This one should have been obvious, but was so devious that I missed it. I bet you did too.
The indictment says that Trump’s alleged illegal conduct related to 102 classified documents. What you see above are four of six photos the Justice Department included in the indictment, apparently showing Trumps trove of stolen government materials. I don’t know how large the documents were, but assuming that those photos weren’t staged, they must have been taken before the boxes were examined. I’ll believe they contained paper (unlike the very similar piles of boxes in three of the rooms in my home, which also contain, for example, dinosaur models), but it is wildly unlikely that the boxes contain just 102 classified documents.
Never mind: that’s how all of the news sources presented them, and that is why the Justice Department probably included the photos: to poison public opinion against the former President. Poisoning public opinion is also poisoning the jury pool, and as we know, much of the public doesn’t have to be metaphorically poisoned. I realized this open deceit as I read my Facebook friends’ comments mocking the photos as proving how flagrant Trump’s “crime” was. The photos, in fact, prove nothing, except this: 1) the Justice Department lawyers who prepared the indictment violated the ethics rules and 2) it worked, because so many Americans want to believe that Trump is guilty.
The fact that all of those boxes probably don’t contain illegally handled classified documents doesn’t mitigate Trump’s conduct, if any of them do. Remember that Sandy Berger, former National Security Advisor under Bill Clinton, paid a $50,000 fine and lost his law license for stuffing multiple copies of single classified document into his sock. [Notice of Correction: I incorrectly stated that he had been jailed: a detailed account of Berger’s crime is here.] However, the use of the photos should alert fair-minded, objective people who have been paying attention that this isn’t “justice,” but a concerted “Get Trump!” effort by the Biden Administration, and it will use any means it can get away with to accomplish that goal.
Meanwhile, News Max’s Greg Kelly, who noticed the Justice Department’s trick, couldn’t play it straight himself, demonstrating that 102 pieces of paper wouldn’t fill even one box. That’s the same deceit in reverse. Who says each document is only a single page? Documents can be hundreds of pages.
The government, Trump, his foes and enablers, all spinning and lying while the lazy public lets confirmation bias rule their thinking: that’s what we are in for now.
Good job, everybody.
Ethics Alarms 
I noticed it and, having spent more than 30 years handling classified docs almost every day, understood the game DOJ was playing. If it wasn’t for the blatant double standard of those going after Trump, I’d have zero issue with his prosecution for this. If I’d done something like that I’d be in jail already with my life ruined.
If it wasn’t for the blatant double standard of those going after Trump, I’d have zero issue with his prosecution for this.
Bingo!
This latest outrage (and there have been so many that I think I need a new noun here) only proves my long held and silent belief: we will only survive with a philosopher king. We assist and tolerate liars, and even when in a burst of concern we vote in an idealist of some sort he is always perverted by the system itself and the human need for adoration, fame, power, etc., to the extent that all presumably non-ideological government agencies and departments are similarly soiled. All the time. Every time.
I am too upset to write anything cogent or thoughtful. I’m going back to bed now.
Sandy Berger never went to prison at all, at least according to the article that you linked to.
One must consider the broader context.
The Justice Department now has the credibility of Wanetta Gibson, and this prosecution is like prosecuting anyone (even Brian Banks again, even Harvey Weinstein) of raping Wanetta Gibson.
Thanks…it’s fixed. That was careless of me: I wanted to mention Sandy but didn’t check the details. He also took more than one page, but it couldn’t have been too many pages if he hid them in his sock.
From the host: Here’s the THIRD unauthorized comment from this banned commenter. It actually wasn’t too bad, but he had already violated Comment policies, and continues to display his unfitness to comment here by trying to sneak in commentary, not only after being banned, but after writing that he was leaving for good.
From now on, these will go right into Spam Hell. Don’t respond to this troll.
Jack
Just for the record, this jerk ended the comment by accusing me of making a “whataboutism” argument using Sandy Berger. Anyone with the reading comprehension of a wombat could see that I was doing the exact opposite, but these Warriors of the Trump Deranged don’t register such details…
From the Moderator: This banned creep says, “As long as you keep the insults coming, I will keep posting here.”
To the Banned commenter: Boy, I’m trembling. All you do is expose your own rotten manners and character. I’ve accurately described your conduct and rhetoric—if you find them insulting, best to look inward and reform. Meanwhile, I don’t capitulate to threats, even when they aren’t narcissistic fantasies like yours.
