Trump brags about record fundraising as legal woes mount: ‘I have truth on my side’
Donald Trump had a busy week. The FBI executed a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago on Monday. The former president took the 5th Amendment at least 440 times during a deposition with the New York attorney general on Wednesday. But by Saturday, he was bragging about his fundraising.
"At least one lawyer for former President Donald J. Trump signed a written statement in June asserting that all material marked as classified and held in boxes in a storage area at Mr. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence and club had been returned to the government, four people with knowledge of the document said," The New York Times reported Saturday. "The existence of the signed declaration, which has not previously been reported, is a possible indication that Mr. Trump or his team were not fully forthcoming with federal investigators about the material."
Trump is already reportedly suffering paranoia over who the Mar-a-Lago witness may be, with former fixer Michael Cohen noting he can't even rule out Melania Trump.
Former acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal noted there is no attorney/client privilege for crime or fraud and now "Trump's got to worry that the lawyers themselves might flip."
"That would obviously be an extraordinary thing," Katyal said. "But everything about this is extraordinary."
Law Prof. Jennifer Taub explained, "Perhaps [his] lawyer knowingly and willfully made a false statement in violation of 18 USC 1001 or Donald lied to [his] lawyer and he can be liable for the false statement due to the aiding and abetting statute 18 USC 2."
Taub noted both could be true.
Former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti said at the very least the lawyer can no longer represent Trump.
"Big news," Mariotti said. "Trump’s lawyer needs her own lawyer, and should not be representing him on this matter since she has potential liability of her own. Lying to the federal government is a crime."
Saturday's New York Times also reported that shortly before Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the Department of Justice would move to unseal the search warrant, Trump wanted the AG to know his base was enraged by the search warrant and that, "the country is on fire."
Attorney Ken White, who tweets under the popular Popehat account described the outreach as Trump basically saying, "Nice country you’ve got there. Be a shame if a bunch of the droogs I’ve weaponized went on a killing spree across it," White translated.
"Just received the strongest poll numbers I have ever gotten and the largest amount of campaign contributions from the 'people'. The public gets the 'scam', but this time much earlier than all of the others," Trump posted to his Truth Social website.
Trump aggressively fundraised off of the "witch hunt" as Republicans attacked the FBI, which may have already caused one death.
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