABC fraud is so clear, even Axios -while pushing another angle- would not stand with ABC in the specific framework of their lies.  As noted, “Axios has not yet verified ABC News’ reporting on Meadows.”

Much like Bill Barr, Mark Meadows is a self-interested shallow shell of a DC man, steeped in swamp life and preservation therein. We all accept this.  Yet, even with that at the forefront, there’s no way Meadows is going to be stupid enough to say he has no idea about the broad scope of President Trump’s declassification intentions.  Therefore, if this leak to ABC is legitimately based on information from Jack Smith’s team, then the Florida assembled prosecutors are big time desperate.

Additionally, and very importantly, if this is the Jack Smith prosecution approach, then we were 100% correct in our analysis and research of what the documents were in Mar-a-Lago that Main Justice was so desperate to retrieve {Go Deep}.

In broad terms, there are two sets of documents that intermingle and are directly related. First, documents that highlight the activity of Hillary Clinton’s team in creating the false Trump-Russia conspiracy theory (2015/2016).  Second, documents that highlight the activity of government officials targeting Donald Trump within the same timeframe (Crossfire Hurricane), that continued into 2017, 2018 and 2019 (Robert Mueller).

Think of the two sets of documents as evidence against two teams working in synergy.  Team one (Clinton) was outside government. Team two (DOJ/FBI) was inside government.  The documents pertain to both groups but are also divided.  That helps to explain the wording of the memo above. (more)

Also, keep in mind former DNI John Ratcliffe was at the center of the latter part of the effort to get those documents released to the public.  Deep State institutional preservation manager Bill Barr was obstructing the release and used Deep State institutional preservation manager John Durham as the investigative block.  To further protect the institutions, the FBI went on a mission to retrieve the documents. Consequently, as soon as the Durham block was going to be removed, the Jack Smith block was put into place.

James Comey, then Robert Mueller, then John Durham, now Jack Smith… these are all institutional silos -that’s one long continuum- created by the DC need to throw a bag over any document releases that would reveal the scale and scope of government corruption.

Keep in mind, as the DNI during 2020, Ratcliffe saw the documents that eventually became the material President Trump declassified and left with the DOJ to release after the Durham investigation was complete.  If Ratcliffe’s suspicions are correct, and there is more valid reason to support his suspicions than oppose them, then the entire construct of the DOJ-NSD operation was to retrieve those documents from Mar-a-Lago and maintain one big cover-up operation.

Ratcliffe suspects the documents are essentially the DOJ and FBI work products, including interviews with ‘sources’ like Igor Danchenko, from their fabricated case against President Trump.  If accurate, the objective of the DOJ/FBI would be to avoid sunlight on their political targeting operation.  This viewpoint makes sense when you consider the DOJ/FBI position was/is that no one should ever be allowed to look at those documents, including the previously appointed Special Master in the original document case, Judge Raymond Dearie.

For ABC to claim that Mark Meadows is unaware of the declassification effort, and for Axios to claim that Mike Pence says he was unaware of any effort by Trump to declassify the documents, is just abject absurdity.

If the special counsel is going to go to court and use this framework as their counter-position to President Trump claiming he declassified all the documents, then the special counsel is stunningly desperate.

Aug 2 2023

Special Counsel Jack Smith Unseals Criminal Indictment of President Trump for Protesting Results of 2020 Election


posted originally on the CTH on August 1, 2023 | Sundance | 321 Comments

Special Counsel Jack Smith held a press conference today following the unsealing of a federal criminal indictment alleging four counts against President Donald J Trump. [Full Indictment pdf Link]

The four alleged criminal counts are: (1) Conspiracy to defraud the U.S Government; (2) Conspiracy to Obstruct an Official Proceeding; (3) Obstruction of and Attempt to Obstruct an Official Proceeding; and (4) Conspiracy against Rights.

Interestingly, nowhere in the indictment is anything criminally alleged relating to the January 6, 2021, events at the U.S. Capitol building in Washington DC.  However, you will notice in the Lawfare delivery of the remarks, Special Counsel Jack Smith factually speaks almost exclusively of the January 6th events.

The absence of a criminal charge (ie. seditious conspiracy or insurrection) when contrast against the extreme verbal emphasis of the event as outlined by Smith in the presser, will be missed by most.  Speaking of the non-criminal event as the context for a fabricated/stretched criminal allegation, is Lawfare in action.  Why emphasize but not charge?  Because the DOJ/FBI does not want the risk of litigated discovery and evidence of coordinated government activity therein, that’s why.

