Connect with us

News

‘Lock Him Up’: Nuclear, Government, and Legal Experts Call for Trump to Be Indicted

Published

on

Should Donald Trump be indicted for his retention and refusal to return highly classified documents and documents that “detail top-secret U.S. operations so closely guarded that many senior national security officials are kept in the dark about them?”

That’s how The Washington Post described its bombshell revelation Tuesday night, reporting that FBI agents found a “document describing a foreign government’s military defenses, including its nuclear capabilities,” at Mar-a-Lago when it seized over 100 classified documents last month.

“Only the president, some members of his Cabinet or a near-Cabinet-level official could authorize other government officials to know details of these special-access programs,” the Post explained.

Nuclear, government, and legal experts agree: Donald Trump should be indicted, especially given the top secret nature of the documents and what’s at stake with nuclear weapons.

READ MORE: ‘Doesn’t Give a Damn’: Rubio Slammed for Being More Angry About Leak Than Trump Holding Foreign Gov’t Nuclear Secrets

“The man stole nuclear secrets and should be in prison,” wrote attorney Walter Shaub, the former Director of the U. S. Office of Government Ethics on Wednesday.

Jon Wolfsthal served as Special Assistant to President Barack Obama for National Security Affairs including serving as his nuclear advisor and as senior director for arms control and nonproliferation at the National Security Council, where he set nuclear policy. Wolfsthal even worked for the United States Department of Energy as an on-site monitor in North Korea.

“I worked in the US Government on nuclear weapon issues for 11 years,” says Wolfsthal, now a senior policy advisor at Global Zero, which works for a nuclear-free world. “If anyone I worked with or I took any one of these documents home, we would be in prison. Trump must be indicted or the entire classification system will be at risk.”

READ MORE: ‘Asinine and Absurd’: Trump Wants to Conduct the First U.S. Nuclear Test Explosion Since 1992

Global Zero’s Managing Partner Derek Johnson in a statement sent to NCRM, painted a picture of what’s at stake.

“That an ousted president could run off with highly sensitive documents, in clear violation of federal law, is stunning — but the fact that these secrets are about weapons that can kill hundreds of millions of people is orders of magnitude more consequential. Americans should be demanding an investigation: How could this happen, and why were there no safeguards in place to prevent it?”

Johnson warns, “the man who carted off state secrets on a foreign nation’s nuclear capabilities is the same one who had absolute authority to launch a nuclear attack at any time — and is doing everything he can to regain that power.”

“This isn’t solely about Donald Trump: it’s an indictment of the inherent flaws and fragility of the nuclear system. Nuclear risks require an unattainable level of perfection and control. If the system to manage those risks is inadequate in the United States — and it’s impossible to conclude otherwise — the same is true in every nuclear-armed nation. The world we live in is simply too dangerous and unpredictable for nuclear weapons; the case for abolishing them makes itself.”

On Twitter Tuesday night Johnson served up a less serious response, writing: “I have a security clearance as high as Donald Trump’s, which is to say, none at all. I’d already be in prison if the government discovered I had top secret documents about nuclear weapons.”

Attorney Tristan Snell, who successfully prosecuted the Trump University case for the Manhattan DA’s Office, says, “Yes, Trump stole nuclear secrets. And US defense intel so sensitive that the president was one of the only people to know about it. Indict him. Try him. Convict him. Lock him up.”

An expert in government and media, David Rothkopf has an opinion piece in The Daily Beast Wednesday that says, “contrary to the measured pace of the [DOJ’s] investigation to date, when documents like these are stolen the issue must shift from caution and deference to a former president to swift containment of what could be a grievous national security breach. It is time for action and the severest penalties the law allows.”

Image: Official White House Photo by Joyce N. Boghosian via Flickr

 

Continue Reading
Click to comment
 
 

Enjoy this piece?

… then let us make a small request. The New Civil Rights Movement depends on readers like you to meet our ongoing expenses and continue producing quality progressive journalism. Three Silicon Valley giants consume 70 percent of all online advertising dollars, so we need your help to continue doing what we do.

NCRM is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. From unflinching coverage of religious extremism, to spotlighting efforts to roll back our rights, NCRM continues to speak truth to power. America needs independent voices like NCRM to be sure no one is forgotten.

Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Help ensure NCRM remains independent long into the future. Support progressive journalism with a one-time contribution to NCRM, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you. Click here to donate by check.

News

‘Absolute Nonsense’: Bondi Blasted for Saying Judge Has ‘No Right’ to Question DOJ

Published

on

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi is the latest official to expand the Trump administration’s attack on the judicial branch of government, denouncing U.S. Chief District Court Judge James Boasberg, who is questioning their use of an 18th century wartime-only law and attempting to determine whether or not the administration violated his Saturday order to redirect planes sending detainees to an El Salvador “slave jail.”

