Photo: The 'My Boxes' Theory of Trump's Records Case

"I don't want you looking through my boxes," Donald Trump told his lawyers, according to court documents.

There have been several theories floated about why former President Donald Trump refused to hand records back to the National Archives, choosing instead to keep sensitive government documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in what has become Palm Beach's most famous bathroom. But the simplest and most durable explanation is the viral "my boxes" theory, which I initially hatched on Twitter: Trump likes boxes of stuff, and he wants to keep them. According to the federal indictment filed against Trump, he told one of his attorneys: "I don't want anybody looking, I don't want anybody looking through my boxes, I really don't, I don't want you looking through my boxes."

Comments

[Chumby]

Negative articles on Trump checks some boxes in the Koch support of Haley.

[InsaneTrollLogic]

We could make a drinking game of it. Every time Trump or DeSantis are put in a negative light to promote Charles Koch's choice, Haley, drink. The question is, who gets drunk first, and can it be done before noon.

[TwilaMiller]

I'm making $90 an hour working from home. I never imagined that it was honest to goodness yet my closest companion is earning 16,000 US dollars a month by working on the connection, that was truly astounding for me, she prescribed for me to attempt it simply. Everybody must try this job now by just using this website... http://www.Payathome9.com

[JesseAz]

They will never touch the Biden theory of his classified material even with it looking like Hunter used it to help his "business" ventures.

[SRG2]

LOL.

[Jefferson Paul]

Yes, JesseAz's theory for the trove of classified documents held by Biden is way more outlandish than the popular trope about Trump trying to use his documents to sell "nuclear secrets" to America's enemies.

[SRG2]

I'm not sure how popular the trope is. The likelier story is that Trump just likes bragging about the secrets he has. He has form for that.

[JesseAz]

Not a theory. The Hunter email looking like State information is public.

[Roberta]

Can anyone here remind me what's supposed to be good about Haley? Is she just for sale more cheaply than her competitors?

[JesseAz]

Return to normalcy of a neocon who presents as a false opposition to big government dems.

[Roberta]

So as P.J. O'Rourke said, "bad within normal limits"?

[SQRLSY One]

"Can anyone here remind me what’s supposed to be good about Haley?"

She is NOT The Donald, and she does NOT lust after a one-party dicktatorshit!

She does NOT subscribe to the below!

The Meeting of the Right Rightist Minds will now come to Odor!

Years ago by now, Our Dear Leader announced to us, that He may commit murder in broad daylight, and we shall still support Him! So He Has Commanded, and So Must Shit be Done!

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jan/24/donald-trump-says-he-could-shoot-somebody-and-still-not-lose-voters

And now, oh ye Faithful of the Republican Church, Shit Has Become Known Unto us, that Shit is also in His Power and Privilege Ass Well, to murder the USA Constitution in broad daylight. Thus He Has Spoken, and Thus Must Shit Be Done! Thou shalt Render Unto Trump, and simply REND the USA Constitution, and wipe thine wise asses with shit! Do NOT render unto some moldering old scrap of bathroom tissue! Lest we be called fools, or worse!

https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/03/politics/trump-constitution-truth-social/index.html

Proud Boys, STAND with TRUMP, and stand by! And if ye don’t agree 110%, then we don’t need you polluting our world, because all who disagree with us in ANY way are LEFTISTS!!!

There, I think that’s a wrap! I’ve covered shit ALL! You can take the rest of the day off now.

(You’re welcome!)

[Don't look at me!]

Trump tried to keep a lid on this story.

[Mockamodo]

Plus they showed that picture of boxes in the bathroom that the FBI put there as they were moving them out of the secure storage area and told the lefty lie that Trump had actually been storing them there. How dishonest does it get?

[Adans smith]

I've never liked Trump. I think he's an ass. He was a much better President then Biden. And compared to the people that has been trying to get him since before his election, a better person.

[sarcasmic]

It's still like comparing dog shit to cat shit. They're both shit.

[Roberta]

But dogs will eat cat shit, while cats won't eat dog shit.

[Moderation4ever]

By what standard is Trump better than Biden. Trump will likely go down as one of the worst, if not the worst President. What did get achieved was more the people in the administration, remember those who stayed to hold things together. Give me a metric that you can honestly judge?

