What A Day: Seize the means of obstruction

It’s been a while since we’ve had a classified documents scandal update. Well, we’ve got a juicy one for you.
 

• The Special Counsel investigation into disgraced former president Donald Trump’s “mishandling” of hundreds of classified documents (read: he stole them) from the White House and his storage of them  in his Mar-a-Lago residence is wrapping up. New details of the investigation suggest broader and more coordinated instances of possible obstruction by the Trump camp than previously reported. 
   

• According to sources familiar with the investigation, two of Trump’s employees moved boxes of papers the day before FBI agents and a federal prosecutor visited Mar-a-Lago to repossess classified documents, which is…pretty suspicious timing! In further possible indications of obstruction of justice, Trump and his aides also allegedly performed a “dress rehearsal” of moving classified documents even before he received the now-famous May 2022 subpoena. I wonder if the dress rehearsal included a demonstration of reporting to federal prison. 
   

• Federal prosecutors have also gathered evidence that points to Trump periodically keeping classified documents in his office in a place where they were visible, and even at times showing them to other people. So not only do these new details add specificity to obstruction of justice allegations, but they also extend the timeline of the possible episodes.

After decades of committing crimes with impunity, could this be the end of “Teflon Don”? 
 

• Maybe. Trump’s guilty verdict in the defamation case brought by former columnist E. Jean Caroll this month has blown a hole in the armor of Trump’s seeming invincibility against the legal system, but it’s clear that his deep bench of lawyers can sense that charges are near in the DOJ/FBI investigations as well. In a highly unusual move, Trump’s legal team sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland on Tuesday asking for a meeting with him to discuss what they called the “unfair treatment” of the former president by special counsel Jack Smith.

• The special grand jury working on this case has reportedly not met since May 5, after months of harried activity. That marks the panel’s longest break since the December end-of-the-year holidays, shortly after Garland appointed Jack Smith as special counsel. Smith is also investigating Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, and Trump also stands under investigation for such state-level efforts in Fulton County, GA. These (and the many other) contemporaneous investigations have earned the repeated use of Trump’s unholy trinity of accusatory catch phrases: “fake,” “hoax,” and “witch-hunt.” 

Trump has been nakedly engaged in criminal activity in full public view for years, so it feels surreal that he could finally be held accountable for his actions. But even criminals much smarter than Trump have historically only been able to outrun the law for so long. We’re certainly not holding our breath, but Trump’s comeuppance may finally be on the horizon.

What happens when a mysterious stranger comes to town, with a wild idea that weed can solve all of the city's problems?  That's the question of Dreamtown: The Story of Adelanto  - Crooked’s newest podcast and an official Selection at this year's Tribeca festival. Dreamtown is the zany but true story of one down on its luck city in the Southern California desert, and the scrappy - sometimes morally dubious - cast of characters determined to reinvent it. 
 

Listen to the Dreamtown trailer now and subscribe to hear the first episodes on June 7th wherever you get your podcasts.

In yet another instance of the Supreme Court undermining the Environmental Protection Agency’s regulatory authority, the justices ruled against the agency on Thursday. Sackett vs. EPA involves an Idaho couple who ran afoul of EPA regulations when they tried to start filling in wetlands on their property as a foundation to then build on it. Wetlands are federally protected under the Clean Water Act, so this Court decided to center their decision on the question of “What is a wetland?” The justices ruled unanimously in favor of the Sacketts, but were split 5-4 in their reasoning. Justice Samuel Alito, writing the majority opinion, argued that the Clean Water Act only applies to “wetlands with a continuous surface connection to bodies of water that are 'waters of the United States' in their own right.” Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote in the concurring opinion on behalf of himself and the three liberal justices, that the “continuous surface connection” requirements advocated by the majority “departs from the statutory text, from 45 years of consistent agency practice, and from this court’s precedents,” and that the new test will have “significant repercussions for water quality and flood control throughout the United States.” The SCOTUS ruling reverses the decision of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which sided with the EPA.

On Thursday, President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy appeared to be nearing a deal to raise the federal debt ceiling. 

An unarmed 11-year-old Black boy in Mississippi called the police to report a domestic disturbance, trying to protect his mother. Police showed up and shot him. The boy suffered a collapsed lung, fractured ribs, and a lacerated liver. 

Longtime treasurer of the American Conservative Union Bob Beauprez, a top leader in the CPAC organization, resigned on Tuesday night over money being paid out of the organization’s pocket for CPAC chairman Matt Schlapp’s legal defense as he stands accused of sexual assault. 

When Britain left the European Union, one of the goals of the Leave campaign was for the country to “take back its borders.” Well, post-Brexit, net-migration still reached a record high. 

Target is on the receiving end of a second backlash after kowtowing to violent right-wing extremists who complained about the company’s LGBTQ+ Pride merchandise. 

During a summit of the Eurasian Economic Forum in Moscow, leader of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said that Russia has begun moving nuclear warheads to Belarus for storage.

A 17-year-old boy fell to his death while climbing one of the arches of the 6th Street Viaduct bridge in Los Angeles, in an apparent stunt he had hoped to post on social media. 

Because I guess they have some sort of humiliation fetish, CNN is hosting yet another GOP presidential town hall, this time with former Vice President Mike Pence. Mother!

The Justice Department issued new guidelines on Thursday expanding anti-profiling rules and underscoring that investigations must not involve racial, gender, and ability bias. These are the first such updates in almost a decade, and have brought thousands of more people working for the justice system under the umbrella of anti-bias, anti-profiling rules. The rules already applied to Justice Department agencies like the FBI and the DEA, as well as local associated law enforcement task forces. For the first time, the new guidelines also require more extensive data collection measures to ensure adherence to the rules. So how will this practically change DOJ matters? Well, under the new guidelines, investigators cannot single out someone of a certain race, faith, or ethnic background based on a tip about a possible attack without any related specifics about date and time or a full description of the alleged suspect. Pretty common-sense stuff! Training for all newly-affected officers and employees will begin within a year, and law enforcement agencies will be required to track complaints alleging bias within six months and create data-tracking research projects, then report on that data within a year.

In a rare Good Decision™ from the Supreme Court, the justices unanimously ruled that Hennepin County, MN violated the constitutional rights of a 94-year-old Minneapolis woman when they seized her home for a small sum of unpaid property taxes without paying her “just compensation” for the sale.
 

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) presided over the House on Wednesday and called for Democrats to abide by the “decorum” of the chamber. The Democratic caucus erupted in deafening laughter. 

Founder of the far-right Oath Keepers Stewart Rhodes was sentenced to 18 years in prison for seditious conspiracy for his role in orchestrating the January 6 insurrection.