Bondi appeared on Fox News on Wednesday afternoon (video below) to discuss the questions Judge Boasberg has asked the Trump administration to answer, after it had refused to order the planes to return, saying the aircraft were over international waters and therefore he had no lawful authority to make the order.

Bondi appeared on Fox News Wednesday afternoon (video below) to discuss the questions Judge Boasberg has posed to the Trump administration, which had declined to order the planes’ to turn around, arguing that once they were over international waters, Boasberg lacked the legal authority to order their return.

When asked how the Department of Justice will respond, Bondi lashed out.

“Well, well, our our our lawyers are working on this, we will answer appropriately, but what I will tell you is this judge has no right to ask those questions,” the Attorney General declared. “You have one unelected federal judge trying to control foreign policies, trying to control the Alien Enemies Act, which they have no business presiding over and there are 261 reasons why Americans are safer now. Because those people are out of this country.”

READ MORE: White House Press Secretary Schooled on ‘Democrat Activist’ Judge Trump Wants Impeached

She continued: “The judge had no business, no power to do what he did.”

Bondi also blasted the judge for recognizing that time was a critical factor in this matter.

Judge Boasberg “came in on an emergency basis on a Saturday with very, very short notice at any, to our attorney to run in the courtroom, you know, and this has been a pattern with these liberal judges you just spoke about that. It’s been a pattern with what they’ve been doing. This judge had no right to do that,” Bondi claimed, wrongly identified tidying Boasberg as a “liberal judge.”

“They’re meddling in foreign affairs, they’re meddling in our government, and the question should be, why is the judge trying to protect terrorists who have invaded our country over American citizens?” she asked.

Questions have been raised about why none of the 261 deportees have been publicly identified, why most were not criminally charged, and why none appeared before a federal judge before being sent to a brutal mega-prison in El Salvador—a country to which few, if any, have ties.

READ MORE: ‘Delusional’ Schumer Spirals in ‘Devastating’ New Interview as Leadership Crisis Deepens

“You know, TdA is a terrorist organization,” Bondi said, referring to Tren de Aragua, “they are organized, that they have a government structure within them. They are sending money not only throughout this country to each other, but back to Venezuela, they are a terrorist organization and we are not going to have that in our country.”

Attorney and immigration expert Aaron Reichlin-Melnick blasted Bondi.

“This is such absolute nonsense because the judge isn’t trying to control anything about foreign policies, he’s trying to figure out if his court order was violated,” Reichlin-Melnick remarked. “Bondi simply is refusing to engage with the reality of what is happening in the court case.”

The Guardian’s Hugo Lowell posted an excerpt from Judge Boasberg’s order: “The Court seeks this information, not as a ‘micromanaged and unnecessary judicial fishing expedition’, but to determine if the govt deliberately flouted its Orders issued on March 15, 2025, and, if so, what the consequences should be.”

With the video below or at this link.

RELATED: Trump Pushes to Impeach ‘Radical Left Lunatic’ Judge in Unhinged Morning Rant

 

Image via Reuters

Continue Reading

News

White House Press Secretary Schooled on ‘Democrat Activist’ Judge Trump Wants Impeached

Published

on

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt continued the administration’s attack on James Boasberg, the Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, even after Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts strongly criticized President Donald Trump for his call to impeach the jurist.

NBC News’ Garrett Haake asked Leavitt if it is “a good use of Congress’s time and the president’s political capital to try to impeach and remove a federal judge, which would take 67 votes, you’re unlikely to get in the Senate?”

“Well, look,” she replied, “the president has made it clear that he believes this judge in this case should be impeached, and he has also made it clear that he has great respect for the Chief Justice, John Roberts.”

READ MORE: ‘Delusional’ Schumer Spirals in ‘Devastating’ New Interview as Leadership Crisis Deepens

Leavitt wrongly insisted that it is “incumbent upon the Supreme Court to rein in these activist judges. These partisan activists are undermining the judicial branch by doing so. We have co-equal branches of government for a reason and the president feels very strongly about that.”

Aside from the Supreme Court choosing to take a case and overrule a lower court judge, it has no authority to “rein in” district court judges whose rulings it does not like. The Supreme Court has no disciplinary authority to punish judges who have lifetime appointments to the federal bench.

When she was asked how the president decides who is a “bad” judge, is it “just someone who disagrees with him?” Leavitt replied, “No, it has nothing to do with disagreeing with the president on policy. It’s with disagreeing with the Constitution and the law.”