[TJJ2000]

By any LIMITED government standard you want to apply.

Biden is nothing but another dictator and thief ... a trillion here a trillion there another billion here and another billion there ... ban gasoline, ban gas stoves, ban, ban, ban....

You need to seek pills for your TDS.

[Moderation4ever]

Limited government, so let's use Executive Orders (EOs) as a measure. Trump issued 220 EOs in his term averaging 55 per year. Biden has issued 127 to date averaging 45 per years. Your TDS is thinking Trump had any limits to his governing. Incompetence yes, limits no.

[TJJ2000]

Yes... Lets use EOs as an example...

Trump issues executive order to exit the Paris Accord, to stop subsidizing imports, to end Obama's EO's in healthcare. Biden re-enacts all of them first thing then goes on with pay-raises, environmental mandates, Infrastructure, More federalization of schools, vaccine mandates, woke training mandates....

You know this. But your TDS won't let you acknowledge it.

[Zeb]

Not getting us into any new wars is at least one better thing about Trump. Keeping DEI type training and indoctrination out of the federal government was good too. And reducing the number of financial regulations, not trying to find a backdoor to banning guns through ATF rule making.
There are lots of things I think Trump did awful on as well. But I'm having a hard time thinking of any that Biden isn't at least as bad on.

[Moderation4ever]

I would point out that Biden has not gotten the US into any wars either. Biden has carefully built alliances that support countries fighting invaders without direct American involvement. At least two years of the Trump Presidency were under a pandemic and most countries were addressing that pandemic and not fighting.

[BigT]

At least two years of the Trump Presidency were under a pandemic

Hmmm… pandemic started in US in March 2020 and Trump left office January 2021. How is that “at least two years”?

Dumfuk.

[Moderation4ever]

The infection began to spread in 2019 and as early as January 2020 Peter Navarro was warning Trump. That the former President did not figure it out till March 2020 does not mean it was not happening.

[Pear Satirical]

Wrong, Trump was warning about Covid in late January during his SOTU speech. The Dem response was to hug a Chinaman.

[rbike]

Ok. It is an issue that someone wants some privacy? So this commie web site wants support?

[Mickey Rat]

Well, there is no explanation of what the problem is in this stub of a post. Yes, the quote from Trump says he does not want his lawyers looking through the boxes. On the other hand, anti-Trump prosecutiors have taken to charging his lawyers with the crime of representing Trump in order to break attorney/client privilege, so maybe that is not as weird as it sounds.

[windycityattorney]

The lawyers were brought into it because the subpoena return included a certification by one of them that they had done a due diligence search of all of Mar A Lago and what they provided was all the documents responsive to the subpoena. Since that was a lie as the search warrant execution later showed; and Trump is charged with obstruction - the crime fraud exception applies. Note: the lawyers are not charged with obstruction. He used his lawyers to obstruct complying with the subpoena so attorney client confidentiality was lost.

And now we have reporting from at least one former Trump attorney who claims she advised Trump he had to comply with the subpoena or faced legal jeopardy. Which goes to state of mind for obstruction.

[BigT]

The Feds had no rights to Trump’s boxes, only the contents. Thus the evidence is fruit of a poisoned tree and inadmissible.

[SQRLSY One]

All criminals and wrong-doers DESERVE the privacy to HIDE their crimes and wrong-doings, dammit!!! ESPECIALLY if they are a "political leader" belonging to "Team R"!

[TJJ2000]

Imaginary crimes or what?

[Social Justice is neither]

Great you marxist cunt, when exactly are you going to do a write-up of the Obana semi truck of classified documents or those found scattered about the Biden properties? Sorry, forgot you were perfectly onboard with political prosecutions as long as they target Republicans.

[SQRLSY One]

Twatabout that them thar twataboutism, Twitter-Twatter-Shitter-Shatter?

Butt, whatabout that them thar whatabouts? Whatabout Hillary? Whatabout OJ Simpson?

How many brain cells does it take to run a socio-political simulation on the following:

Judge and Jury: “Murderer, we find you guilty of murder! 20 years in the hoosegow for YOU! Now OFF with ye!”

