Essentially, this is the phase of Jack Smith's investigation that looks at Trump's document theft and crimes and/or criming related to this theft.

On June 8, 2023, Trump was indicted on 31 separate counts relating to the mishanding of national defense documents. He was charged under the Espionage Act for "gathering, transmitting or losing defense information, which also includes refusal to return information that is demanded by the government."

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/espionage-act-trump-mar-a-lago-fbi-search-warrant/

Trump is not alone. His former butler and body man, Walter Nauta, helped Trump in the coverup so he's got six charges against him for withholding evidence and making false statements.

Recently, a superseding indictment was filed for a third person...but we'll get to the Wet Server Room Incident later.

In a baller move which made Twitter enjoyable for a whole 36 hours, Smith unsealed the charging indictment. Not only is it a damning read but the photos are surreal, with bankers' boxes full of national secrets kept in a basement beneath large water and sewage pipes, on a ballroom stage, and in a bathroom with a chandelier which had recently given birth to a baby chandelier.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/photos-from-trump-indictment-show-boxes-of-classified-documents-stored-in-mar-a-lago-shower-ballroom

But...

Smith has a reputation for playing it safe, for filing charges which are ironclad. There was a chance that if he filed against Trump in Washington D.C, then Trump's lawyers might get the case dismissed due to questions over where the document theft occurred versus where the document storage and mishandling occurred.

So Smith chose to file in Miami.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/06/06/miami-grand-jury-trump-classified-documents/

Which means...SHE'S BACK!!!

JUDGE AILEEN CANNON IS BACK, MOTHERFUCKERS!!!

NOT SNOW NOR SLEET NOR JUDICIAL REPRIMAND NOR PURE IGNORANCE OF THE LAW CAN KEEP HER DOWN!

(Part 3 of FL case coming tomorrow.)

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/10/us/politics/judge-aileen-cannon-trump-documents.html

Okie-dokie, Florida, Round 3!

I'm trying to keep this summary concise, but that means a lot of chronologically important events get flopped out of order. Here's a good timeline of what's happened in this case, and when it happened.

However, what this timeline leaves out are the many instances where Trump et al. attempted to cover up the crimes and/or criming.

So let's hit those notes because I promised whackadoo and this is where I shall deliver the whackadoo.

https://time.com/6286062/trump-classified-documents-investigation-timeline/

Whenever anybody talks about Watergate, you get that old saw where "It wasn't the crime, it was the coverup."

That's...uh...let's say it's extremely relevant to the Florida case.

Remember how the National Archives asked for the documents back? This isn't a new phenomenon. When people leave public service, they sometimes walk off with property that belongs to the archives.

For instance, Joe Biden recently found multiple boxes of classified documents in his garage.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/biden-documents-marked-classified-wilmington-delaware-garage/

So did Mike Pence.

However, when they found these documents, both Biden and Pence said, "Oops, my bad," and returned them to the National Archives (or other appropriate storage locations).

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jun/02/mike-pence-classified-documents-no-charges

Trump, in contrast, did not.

Not only did he fail to return the documents when asked, there is a significant honkin' body of evidence which indicates that he selectively returned SOME documents, chose to keep OTHERS, and then lied and claimed to return them ALL.

This happened multiple times, and he brought in others to help him move and hide (legally, physically, and electronically) those documents he wanted to keep.

Jack Smith is having NONE of these shenanigans. They ALL went into the original charging indictment...and follow-up charges.

Yes, we're about to get to the wet server room, hold on.

Picture this: Bedminster. 2021.

Trump is speaking with two ghostwriters (or a ghostwriter and the publicist, I've heard it both ways) for Mark Meadows, his former Chief of Staff.

He pulls out a document "related to Iran and how to confront it militarily" (aka: an attack plan) and shows it off. He also brags about how he shouldn't have this since he's no longer POTUS.

We know this because there's a recording of the conversation.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-lawyers-pentagon-classified-documents-iran-recording/

This is not the only incident of its kind, and the rumors make their way back to the government that Trump is just, y'know, casually waving around top secret military documents to two randos he's entertaining in his New Jersey country club.

(I'm guessing there was also major concern about what he's saved to show to people he actually wants to impress.)

This kicks off the call-and-response of "can we get the documents back" and "sure here they are."

Except he didn't give the documents back, and lied about it to the point where he had lawyers sign off on documents.

One lawyer, Christina Bobb, "signed a sworn certification letter on June 3 that stated all classified materials being kept at Mar-A-Lago had been turned over to the government following a 'diligent search' to find all remaining documents, in compliance with a subpoena."

https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2022/10/10/fbi-interviewed-trump-lawyer-who-signed-off-on-claim-there-were-no-more-documents-at-mar-a-lago/?sh=426872d051cb

Of note is that Bobb did not write the letter herself.

