Trump is pushing us toward the abyss

 https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/8/12/23302835/trump-fbi-mar-a-lago-search-warrant

Conservative media has taken a similar line. Fox News has been leading the charge against Judge Bruce Reinhart, who authorized the FBI search warrant, on grounds that he represented clients with ties to Jeffrey Epstein over a decade ago. On Thursday night, Fox host Brian Kilmeade displayed a fake picture of Reinhart on a plane with Epstein confidante Ghislaine Maxwell. Little wonder, then, that Reinhart and his synagogue have been receiving threats.

 

Trump's 'Declassified' Defense After FBI Raid 'Is Going to Fail': McQuade

https://www.newsweek.com/trumps-declassified-defense-after-fbi-raid-going-fail-mcquade-1733438 

Speaking with The Washington Post, one source close to the situation claimed that some of the documents pertained to the country's nuclear arsenal. If true, this would also invalidate Trump's declassification defense, as presidents lack the authority to declassify nuclear information. The search warrant also revealed that the ex-president is under investigation for potentially violating the Espionage Act.

Attorney Shoots Down Trump’s ‘Insane’ New Document Defense

Watch The Beat With Ari Melber Highlights: Aug. 12

Trump allies say he declassified Mar-a-Lago documents. Experts say it's unclear whether that will hold up.

 https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-allies-say-declassified-mar-lago-documents-experts-say-unclear-w-rcna42311

Richard Immerman, a historian and former assistant deputy director of national intelligence under former President Barack Obama, disagreed and said that, while the president has the authority to declassify documents, there’s a formal process for doing so, and there's no indication Trump used it.

“He can’t just wave a wand and say it’s declassified,” Immerman said. “There has to be a formal process. That’s the only way the system can work,” because otherwise there would be no way of knowing who could handle or see the documents, he added.

“I’ve seen thousands of declassified documents. They’re all marked ‘declassified’ with the date they were declassified,” Immerman said.

Madison Cawthorn Comparing Biden's FBI to Roman Leader '100% Wrong'—Experts

 https://www.newsweek.com/madison-cawthorn-comparing-bidens-fbi-roman-leader-100-wrongexperts-1732607

"Quite what the good senator has in mind is beyond me, but if I read right, there is an assumption that Trump is the tribune of the plebs afflicted by some sort of dictatorial state. This would seem to be just about 100% wrong."

Nuclear Weapons Documents Among Items Sought From Trump in FBI Raid: Report

 https://www.newsweek.com/nuclear-weapons-documents-among-items-sought-trump-fbi-raid-report-1733092

FBI agents who descended upon Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate were searching for classified documents concerning nuclear weapons that the former president was suspected of improperly removing from the White House.

'Proof’ West Germany staged 1972 plane hijack to free Munich Olympics killers

 https://www.thejc.com/news/world/proof'-west-germany-staged-1972-plane-hijack-to-free-munich-olympics-killers-49mqppQPxDYek8XLzkUf38

“We have found documents that state that the German government asked the Palestinian terror organisation to fake the hijack of a German plane in order to be able to set them free — and for doing so, a month after the heinous terrorist attack, the Palestinians were paid nine million dollars,” Dutch lawyer Carry Knoops-Hamburger, one of the team negotiating with the German government for compensation for the victims’ families, told the JC.

Majority of babies were born out of wedlock in 2021 for the first time on record and British women in their 40s now twice as likely to give birth than teens, official figures show

 https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-11095693/More-babies-born-wedlock-2021-time-record.html

• Around 625,000 live births were logged in England and Wales in 2021, up 2% on the figure reported in 2020
• But 321,000 of these were outside of marriage or a civil partnership, while 304,000 were within one
• It means 48.7% of newborns were to legal couple, below 50% for the first time since records began in 1845

Trump Tower, Golf Courses 'At Stake' in N.Y. as Trump Pleads Fifth: Expert

 https://www.newsweek.com/trump-tower-golf-courses-stake-ny-trump-pleads-fifth-expert-1732903

"This is a civil case—so the court can draw an inference of liability," he wrote. "This is exactly what the AG was hoping to achieve. The case is now even stronger."

Garland, in going public, pushes back at cable news firestorm

 https://thehill.com/homenews/media/3597601-garland-in-going-public-pushes-back-at-cable-news-firestorm/

Just before Garland’s public remarks, The New York Times reported that Trump received a subpoena this spring in search of documents that federal investigators believed he had failed to turn over earlier in the year. The news of the subpoena suggested that federal officials had tried more gentle approaches to reach some kind of agreement with Trump over the return of the documents in question.

Garland on Thursday said a Trump attorney was on site during the search, and there has been no evidence to suggest anything was planted by the FBI at Mar-a-Lago.

Merrick Garland Puts Pressure on Trump to Make Search Warrant Public

 https://www.newsweek.com/merrick-garland-pressure-donald-trump-mar-lago-search-warrant-public-1733040

Garland's statements came days after FBI agents raided Mar-a-Lago as part of a federal investigation about the possible violation of laws related to classified records that Trump allegedly took with him to Florida upon leaving the White House, but that belonged to the National Archives.

It was reported on Thursday, ahead of the DOJ's press briefing, that Trump received a subpoena for the documents in the spring before the FBI took the step of sending agents to his home.

Merrick Garland calls Trump’s bluff

 https://www.politico.com/news/2022/08/11/merrick-garland-trump-bluff-00051297

Though Trump has had the option to release the search warrant since Monday, it took a DOJ gambit to force the issue. Though the department typically closely guards search warrants, particularly in cases that have not yet yielded indictments, top DOJ officials said that the “public characterizations” of the FBI search by Trump and his attorneys effectively waived the need for secrecy. DOJ cited Bobb’s comments to the press, describing the focus of the search as “presidential records or any possibly classified material.”

Merrick Garland Has Outsmarted Donald Trump At Every Turn’