Tag Archives: Search warrant

Presidential search warrants

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Before we get into the meat and potatoes of the happenings this week, here’s a bit of a primer. The information contained within this thread will help you understand the gravity and significance of the actions taken by the DoJ. It also shows the carelessness of the GOP when they instinctively jump to Trump’s personal defense instead of defending the Constitution.

I’ve started this post numerous times only to get sidewiped by a new revelation or speculation hitting the airwaves. Instead of trying to distill all that information, I’m going to stick with my initial thoughts on why I felt the DoJ did what they did on Monday. I’ve tried to avoid speculation on what Trump held, but he obviously had some very sensitive documents at Mar A Lago.

Handling classified documents is a very serious thing within the government. It’s so serious that not everyone qualifies to or holds a job where seeing even sensitive documents occurs on a regular basis. For example, my job requires that I have to pass and maintain background investigation standards which apply to people holding a secret clearance even though I do not have a secret clearance. There’s mandatory training on how to handle classified or sensitive documents for all federal employees.

The requirements to pass a background investigation are so detailed that it limits who can access those documents. If you remember, Jared Kushner failed his background investigation and only got his clearance through nepotism. Trump never had any type of security clearance himself. He had access to classified info because of the powers associated with the Office of the President.

When Trump left the White House, we found out that he took about 27 boxes worth of stuff with him that was of a sensitive nature. He left DC and went straight to Florida. Mar A Lago is where he’s already discussed sensitive information in the open with visitors sitting within earshot and eyesight of the conversation.

Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe discuss North Korean missile launch on the terrace at Mar A Lago. Image via Business Insider

Trump’s entire administration was a counterintelligence nightmare as witnessed by the image above. There was zero control of information with Trump being the one who was dishing out classified info to foreign adversaries like when he gave Russia Intel in the Oval Office.

Remember Robert Mueller? Americans were angry that his investigation didn’t result in any charges. Mueller’s investigation wasn’t a criminal investigation though. It was a continuing of a counterintelligence investigation started by the FBI. The same FBI had to get a warrant to retrieve sensitive information from a person who has shown no ability to control that information.

Knowing the strict protocol placed on classified documents, the search warrant to retrieve those documents makes sense. I won’t speculate about what Trump had possession of because we’ll likely never know. I do know that Trump is a serious security risk, and there was no way in hell Trump would have spent the money necessary to properly house classified documents at MAL.

We’ve found out that there was a subpoena for the docs, and the DoJ paid a visit to Florida in an attempt to get them back. Trump had ample time and opportunity to do the right thing, but he is virtually incapable of doing the right thing. Fortunately, a judge and the FBI were up to the task.

The road ahead requires an investigation to determine who had access to them and if anyone accessed them without authorization. At this point, I don’t see them charging the former president. At this time last week, I wouldn’t have predicted a search warrant being executed on a former president either. We may be in for the show of our lives thanks to Trump and his band of merry syncopants.

Update:

Just as soon as I hit publish, I see this thread from my Legal Twitter crush. She explains what I saw to include the US Code that applies.

https://twitter.com/AshaRangappa_/status/1557912596484952069?t=zi8haHlwi5CTWFE9iqMXAA&s=19

No s**t headline of the day

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FireShot Screen Capture #037 - 'Detectives suspected inside job in North Carolina gold heist - sketches released I abc11_com' - abc11_com_news_detectives-suspected-inside-job-in-gold-heist---sketches-released_543

WILSON, N.C. (WTVD) —

Search warrants obtained by ABC11 show that detectives suspected an inside job in the robbery of $4.8 million worth of gold from a truck along I-95 Sunday.

It was originally reported that guards working for Transvalue Inc. of Miami said they pulled off to the side of the interstate about 6:30 p.m. after their vehicle began having mechanical problems.

However, the warrants made public Wednesday show a passenger in the truck said he was feeling sick and requested the truck pull over so he could vomit.

At a news conference Wednesday, Sheriff Calvin Woodard Jr. said the guards had just filled up the truck with fuel, and reported a strong gasoline smell that made them feel ill.

When the truck stopped, three men pulled up in a white van and robbed the guards of five 5-gallon buckets filled with 275 pounds of gold bars.