RELATED: Trump Pushes to Impeach ‘Radical Left Lunatic’ Judge in Unhinged Morning Rant

“And it’s trying to usurp the authority of the executive branch of this country,” she alleged.

Leavitt appears to be referring to what is commonly called “checks and balances,” and “judicial review,” part of the mechanism of the U.S. Constitution.

Leavitt also attacked Chief Judge Boasberg, saying, “this judge, Judge Boasberg is a Democrat activist. He was appointed by Barack Obama, his wife has donated more than $10,000 to Democrats, and he has consistently shown his disdain for this president and his policies and it’s unacceptable.”

That’s when Haake interjected.

Boasberg “was originally appointed by George W. Bush,” a Republican president, Haake informed her, “and then elevated by Barack Obama. It just feels like I should clear that up,” he noted.

Attorney Aaron Parnas blasted the Press Secretary:

“Karoline Leavitt is trying to gaslight the American public. Judge Boasberg was appointed by George W. Bush in 2002. He was elevated by President Obama in 2011 and was confirmed 96-0, with every Republican supporting his elevation to the federal bench.”

Chief Justice Roberts also appointed Judge Boasberg to the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) where he served as presiding judge, and appointed him to the U.S. Alien Terrorist Removal Court as a chief judge.

Watch the videos above or at this link.

READ MORE: Chief Justice Smacks Down Trump

Image via Reuters

Continue Reading

News

‘Trump Derangement Syndrome’: GOP Senator Furious Over Judge’s USAID Ruling

Published

on

A federal judge aimed sharp criticism at the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and its de facto leader, Elon Musk, as he ruled on Tuesday afternoon that its shutdown of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), “likely violated the United States Constitution in multiple ways.”

U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang’s ruling, however, Politico reported, “appears to permit the Trump administration to ratify and maintain the draconian cuts — as long as they are ordered by USAID’s official leadership, rather than by Musk or his allies at DOGE.”

Judge Chuang blocked DOGE “from further cuts to the agency,” the Associated Press reported. He also ordered that “email and computer access” be restored “to all employees of USAID, including those who were placed on administrative leave.”

In his damning 68-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang wrote that “the ‘Department of
Government Efficiency,’ or ‘DOGE,’ has sent teams of personnel to numerous federal departments and agencies, taken control of their computer systems, and in many instances, taken the lead in terminating numerous contracts and employees.”

READ MORE: Chief Justice Smacks Down Trump

He charged that “DOGE and its leader, Elon Musk,” have “played a leading role in actions taken to shut down and dismantle” USAID, “which have included permanently closing its headquarters, taking down its website, and engaging in mass terminations of contracts, grants, and personnel.”

Noting that President Trump himself “has identified” Elon Musk as “the leader of DOGE,” Judge Chuang wrote that DOGE “has taken numerous actions without any apparent advanced approval by agency leadership.”

Judge Chuang ruled that Elon Musk’s and DOGE’s “actions taken to shut down USAID on an accelerated basis, including its apparent decision to permanently close USAID headquarters without the approval of a duly appointed USAID Officer, likely violated the United States Constitution in multiple ways, and that these actions harmed not only Plaintiffs, but also the public interest, because they deprived the public’s elected representatives in Congress of their constitutional authority to decide whether, when, and how to close down an agency created by Congress.”

U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) blasted Judge Chuang.

“This is more of your Trump derangement syndrome. This is more of these activist judges,” Senator Blackburn declared. “So here you have a judge who is standing up for wasting taxpayer money. It is not the judge’s money, it is not the court’s money. This is money that hardworking taxpayers have earned and sent to Washington, DC.”

“And if they’re going to decide, they don’t want to pay for Sesame Street in Iraq, or DEI education in another country, or trans surgeries in another country,” she claimed.

READ MORE: Trump Border Czar ‘Doesn’t Care’ About Judges — One Might Make Administration Think Twice

On Saturday, The New York Times in an extensive, interactive report revealed, “An estimated 1,650,000 people could die within a year without American foreign aid for H.I.V. prevention and treatment.”

“An estimated 500,000 people could die within a year without American funding for vaccines,” the report added. ” An estimated 550,000 people could die within a year without American funding for food aid.”

Also, nearly 300,00 could die from Malaria, 310,000 from tuberculosis, the Times reported.

The World Health Organization (WHO has estimated that the USAID shutdown, as THEM reported, “could cause as many as 10 million additional HIV cases and three million HIV-related deaths.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Welcome to Autocracy’: Trump Declaring Biden’s Pardons ‘Void’ Debunked and Denounced

Image via Reuters

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2020 AlterNet Media.