Bite me, and get lost.
From now on, your graffiti will just be spammed without further comment. I just want to make sure nobody waste’s time thinking you are worth arguing with.
Jack
Which deception-fueled insurrection was that, and exactly how did deception fuel it?
Never sealion a troll…
From the Moderator: Another spammed comment from this banned Trump-Deranged jerk. Will he go for the record?
Jack
It was perfectly justifiable retribution for what was done to him.
https://mtracey.medium.com/the-most-predictable-election-fraud-backlash-ever-4187ba31d430
Think about it.
Your side used law enforcememt resources to give the illusion of credibility to their lies!
Michael: do NOT reply to this guy! You just encourage him.
Is it possible that each classified page might be considered a “document” as far as legal proceedings go with this type of thing?
Well if that was possible, why didn’t the indictment cite 786,000, 432 “Classified documents”?
I’m going to hold off on this one because I think that while you’re obviously right and those boxes aren’t all filled by 102 documents, there’s still a chance that it was illegal for Trump to have those documents.
The classified material is obviously an order of magnitude more serious than the presidential record, but it’s still illegal to withhold documents from the official record. It would not surprise me, even a little, if those boxes were full of official records.
You won’t get an argument from me regarding the crime, assuming the charges can be proved. My problem is with exaggeration of the number of documents deliberately created by the photos.
Depends on where they are placed in the document. I had it open and read a little bit but didn’t pay close attention. I think they are included to show how documents were stored and how access was not appropriately managed. It may be that the photos are being used out of that context by the media given that they aren’t focusing the narrative on the 102 specific documents in question.
How would the storage method relate to the indictment?
It’s background information. Documents were in boxes. Boxes were in shower, office, bedroom, storage, and ballroom of MAL. MAL ceased to be an appropriate venue. Even if the venue was once and continued to be appropriate, the manner of storage was reckless given the comings and goings of unknown persons. Some of the classified documents carried the marking NOFORN which indicates it is not releasable to Foreign Nationals… If the documents are in public areas or room adjacent to public areas (as the indictment makes clear) there really isn’t a chain of custody of the documents or any assurance that they weren’t read by unknown persons, which might go to aggravating factors that might lead to more aggressive prosecution.
Is it right? No. Is it biased prosecution still? Yes. Everything I’ve read is that SOS Clinton and VP Biden had much more egregious violations.
The bathroom photos show a box labeled “Mal bedroom”.
I’m speculating it contains bedroom linens rather than bedroom reading materials. It’s likely all the others are labeled that way on their lids, this particular one just got shatpied on the side and the photographer forgot to turn it aground.
Reading through the 38 count inditement there is no count that addresses how the documents were stored. There is no count addressing who did or could view the documents. The counts deal with possession, conspiracy, obstruction, lying, and concealing. In the indictment, many pages are spent concerning Mr. Trump’s method of document storage, unrestricted access, Mr. Trump’s views on the handling of confidential secret documents, and photos of storage conditions.
It would appear then that the inclusion of the photos and other storage conditions of the documents in the inditement is an effort by Smith to manage perception. The funny thing about perceptions is they are neither true nor false they just are. They are however very powerful in molding opinion. They can arise from the application of PSYOPs or mind fucks. The amazing thing about PSYOPs and mind fucks is that they work even if you know what they are and that you are being subjected to them.
I also find it striking that in the inditement the former President is referred to merely as TRUMP. The proper form of address is Mr. Trump. By modern convention, former presidents are frequently referred to as “Former President Last Name”. Smith’s use of the former president’s last name only could be the result of three things. A willful attempt to diminish the former president in the document. It may reveal Smith’s underlying contempt for the former president. Smith’s ignorance of the concepts of etiquette.
I do not believe Smith is an idiot. I believe the indictment was carefully crafted to mold the opinion of the court, prospective jurors, and the public prior to the trial.
https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/484/518/
And just for the record – While I think that Trump is legitimately in trouble here, because he probably actually broke laws, Joe Biden kept classified information in his garage. The same garage his felon son that constantly acted as a bag man had access to. While Joe might have been more cooperative once the story broke that the material existed, in reading many of those 38 counts, there’s enough parallels for some that it’s reasonable to ask why Joe isn’t being charged.
Why not have a nice snap impeachment and find out?