"NBC and the Guardian report that letter was drafted by Trump attorney Evan Corcoran and not Bobb, who did not search for the documents at all herself, and Bobb told investigators she only signed it after insisting that it be rewritten to state she was swearing there were no more remaining documents 'based upon the information that has been provided to me.' "

Look, I'm not even an internet lawyer but that's ALL OF THE ALARMS.

ALL OF THEM.

And then there were the alleged dress rehearsals, where Mar-a-Lago employees would practice moving Trump's documents around to keep them out of the feds' hands.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/05/25/trump-classified-documents-mar-a-lago/

(I am not sure how to square the circle where there were rehearsals to keep the documents safe versus how the documents were actually treated. See: photo of box kicked over with top secret files spilling out.)

But now...now we get to the Wet Server Room, where "an employee at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence drained the resort’s swimming pool [in October 2022] and ended up flooding a room where computer servers containing surveillance video logs were kept."

https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/05/politics/mar-a-lago-pool-flood-suspicions-prosecutors-trump-investigation-classified-documents/

Yes.

Yes.

Yes, that actually happened.

Why is this significant? Because with all of this back-and-forth over the documents, there's presumably video evidence of intentionally moving them, plus time stamps.

Now, if we were charitable, we'd all go excuse me, no, technology no longer works like that. Everyone knows about document recovery. Plus there's cloud storage backups! There's no way this was a real thing that was intended to be part of a crime.

Stop being suckers, folks.

On July 27, a superseding indictment was filed to add "a new defendant, Carlos de Oliveira, Trump’s property manager at his Mar-a-Lago property."

There are "voluminous texts between de Oliveira and Nauta immediately after Trump would have been informed of the subpoena for the server that points to the pair plotting, as well as documentation of respective phone calls between the two men and Trump."

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/07/new-mar-a-lago-charges-against-trump-jack-smith.html

If you would like to read the new superseding indictment, it's here.

It is a hell of a thing, especially this paragraph, where Trump and Nauta "did knowingly and willingly falsify, conceal, and cover up by any trick, scheme, and device a material fact; that is--during a federal grand jury investigation and a federal criminal investigation being conducted by the FBI, [they] hid and concealed [...] continued possession of documents with classification markings."

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flsd.648654/gov.uscourts.flsd.648654.85.0.pdf

And this is where I'm ending the Florida case summary, as the trial date has been set for May 20, 2024.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/trial-date-set-for-next-may-in-trumps-classified-documents-case-in-florida

Good morning and welcome to the summary for the third indictment. This is the big one, the one that most people think of when they think of Trump going to jail (at least until recently, as Georgia has been ON IT). Like the FL case, this is so involved that the summary will be in multiple parts.

On August 1, 2023, a grand jury indicted Trump "on charges stemming from his efforts to remain in power after he lost the 2020 presidential election."

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-indicted-grand-jury-jan-6/

"Trump faces four charges: conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding; and conspiracy against rights."

The two major elements of these charges are: fake electors and Jan 6, 2021.

This is an oversimplification, as these two elements are interwoven and this gets complicated, so bear with me.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-indicted-grand-jury-jan-6/

This third case was filed in Washington D.C. (hereafter the DC case).

This has been called a "talking indictment" as it clearly states the arguments that the DOJ will make in court.

https://www.justice.gov/storage/US_v_Trump_23_cr_257.pdf

Of particular note is the statement addressing Trump's right to free speech:

"The Defendant had a right [...] to speak publicly about the election and even to claim, falsely, that there had been outcome-determinative fraud during the election and that he had won. He was also entitled to formally challenge the results of the election through lawful and appropriate means, such as by seeking recounts or audits of the popular vote in states or filing lawsuits challenging ballots and procedures."

What Trump DIDN'T have is the right to attempt to overturn the results of the election. The DOJ claims that Trump "perpetrated three criminal conspiracies" in his attempts to overturn the election.

The first is "A conspiracy to defraud the United States by using dishonesty, fraud, and deceit to impair, obstruct, and defeat the lawful federal government function by which the results of the presidential election are collected, counted, and certified by the federal government."

The second and third criminal conspiracies are:

"A conspiracy to corruptly obstruct and impede the January 6 congressional proceeding at which the collected results of the presidential election are
counted and certified ("the certification proceeding")."

and:

"A conspiracy against the right to vote and to have one's vote counted."

This charging indictment has been roundly praised as a tight, concise document that will focus the scope of the trial.