Jack Smith knows he is out on a limb with his Lawfare effort to criminalize the legal and constitutional challenge to an election outcome. He is nervous, WATCH:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=nfUJ0abf9tY%3Ffeature%3Doembed

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The brighter the sunlight falling upon government corruption and weaponization, the more those who perpetrate corruption and weaponization will have to shield against it.

At this point in history these attacks against President Donald Trump are Lawfare members sticking fingers and toes into the cracks of a justice dam that is increasingly unstable and about to collapse.  The pressure on the other side is the dam is the collective anger of We The People, and when that dam breaks no pre-positioned scuba gear is going to protect them.

Continue living your very best life.  Do not let yourself or your family fall victim to the fear of dark imaginings.  However, look beyond our current proximity and keep your eyes open for any/all constructs that can be repurposed to protect government interests through physical lock downs.

Jul 28 2023

The Man Who Will Destroy America


Armstrong Economics Blog/Rule of Law Re- Posted Jul 27, 2023 by Martin Armstrong

Trump Superseding Indictment

This is the man who will tear the United States apart at the seams – Special Counsel Jack Smith who has filed a superseding indictment against Donald J. Trump (see above). This is not a big deal. It is simply more charges on the same theories to interfere with the 2024 election. Smith is actually violating the civil rights of everyone in the country by trying to prevent Trump from running for office.

No person, whether acting under color of law or otherwise, shall intimidate, threaten, coerce, or attempt to intimidate, threaten, or coerce any other person for the purpose of interfering with the right of such other person to vote or to vote as he may choose, or of causing such other person to vote for, or not to …

Even this aside, the real purpose of this superseding indictment is not more charges. That is just to make the headlines and hide the real purpose.  He has indicted a new defendant: Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira. They cannot win a case without a co-defendant. They need someone to take the stand and perjure themselves as the prosecutor, then will rehearse them on what to say in return for no time. This is how they win CONSPIRACY cases. They desperately need a co-defendant. They threaten them with 20 years to life unless they testify for the government. They need that to prove “intent,” for otherwise, they can just infer from something. The co-defendant will get on the stand and say Trump told him x, y, z, and the jury would have to find him guilty.

For virtually every crime in this country, you are charged with CONSPIRACY, and then they threaten someone to testify against you. This is the law of tyrants. They always go for the conspiracy charge if they cannot prove a direct crime.

By doing this to Trump while ignoring everything done by Biden and his son, it is a slap in the face to all Americans, proving that there is no rule of law. It is as Thrasymacus warned Socrates who they sentenced to death – there is no justice – it is always the self-interest of those in power. Nothing has ever changed in 6,000 years.

Jul 22 2023

Judge Aileen Cannon Sets DOJ Trial Date -vs- Donald Trump for May 20, 2024


Posted originally on the CTH on July 21, 2023 | Sundance 

There are buckets and buckets of legal contingencies in the fabricated case created by Special Counsel Jack Smith, acting on behalf of Andrew Weissmann, Barry Berke, Norm Eisen and Mary McCord, and the DOJ case against Donald J. Trump.

So many contingencies, there is almost no reason to look at any procedural process with any inclination the date will have consequence.  However, that said, Judge Aileen Cannon has smartly delayed the trial portion of the case until May 20, 2024.  [Full Legal Outline pdf]

I say smartly, because by Mid-May 2024, President Trump will likely have wrapped up the GOP nomination, and that structural reality itself will punt the rest of the gibberish into a time ever more distant.   Smart base-covering and no room for appeal move by Judge Cannon.

Some may see this as a loss or a gain for either side.  Personally, I view this as a structural and procedural win for President Trump, a wrongly targeted American citizen within a process weaponized by a comprehensively corrupt government.

Judge Cannon is no dummy. She knows the stakes, sees the transparency of the effort, and is not an ideologue.  Her earlier rulings, in the document side of the FBI raid, reflected her awareness the system was being manipulated by agents of Lawfare intent.  May 20th, which will never happen, is a good target all things considered.

[ Full Ruling pdf Here]

(Via politico) – […] U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon appeared to split the difference between prosecutors’ request for a December 2023 trial date and Trump’s request to postpone the trial until after the November 2024 election.

[…] While Cannon earned a reputation as being deferential to Trump due to her rulings in a civil case challenging the FBI’s search of Mar-a-Lago last year, her early rulings in the criminal case appear designed to chart a middle course between Trump and the government. She has so far avoided tipping her hand on most of the explosive legal issues likely to arise during the pretrial proceedings. (more) 

Jun 28 2023

CBS Report, Mysterious DoD Iran Attack Memo Does Not Exist and Is Not Part of Jack Smith Case Against Trump


Posted originally on the CTH on June 27, 2023 | Sundance 

I’m not going to say I toldyaso; I’m just smiling.