The warrants show detectives were suspicious because of the robbery immediately at the time of the unannounced stop, the fact that the truck was unmarked, and the suspects knew to go immediately to the trailer to get the unmarked buckets. — Courtesy of ABC11 Eyewitness News Raleigh, NC

I didn’t know that much about the story until I read it, and I had already surmised it was likely an inside job.  How many people would know and expect a truck to pull off on the side of the road and be equipped to rob it of over $4 million in gold?  That stuff doesn’t even happen in the movies without some inside knowledge.  With all the truck traffic going up and down I-95, who knows what’s inside those trucks?

I’m glad that I’m not a detective assigned to that case as I would have likely started off with the thought of it being an inside job.  There are many questions, obvious questions, which point primarily to at least one insider with knowledge to be able to pull this off.

  • Who rolls off with that much in gold and leaves eyewitnesses behind?
  • How does anyone know gold is being carried in an unmarked truck, 18-wheeler at that given the vast numbers of trucks on the road?
  • Who would know exactly what packages to go for to get the gold without prior knowledge?

If I were one of the employees, I’d be working with an attorney to get a deal with some kind of immunity to roll over on the rest of them.  Somebody’s going to tell all, and it’s going to be the first one that makes a deal or the first one with a deal they can’t refuse.

I’ll give them credit though as they’ve probably given someone a blockbuster movie in the making, or at least a good TV movie of the week.

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Traffic stop gone just a bit too far

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I always thought that DWB (Driving While Black) was dangerous, having experienced that myself several times.  However, nothing I’ve been subjected to comes remotely close to what Timothy Young and David Eckert went through after traffic stops in Deming, New Mexico.

Mr. Eckert was stopped for allegedly not making a complete stop at a stop sign on January 2, 2013.  Once stopped, the officer thought Eckert was clenching his buttocks.  They took that as probable cause that he was smuggling narcotics and that began what had to be the worst nightmare anybody could think of from a simple traffic stop.  After detaining him, the police department obtained a search warrant from a judge that permitted an anal cavity search.

KOB4 Eyewitness News describes the different searches he underwent while in custody:

A review of Eckert’s medical records, which he released to KOB, and details in the lawsuit show the following happened:

1. Eckert’s abdominal area was x-rayed; no narcotics were found.

2. Doctors then performed an exam of Eckert’s anus with their fingers; no narcotics were found.

3. Doctors performed a second exam of Eckert’s anus with their fingers; no narcotics were found.

4. Doctors penetrated Eckert’s anus to insert an enema.  Eckert was forced to defecate in front of doctors and police officers.  Eckert watched as doctors searched his stool.  No narcotics were found.

5. Doctors penetrated Eckert’s anus to insert an enema a second time.  Eckert was forced to defecate in front of doctors and police officers.  Eckert watched as doctors searched his stool.  No narcotics were found.

6. Doctors penetrated Eckert’s anus to insert an enema a third time.  Eckert was forced to defecate in front of doctors and police officers.  Eckert watched as doctors searched his stool.  No narcotics were found.

7. Doctors then x-rayed Eckert again; no narcotics were found.

8. Doctors prepared Eckert for surgery, sedated him, and then performed a colonoscopy where a scope with a camera was inserted into Eckert’s anus, rectum, colon, and large intestines.  No narcotics were found.

Suffice to say, if he had any inkling that he may have colon cancer, he would have definitely found out that day.  Not to forget to mention this, but at no time did he give consent to the doctors to perform any of those procedures on him.  Reading further into the KOB4 story, there may end up being legal issues with the warrant itself.  That has to add fire to the humiliation that guy’s already suffered.

If you think that this was a one time ordeal, then think again or better yet, ask Timothy Young.

Who is Mr. Young you ask, well he was pulled over on October 13, 2012 by the same police department for allegedly turning without signaling.  After a K9 alerted for drugs, he ended up getting the business at the same hospital as Mr. Eckert.  Both gentlemen have filed suit against the police departments involved as well as the doctors and hospital.

After hearing about this, I’m gonna chill out about DWB.  At least the police departments are not giving us the business like that, at least, not at the present time.  I’ll leave a sticky note on my dashboard to remember to not clench up my butt cheeks if I’m stopped by the cops.  Even if I’m trying to stop from taking a dump in my pants, I’ll just chalk those garments up as a loss that day.

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