"The strength of the indictment is that it is very narrowly written,” said Ronald S. Sullivan Jr., a Harvard Law School professor and former public defender. “The government is not attempting to prove too much, but rather it went for low-hanging fruit."

https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation-politics/analysis-how-jack-smith-structured-the-trump-election-indictment-to-reduce-risks/

One aspect of this narrow scope is that six others have been identified as co-conspirators but they have not been charged.

"It remains unclear whether some of them will eventually be indicted if they do not cooperate, or whether he intends to target only Trump so the case will move faster."

We'll get to these co-conspirators in the next update.

https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation-politics/analysis-how-jack-smith-structured-the-trump-election-indictment-to-reduce-risks/

Good morning, let's talk alleged conspiracies and unnamed co-conspirators in the DC trial!

"Trump will be standing alone as he appears in court. This is despite the fact that federal prosecutors list six other individuals that they say served as crucial roles in this alleged conspiracy. The six unnamed allies have not been criminally charged or officially named by prosecutors."

https://www.npr.org/2023/08/03/1191587086/jan-6-trump-case-co-conspirators

Despite not being named, people gotta people and some people looked at the possible people who played significant roles in the attempts to overthrow the government, and quite easily put names to five of the six.

"The identity of the rest of the co-conspirators couldn't be immediately confirmed. However, information included in the indictment matches details of individuals who were key players in the former president's 2020 election campaign"

https://www.npr.org/2023/08/03/1191587086/jan-6-trump-case-co-conspirators

NUMBER ONE UNNAMED CO-CONSPIRATOR is, to no one's surprise, RUDY "THE DRIP" GIULIANI.

"According to the indictment, this person is described as 'an attorney who was willing to spread knowingly false claims and pursue strategies that the Defendant's 2020 re-election campaign attorneys would not' and is someone Trump appointed to 'spearhead his efforts going forward to challenge the election results.'"

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/who-are-the-co-conspirators-in-the-trump-indictment/

Aside from Trump himself, "the indictment mentions Giuliani 34 times, more than any other of the six co-conspirators identified in the indictment."

The indictment states Giuliani actively campaigned to overturn results in Arizona, Georgia, and Michigan, along with other extreme efforts to discredit the 2020 election. A Trump campaign official stated that "claims made by Giuliani and his team all "just conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership.'"

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/rudy-giuliani-donald-trump-jan6-indictment-coconspirator-1234799169/

NUMBER TWO UNNAMED CO-CONSPIRATOR is likely JOHN EASTMAN.

A "law professor and Trump legal adviser," Eastman is the yahoo who came up with the fake electors scheme in the first place.

He's also the dude who had the brilliant idea that "the vice president had the authority to unilaterally declare the winner of the presidential election."

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/who-are-the-co-conspirators-in-the-trump-indictment/

NUMBER THREE UNNAMED CO-CONSPIRATOR is likely SYDNEY POWELL.

I am...I'm just gonna quote my own Twitter thread about the Dominion/Fox trial on Powell.

"Remember Sydney Powell, the pro-Trump attorney who championed election lies on Fox? Her primary source on election fraud is a woman who engages in something like 'time-travel in a semi-conscious state.'"

https://www.npr.org/2023/02/20/1158223099/fox-news-dominion-wackadoodle-election-fraud-claim

Also from my old Twitter thread:

"Does it get better?

"Oh, it gets better.

"(same link as prior: 'Powell's source also volunteered that the wind tells her that she's a ghost, though she doesn't believe it.')

"But K.B. how much better can this get?

"Well, from Dominion's lawyers' perspective...hmmm.

"I'm not a lawyer myself so I don't know the technical term when the evidence is so good it's like getting orally pleasured by a unicorn and her twin sister."

NUMBER FOUR UNNAMED CO-CONSPIRATOR is likely JEFFERY CLARK.

This person is described in the indictment as "a Justice Department official who worked on civil matters and who, with the Defendant, attempted to use the Justice Department to open sham election crime investigations and influence state legislatures with knowingly false claims of election fraud."

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/who-are-the-co-conspirators-in-the-trump-indictment/

Personally, I adore the Clark storyline in these wildly destructive criminal acts. He's an environmental attorney who basically nutted up one morning and barged into the White House to tell Trump about different legal options to overturn the election.

If you read no other sources in this thread, read this one. The entire article is quotes of people in the WH asking Clark "Why are you here?" and "You know this is illegal, right?"

https://www.axios.com/2022/06/23/trump-jeffrey-clark-fraud-jan6-hearing

NUMBER FIVE UNNAMED CO-CONSPIRATOR is lawyer Kenneth Chesebro.

I'm going to pause for a moment so we can all appreciate this moment of brilliance from Humble Internet Lawyer, Legal Eagle™

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mk4nfGX-pM