There is another major difference between a law enforcement operation and a standard safe-cracking: Regular technicians typically try not to damage safes. The FBI, on the other hand, may not care about anything other than acting quickly and safely retrieving the contents. So while a technician might use an auto-dialer for a client—a process that could take a dozen hours or so—the FBI is more likely to have used a heavy-duty coring saw and simply cut the side of the safe off.
did he actually plea the 5th, though? i read [Guardian this a.m.] report that he “refused to answer questions”, but nothing i read confirmed that he actually plead 5th amendment right to not self-incriminated.
obviously IANAL, and do not see why simply refusing to testify is not contempt and therefore actionable, but i totally missed anything suggesting he actually used words to the effect of taking the 5th.
what am i missing?
Yes, quite explicitly. He even acknowledged his prior statements about people who invoke the right against self-incrimination, which is probably the closest he’s ever come to admitting he was wrong about something.
“I once asked, ‘If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?’ Now I know the answer to that question,” the statement said. “When your family, your company, and all the people in your orbit have become the targets of an unfounded politically motivated Witch Hunt supported by lawyers, prosecutors and the Fake News Media, you have no choice.”
Trump arrived at state Attorney General Letitia James’ offices in a motorcade shortly before 9 a.m., announcing more than an hour later that he “declined to answer the questions under the rights and privileges afforded to every citizen under the United States Constitution.”
“I once asked, ‘If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?’ Now I know the answer to that question,” the statement said. “When your family, your company, and all the people in your orbit have become the targets of an unfounded politically motivated Witch Hunt supported by lawyers, prosecutors and the Fake News Media, you have no choice.”
So I presume the Mar-a-Lago guest book and security camera video will be of particular interest if there were, as the Newsweek article implies, classified defense documents there…
Horseshit. The raid went as well as it possibly could have, given the circumstances. One can only imagine what a nightmare it would have been had Trump actually been on the premises. But it’s Newsweek, so whaddaya want.
Right? I doubt anyone thought this would stay “low-key.” The FBI and the DOJ knew this was going to turn into a partisan media circus that would quickly envelop the lives of everyone involved and they chose to go ahead anyway. To me, that signals that they really must have some solid information to act on or they wouldn’t bother.
Do you remember back in the before times when the DNC got hacked and it all got released on Wikileaks?
Do you also remember the RNC getting hacked and then we never heard any more about it?
That statement is a bit crazy, “When your family, your company, and all the people in your orbit have become the targets … you have no choice” He can’t take the 5th for any of that, it only applied to self incrimination. You absolutely cannot refuse to answer questions to protect your family, your company, or random other people. His very statement about taking the 5th might allow him to be held in contempt. I doubt anyone would pursue those charges, it would make this look like a witch hunt he is falsely claiming this is.
