RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2023/06/enough_is_enough__defend_trump.html

Throughout most of my life my attitude toward politics has been this: Don’t get involved. People who get wrapped up in politics gain nothing from it and often ruin their own lives. Live life as best as you can, ignore politics, and enjoy the sweet gifts life has to offer with some of God’s plenty. Usually, this philosophy works, but at a certain point, like all philosophies, it breaks down. Then this philosophy becomes willful ignorance, sticking your head in the sand, and maybe even cowardice.

It is a waste of time to say the latest round of indictments against Trump are politically motivated, and it is a waste of time to say we now have a banana republic Department of Justice. You already know this.

The purpose of all these indictments is to wear Trump down, exhaust him, and convince the general public that he certainly must be guilty of something. The law of averages is not on Trump’s side.

The question now for Trump supporters is what to do about it? No, I am not suggesting in any way that you consider an act of terror. However, the time has come to become much more politically active — like the anti-Trump activists in the summer of 2020. This will also involve, most likely, a cost. Most of you reading this are probably a lot like me — average middle Americans who go to work every day, pay their bills and taxes, and play by the rules.

The rules are being abused to get Trump.

I also believe the reason the elites have used every speck of their power against him is because he is an outsider and dared to support the views of average Allan and average Anne. He also dared to challenge permanent Washington and the complicit press: the swamp and the swamp thing. They could not allow this to go unpunished, and they intend to send a message to all future presidential candidates: Never stand against the one party, the uniparty, the Republicrats, the revolting Republicans and the disgusting Democrats, or we will annihilate you.

The cumulative effect of all these indictments is to sway the undecideds and deny Trump the election in 2024. So the will of the people, the vote, has already been compromised. George Soros funded both Alvin Bragg and Letitia James. Special Council Jack Smith is a Democrat.

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2023/06/09/one_generation_away_from_extinction_149333.html

Americans are steadily getting used to giving up their freedoms – and as someone who was forced to flee the oppressive dictatorship in Venezuela, that terrifies me.

In Venezuela, even mild criticism of the Maduro regime is treated as a criminal act. For “minor” offenses, you might simply be ridiculed and ostracized by state-controlled propaganda (which is ubiquitous). If you continue to challenge the ruling elite, however, the consequences become more severe – you might be arrested without cause and indefinitely detained, or you might even be subjected to physical torture.

That’s the Venezuela I fled as a teenager when I migrated – legally – to the United States. I escaped a violent, repressive dictatorship.

That wasn’t always the case, though. When my parents were young, Venezuela was a vibrant, prosperous democracy. At one time, foreigners spoke of “Venezuelan Exceptionalism” and our people revered Venezuela’s anti-authoritarian Constitution.

So what happened?

Hugo Chavez – pardoned after a failed coup attempt in 1992 – took advantage of a temporary economic downturn to run for the presidency on a socialist platform, essentially bribing the voters with promises of lavish spending on education, healthcare, and social programs. 

To pay for all this, Chavez gutted the productive portions of the Venezuelan economy. When punitive tax rates didn’t generate enough money, he forcibly seized control of oil companies, telecoms, and other industries, using them as a personal slush fund for his economic Ponzi schemes.

Predictably, this caused an outcry from those who had their possessions taken from them by jack-booted thugs. Chavez responded by imprisoning those who dared to speak out against his illegal abuses. His successor, Nicolas Maduro, uses the same tactics to keep the Venezuelan people from overthrowing his regime.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/donald-trump-indictment-classified-documents-jack-smith-mar-a-lago-biden-justice-department-81591082?mod=hp_opin_pos_1

Whether you love or hate Donald Trump, his indictment by President Biden’s Justice Department is a fraught moment for American democracy. For the first time in U.S. history, the prosecutorial power of the federal government has been used against a former President who is also running against the sitting President. This is far graver than the previous indictment by a rogue New York prosecutor, and it will roil the 2024 election and U.S. politics for years to come.

Special counsel Jack Smith announced the indictment in a brief statement on Friday. But no one should be fooled: This is Attorney General Merrick Garland’s responsibility. Mr. Garland appointed Mr. Smith to provide political cover, but Mr. Garland, who reports to Mr. Biden, has the authority to overrule a special counsel’s recommendation. Americans will inevitably see this as a Garland-Biden indictment, and they are right to think so.**

The indictment levels 37 charges against Mr. Trump that are related to his handling of classified documents, including at his Mar-a-Lago club, since he left the White House. Thirty-one of the counts are for violating the ancient and seldom-enforced Espionage Act for the “willful retention of national defense information.”

But it’s striking, and legally notable, that the indictment never mentions the Presidential Records Act (PRA) that allows a President access to documents, both classified and unclassified, once he leaves office. It allows for good-faith negotiation with the National Archives. Yet the indictment assumes that Mr. Trump had no right to take any classified documents.

This doesn’t fit the spirit or letter of the PRA, which was written by Congress to recognize that such documents had previously been the property of former Presidents. If the Espionage Act means Presidents can’t retain any classified documents, then the PRA is all but meaningless. This will be part of Mr. Trump’s defense.

 https://amgreatness.com/2023/06/08/former-president-donald-trump-charged-in-classified-documents-probe/

Former President Donald J. Trump has been indicted in the district court in Miami on federal counts stemming from Special Counsel Jack Smith’s months-long investigation into Trump’s handling of classified documents.

The indictment represents the first time in U.S. history a former president will face criminal charges. Trump announced the indictment Thursday night on Truth Social. “The corrupt Biden Administration has informed my attorneys that I have been Indicted, seemingly over the Boxes Hoax, even though Joe Biden has 1850 Boxes at the University of Delaware, additional Boxes in Chinatown, D.C., with even more Boxes at the University of Pennsylvania, and documents strewn all over his garage floor where he parks his Corvette, and which is “secured” by only a garage door that is paper thin, and open much of the time,” Trump said in a post at 7:21 p.m. eastern time.

He will surrender to authorities in Miami on Tuesday.

Exact charges are unclear; the New York Times reports that the former president faces seven counts. Those charges potentially include obstruction of justice, conspiracy, and unlawful retention of classified material. 

Attorney General Merrick Garland, appointed by Joe Biden in January 2021, named Smith special counsel last year to take over Garland’s existing investigations into both the classified documents matter and Trump’s alleged role in the events of January 6. “Such an appointment underscores the Department’s commitment to both independence and accountability,” Garland said in a November 2022 announcement.

After months of accusations by the National Archives and Records Administration that Trump-era government documents were missing in violation of the Presidential Records Act, the agency retrieved 15 boxes of records from Trump’s primary residence in Palm Beach, Florida in January 2022. The following month, NARAs inspector general sent a letter to the Justice Department seeking a criminal investigation into Trump, claiming the boxes contained “newspapers, magazines, printed news articles, photos, miscellaneous print-outs, notes, presidential correspondence, personal and post-presidential records, and a lot of classified records.”