Murderer: “But OJ Simpson got off for murder, why not me? We’re all equal, and need to be treated likewise-equal!”

Judge and Jury: “Oh, yes, sure, we forgot about that! You’re free to go! Have a good life, and try not to murder too many MORE people, please! Goodbye!”

Now WHERE does this line of thinking and acting lead to? Think REALLY-REALLY HARD now, please! What ABOUT OJ Simpson, now? Can we make progress towards peace & justice in this fashion?

(Ass for me, I think we should have PUT THE SQUEEZE on OJ!)

[Don't look at me!]

Nobody reads your crap.

[SQRLSY One]

So your tinfoil hate-hat reads the minds of EVERYONE out there? Have ye had shit calibrated lately?

In truth, most of the HIGHLY WRONG people ignore what I write... Because they can NOT refute it!

In summary... Nobody reads (and gives credence to) your WRONG crap, who gives a SINGLE hoot about benevolence and truth!

[TJJ2000]

Put back on your tinfoil hate-hat chicken-little before the sky falls on it.

[Nazi-Chipping Warlock]

I don't even see it.

It's awesome. Though I admit I do enjoy seeing Sqrlsy as the end comment in a chain, or a dozen grey boxes of him like that in a row, with nobody paying any attention. Just ignored, like the worthless glossolalic that he is.

[SQRLSY One]

It’s awesome, that I (The BRILLIANT Genius One!) can single-handedly refute ANYTHING said by ANYONE... By NOT reading it!

(I can even do that with ALL of my slimy tentacles tied behind my back, while pinned underneath a boulder!)

[5.56]

They're right though, nobody reads your schizophrenic bullshit.

[Minadin]

Down here in the commentariat, a number of durable theories have been hatched, including the famous 'my private corporations' theory, which explains why it took Reason so long to object to the censorship of disfavored viewpoints in social media. (Not to mention traditional / mainstream media).

[SQRLSY One]

You mean like THIS?

Techdirt, Parler censors liberals. https://screenrant.com/parler-free-speech-censorship-users-banned/

[Super Scary]

No, not like that whatsoever. I don’t see anywhere in that article that says government officials pressured and even gave money to Parler for banning people it didn’t like. Twitter did that and there is proof of that occurring.

Hell, this 3 year old article even touches on the subject before actually getting to the meat of the Parler subject: “However, the platform has been changing recently and many of these changes have resulted in some feeling as though they are being silenced or shut down. ”

[SQRLSY One]

So WHO did Government Almighty fine, or put in jail, for NOT following Government Almighty’s suggestions, concerning socio-political discussions? Can you name me ONE such victim, in the USA, in the last 1 to 2 decades?

ALSO note that I (one of those "some people") feel as though I am being silenced or shut down by the Lizard People! And ass we ALL know... ALL feelings are Valid!

[Super Scary]

I'm not going to participate in this game that you play. Anyone can look up the "twitter files," including you.

[SQRLSY One]

NO ONE can name me ONE such victim, in the USA, in the last 1 to 2 decades... Including YOU! Whiners and cry-babies are a dime a dozen around here!

[TrickyVic (old school)]

Government bullying is ok as long as no one is jailed or fined.

[SQRLSY One]

Cry and whine some more, cry-baby! This, from sore-in-the-cunt cunt-sore-va-turds who support putting illegal sub-humanoid babies into wire cages, AND deliberately separating them from (and then losing track of shit all, who belongs to whom) their MomDads!

PUNISH my enemies and REWARD my FIENDS!!! That is ALL that hateful, tribalistic troglodytes can muster!

[TrickyVic (old school)]

""PUNISH my enemies and REWARD my FIENDS!!! That is ALL that hateful, tribalistic troglodytes can muster!""

Yet this sounds a lot like your posts.

[DesigNate]

I love that he still tries to hold himself out as some sort of libertarian when he says shit like that in response to government pressuring companies to censor users.

[TrickyVic (old school)]

Btw, the biggest whiners are the ones that like to type words in all caps.

