Today's News: Going Nuclear

Ain't we havin' some fun now?  

So Garland threw down the gauntlet to Trump - put up or shut up. 

He told Trump he was applying to the court to release the search warrant and evidence list from Monday's raid, and dared Trump to oppose it - which I fully expect he will try to do somehow.

NEW: A federal judge in Florida has ordered the federal government to give the filing to Trump immediately and then advise the court by 3 p.m. on Friday if he will object to the motion to unseal the warrant. https://t.co/XyqXHh29Fg

— NPR Politics (@nprpolitics) August 11, 2022

Two days ago, I said this raid was either: 

-a major national security scandal about a trove of top-secret documents that Trump was trying to sell to Putin or the Saudis; OR 

 -a nothing-burger Got Junk? cleanup of old presidential souvenirs that the Trumps had been too lazy to box up themselves and get to the National Archives. 

On Tuesday, it seemed like the nothing-burger story might be credible, By Wednesday the GOP started realizing maybe it wasn't so they started smearing the FBI. 

Today, the seriousness of the national security scandal came into focus.

In his nightly newsletter, CNN's Brian Stelter provides a timeline of commentary from Garland's press conference at 3 pm. Up until 8 pm, it was business as usual for the GOP and their sycophant networks -- defund the FBI, Trump is just a memento guy, "This was just a fishing expedition." etc. 

Then at 8 pm, BOOM - the Washington Post broke the news that the FBI searched Mar-a-Lago for stolen nuclear documents. 

All of a sudden, the story changed - even though Fox News still tried to minimize it, the whole world took the story much more seriously:

There are reports that when they raided the place, the FBI was looking for stolen nuclear secrets.
On the off chance it’s true, we’ve got technicians making sure our ‘caps lock’ buttons are working.

— Oak Bay Gazette 📰 🇺🇦 (@OakBayGazette) August 12, 2022

The article does not say what kind of nuclear documents, whether about American nuclear weapons or other nations'. It also does not say whether the documents relate to the deployment or the design of nuclear weapons. All that makes a difference in classification. 1/

— Cheryl Rofer (@CherylRofer) August 12, 2022

https://t.co/bUX0bRuZv7

— Cheryl Rofer (@CherylRofer) August 12, 2022

Government officials have expressed concern that allowing highly classified materials to remain at Mr. Trump’s home could leave them vulnerable to efforts by foreign adversaries to acquire them, a person familiar with DOJ thinking said. https://t.co/es0aah5WpN

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) August 12, 2022

1/3 Sources tell me the FBI took dozens of classified documents from Mar-a-Lago including TS/SCI information. That stands for Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information. It is among the most top secret level.

— Brian Entin (@BrianEntin) August 12, 2022

3/3 The storage room – I am told – is about 10x6 feet and there “were boxes everywhere.”

— Brian Entin (@BrianEntin) August 12, 2022

*Sighs, moves goalposts back to actual storage of nuclear weapons in closet*

— PerilousPlatypus (@PerilPlaty) August 12, 2022

11. But the point here is it is NO WONDER that the FBI executed a warrant. The focus now should be not on the search, but why the 🤬 Trump hung on to these documents, and why his supporters think that is very legal and very cool /END

— Asha Rangappa (@AshaRangappa_) August 12, 2022

"We fully support you Mr. Trump and we will defend whatever caused the FBI to raid your home to a hilt!"

Trump: pic.twitter.com/NUda6Dtwf7

— Nied (@B_Nied) August 11, 2022