Witness Wednesday afternoon, when Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a rare statement regarding a search warrant which had been executed Monday on Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. The warrant, which was made public Friday afternoon, was to recover eleven sets of classified documents - some marked "Top Secret" - that Trump took from the White House when he left office in 2021. The warrant cites three criminal statutes: obstruction, destruction or removing of government records, and the Espionage Act.
Let's be clear here: despite what Trump and his attorneys have said, the search was lawful and necessary, given that an earlier subpoena from the Justice Department was ignored. While we do not yet know the exact contents of the documents, it is reasonable to conclude that both the FBI and DOJ had reason to suspect the material posed a potential threat to national security.
Based on Trump's over-the-top reaction to the search, which was even more bizarre than usual for him, we can surmise that he and his attorneys were caught off guard by Garland's actions. The little cat and mouse game that Trump has been playing with the justice system of this country may finally be coming to an end. One of the inherent problems with flying by the seat of your pants is that eventually you run out of pants.
This is how the legal system works. Those on the Left who were screaming for Trump to be taken away in handcuffs from day one of the Biden Administration need to get a grip. That was never going to happen. This isn't an episode of Law and Order where Assistant District Attorney Jack McCoy gets an indictment in five minutes and a conviction in twenty, followed by a word from our sponsor about how your car's warranty needs to be extended. In real life, prosecutors build their case from the outside in, moving slowly, carefully and methodically towards their ultimate target.
Both Trump and his attorneys know full well what's going on and what it means for him. That's why he's considering moving up the announcement of his run for the presidency to before the midterms instead of after. He actually believes that will shield him from prosecution. He's wrong and Merrick Garland said as much in an interview a couple of weeks ago when he told reporters that "no one is above the law." If we take Garland at his word, Trump's status as a politician will be irrelevant if, in fact, the DOJ decides to indict him.
To date, more than 800 people have been charged and or convicted for their role in the deadly assault on the Capitol, January 6, 2021. Just the other day, representative Scott Perry had his cell phone confiscated by the FBI over his role in the fake electors scheme to alter the results of the 2020 presidential election. The DOJ has subpoenaed former Trump White House counsel Pat Cipollone. The January 6 Committee is building a strong case against Trump. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is investigating Trump's phone call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, in which he wanted him to "find 11,788 votes," the exact number of votes Trump lost the state by. The walls are closing in on him.
The whataboutisms have already begun. What about Hillary's emails? What about Hunter Biden's laptop? No one is above the law, unless you're a Democrat. All superfluous, so far as Trump is concerned. The issue here is his conduct, both in and out of office. Period! The charges laid out in this warrant, if proven true, could land him in prison for the rest of his life.
I am not naive to the implications here, nor what it could mean to a country that is already on a razor's edge. The right-wing echo chamber has already targeted both the judge who signed off on the warrant and the FBI agents who executed it. This rhetoric will have tragic consequences if it isn't stopped immediately. Just yesterday, an assailant with an assault rifle attempted to break into an FBI field office in Cincinnati. He was eventually killed in a standoff with authorities.
It is unprecedented to indict a former president. In fact, it's never happened in the history of the United States. Not even Nixon was indicted, though that was because Gerald Ford pardoned him. But the nature of the crimes Trump has committed and the grave threat he continues to pose to the Republic are also unprecedented.
To those who argue this will only gin up his base, I say so what? His base is already ginned up. What are we suppose to do, live in fear for the rest of our lives? When, in history, has mollifying a would-be dictator ever worked?
Consider that in several key swing states, election deniers are on the ballot. If they win this November, they will be in position to overturn the next presidential election. Steve Bannon is already bragging about what Trump will do to his political foes should he win a second term. Democracy is hanging by a thread. This is what happens when you don't meet a threat head on.
And that's why, even with all that's going on - the rise in anti-government militia groups, the incitement to violence by Trump and his sycophants, the death threats being hurled against FBI agents, the descent of the GOP into fascism - it's encouraging to know that the system is working; the institutions are intact. The Department of Justice, under this attorney general, is doing its job. It is pursuing the facts and the law without fear or favor. And that can only be good news for the majority of us who have been on pins and needles the last six years.
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