After a full media cycle of apoplexy and pearl-clutching, which included Andrew Weissmann appearing on MSNBC to declare “It’s the end of Trump,” CBS is now reporting there is no Defense Department memo about attacking Iran – the foundation of the media claims surrounding the leaked audio tapes from Special Counsel Jack Smith.

Worse still, and exactly as CTH previously outlined, despite the claims by CNN about how this audio would be used as the “central element” by the prosecution of Trump, the audio and mysterious memo are not part of the Special Counsel case.

So, why was the transcript of the audio recording used by Jack Smith in the indictment if the audio and nonexistent memo were never going to be used?  Because it’s Lawfare, that’s why.  Everything, yes including the specific language being deployed (ie “documents containing classification markings“), is hype for public consumption.

(Via CBS) – The Defense Department memo on Iran — at the heart of the now-public audio recording that captured a July 2021 meeting with former President Donald Trump — is not part of the 31 counts of willful retention of national defense information charged in special counsel Jack Smith’s indictment of the former president, a source familiar with the matter confirmed to CBS News. 

[…] The document and recording are described in the indictment Smith’s team secured against Trump earlier this month, recounted as an alleged meeting with “a writer, a publisher, and two members of” Trump’s staff, “none of whom possessed a security clearance.”  But according to a source familiar with the matter, Trump was not charged with unlawfully holding onto the Iran-related document discussed in the recording.

[…] Multiple sources familiar with the investigation previously told CBS News that defense attorneys were not certain the Iran memo in question was ever recovered and returned to the government. (read more)

There never was an Iran memo document.   President Trump was discussing newspaper reports, “newspapers” and stacks of “papers”, as he originally told Brett Baier. Duh.

Reminder, in an interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier on June 19, Trump said that at the meeting with the book’s publisher, he was not referring to the document itself, but newspaper articles:

“There was no document… That was a massive amount of papers and everything else talking about Iran and other things. And it may have been held up or may not, but that was not a document. I didn’t have a document per se. There was nothing to declassify. These were newspaper stories, magazine stories and articles.”

Jun 27 2023

Here’s WhyTrump refutes Milley and has papers to back up his side of the story.– It’s the Opposite of CNN’s Claimed Pearl Clutching…


Posted originally on the CTH on June 27, 2023 | Sundance 

This stuff is really so silly, and lawfare is so entirely predictable, it is difficult for me to remain serious when discussing it.  This is also why serious litigation expert Eric Dublier was so funny in his Concord case briefings against the DOJ and their insufferable Lawfare efforts.

CNN gets a leak of audio from Special Prosecutor Jack Smith, presumably presenting audio of President Trump talking in Bedminster, New Jersey, about the background of Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley lying about Trump wanting to invade Iran. [VIDEO HERE] Essentially, Trump refutes Milley and has papers to back up his side of the story.

CNN claims this audio will be the “Central Focus” of the case against President Trump that eventually “all jurors in the case will hear.” At this point, my laughter is almost unbearable for a multitude of reasons.  Remember, this is a Lawfare operation, which is constructed for one primary purpose, influencing the public.

Putting aside the fact that CNN, and the entire media apparatus already reporting on this nonsense before and putting aside the ridiculous nature of the top-line claims, the audio proves nothing.  It is the sound of President Trump talking about presidential papers that are claimed by the DOJ to be “classified” or “secret.”  Except, beyond the absurdity, there’s a problem that explains why Jack Smith gave CNN the audio.

Despite the grand pontifications and breathless pearl-clutching by the CNN narrative engineers, the audio will NEVER be used at trial – if there is even a trial – which is highly unlikely, because it cannot be admitted into evidence. That’s why Jack Smith gave it to them.  The audio is useless, except for the value in promoting the lawfare narrative engineering effort.

Why?  Because the documents that are claimed to be heard in the audio are nowhere to be found.  That’s right, the DOJ and FBI never found any “classified” or “super-secret” documents as described in the audio.  As a result, the audio represents nothing, a literal nothingburger, because without the documents the audio is inadmissible.

You cannot submit evidence in court of a person talking about documents without the documents the audio is supposedly talking about.  Can you see the issue now?  As a result, the audio is nothing more than President Trump talking about something the prosecution cannot identify or prove.  It’s inadmissible, hence no value, hence the leak.

The core issue of President Trump having personal papers from his administration [Presidential Records Act] now being used against him by a Lawfare effort in court, hasn’t even reached the pretrial motion status yet.  I strongly doubt the “Espionage Act” criminal predicate of the Lawfare case will withstand judicial scrutiny and challenge; that’s why Jack Smith is now asking for delays.

18 U.S. Code § 793 (e) – […] Whoever having unauthorized possession of, access to, or control over any document, writing, code book, signal book, sketch, photograph, photographic negative, blueprint, plan, map, model, instrument, appliance, or note relating to the national defense, or information relating to the national defense which information the possessor has reason to believe could be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation, willfully communicates, delivers, transmits or causes to be communicated, delivered, or transmitted, or attempts to communicate, deliver, transmit or cause to be communicated, delivered, or transmitted the same to any person not entitled to receive it, or willfully retains the same and fails to deliver it to the officer or employee of the United States entitled to receive it;

The underlying case is a joke, pure Lawfare in construct, and the constitutional precedent that covers the dispute over presidential records is the Presidential Records Act, which has no criminal penalty.

The special prosecutor Jack Smith is leaking stupid stuff to the media, getting every moonbat leftist hyped up, for one reason only… to generate a public narrative.  That’s it.  That’s the sum total of the construct, and this leak by them -to generate this outcome- shows exactly that.

We’ve been through enough of this nonsense to notice all the indicators of Lawfare as it happens in real time.

Go live your life, enjoy it, and laugh at these fools during combat; they hate that!

[Support CTH Here]

Jun 27 2023

Judge Cannon Slaps Down Special Counsel Effort for Special Lawfare Rules Restricting Trump (or Take Him to Prison Until Trial)…


Posted originally on the CTH on June 26, 2023 | Sundance 

I will say it until people understand.  Lawfare is a specially constructed approach to weaponize the judiciary to create narratives for public consumption; it is the abnormal and twisted application of granular legal language, and as a result it requires oddball motions to support it.

The DOJ previously filed a motion for “Special Conditions of Release” to restrict President Trump’s defense from knowing or discussing the super-secret evidence and witnesses the special prosecutor plans to use against him.  The motion was essentially that if President Trump refused the super special terms and conditions of the motion, then Judge Cannon should put him in leg irons in federal prison until he can be tried and convicted.

The special counsel wants everything kept under seal, quiet and invisible to the public so the omnipotent arbiters of justice can appropriately shape the narrative they prefer.

The Jack Smith team cannot have President Trump being all uncontrolled, willy-nilly and making fun of their case, while talking about his targeting in such a manner as their super-secret witnesses would be exposed to such duplicitous snark and horrible influence.

To maintain the evolving narrative du-jour, a special motion to make President Trump double-secret probationary swear to the special rules is required.

Trying to trick President Trump into signing an agreement never to expose the witnesses to his horrible, terrible, defensive statements, essentially forbidding him from doing anything that would lead to the witnesses being exposed to his words, ie. block him from public or television appearances lest the witnesses are exposed to his statements, the special prosecutors wanted a signed statement they could use against him if he spoke about stuff at a rally or event.

Thankfully, Judge Cannon saw through the stupidity of the Lawfare effort. Her paperless retort is essentially, ‘just use the ordinary legal motions please‘.

“PAPERLESS ORDER denying without prejudice Government’s Motion to Implement Special Condition of Release. The Government seeks an order implementing a special condition of bond related to Defendants’ (Trump and Nauta) communication with eighty-four listed witnesses about the facts of the case, except through counsel.

The Government conditions its request on the filing of the non-exhaustive list under seal. Defendants take no position on the Government’s seal request but reserve the right to object to the special condition and the manner by which the Government intends to implement it.

In the meantime, numerous news organizations have moved to intervene to oppose the Government’s Motion to File Witness List Under Seal, citing the First Amendment and related legal principles.

Upon review of the foregoing materials, the Government’s Motion is denied without prejudice, and the Motion to Intervene and accompanying Motions to Appear Pro Hac Vice are denied as moot.

The Government’s Motion does not explain why filing the list with the Court is necessary; it does not offer a particularized basis to justify sealing the list from public view; it does not explain why partial sealing, redaction, or means other than sealing are unavailable or unsatisfactory; and it does not specify the duration of any proposed seal. The Clerk is directed to return the Pro Hac Vice fees to the filing attorneys. Signed by Judge Aileen M. Cannon on 6/26/2023.