[SQRLSY One]

Twat, is that supposed to convince me that putting babies into wire cages is the RIGHT thing to do? Or that there are ALL sorts of individuals who have been SEVERELY PUNISHED by Government Almighty, for posting WRONG opinions on social media? Forgive me, but... I've not seen ANYTHING here to change my data-driven mind!

[Nazi-Chipping Warlock]

I think the most obvious theory of prosecution is that he's super guilty of Being Donald Trump.

[SQRLSY One]

That's a LOT to be guilty of!!!

(I for one am gonna PUNISH Him severely by NOT voting for Him! Poor Baby!)

[TJJ2000]

As-if anyone thought you'd use your head instead of your partisan TDS to vote.

[sarcasmic]

Meanwhile the defense says he's super not-guilty because he's Trump and everything he does is grand, and besides that some Democrat probably did it first so that makes whatever he did ok.

[DesigNate]

That’s not what the defense says at all. Not even the sympathetic people in the media do that.

You know it’s possible to not like him, or have ever voted for him, and still see that all of these things are complete railroad jobs, right?

[windycityattorney]

The New York state case for paying off stormy daniels is a railroad job. The fraud case is trickier to define as a railroad job but I will give Trump the benefit of the doubt since the banks didn’t complain. The AG was kinda in a hard spot there because Cohen testified under oath to Congress that the Trump Org repeatedly inflated and deflated values to lower tax burdens and get better loan deals and most all of Trump business interests are New York companies. The State of New York therefore has the right to investigate the Trump organization business practices.

Mar A Lago documents case is nowhere near a railroad job. Its a clear case of obstruction after repeated attempts to simply have him turn over the documents and in the face of his steadfast refusals and bullshit games – the subpoena should have ended it. But he obstructed complying with that forcing the special counsel’s hand. If you are going to charge obstruction its good to charge the corresponding crime (what was he obstructing for?) for unauthorized retention of the documents he refused to (and obstructed) to return.

D.C. case is kinda wishy washy but given the events of Jan 6th there was a lot of pressure to charge Trump. Even if he didn’t commit all the crimes charged or they are unique- the events of jan 6th were unique. His behavior leading up to it and during it show he is unfit to be a leader of a boy scout troop let alone commander in chief of the combined armed forces of the U.S.

Georgia case is not a railroad job per se because there are violations of state law…but given the federal prosecution in D.C. touching on similar issues (fake elector scheme being part of the theory of that case) the State charges should have taken a back seat and waited for the fed case to conclude (regardless of whether Trump could pardon himself for fed crimes only if he somehow wins re-election). That pardon possibility shouldn’t factor into the charging decision and state’s routinely defer to federal prosecutions when similar conduct makes up both charges.

[Michael Ejercito]

the subpoena should have ended it.

So he had already exhausted appellate review?

Did he let a deadline lapse or something? Because the Supreme Court had not been presented with a petition for ceriorari regarding the validity of the subpoena.

and where was the contempt citation from the court that issued the subpoena.

Even if he didn’t commit all the crimes charged or they are unique- the events of jan 6th were unique.

It relies on unique interpretations of the law.

Georgia case is not a railroad job per se because there are violations of state law

A lot of the violations rely on unique interpretations of the law.

Even Glenn Greenwald and Michael Tracey are critical of the indictments.

[Zeb]

There is maybe something to the documents case. But the fact that he was president when he took possession of them makes it very unclear.
It seems absurd for the state of NY to be suing him. How was the state damaged? Why is it any of the state's business if none of the banks he supposedly defrauded have complained?
The DC and Georgia cases are absolutely nuts.

[sarcasmic]

Some are railroad jobs, but not all. Take the classified documents for example. All he had to do was give them back when they asked and that would have been the end of it. Most of the rest stems from his refusal to accept the outcome of the election and behaving like a child that's never been told "no." That by itself isn't a crime, but from what I've seen it led to some things that might be. All of it is a result of his gargantuan ego.

[DesigNate]

Not to re-litigate this argument, but if he violated criminal statues, just giving them back wouldn't have been the end of it. If they were civil violations, it makes no sense to charge him criminally.

I don't think anyone denies he has a big mouth and a yuge ego.

[sarcasmic]

"...but if he violated criminal statues, just giving them back wouldn’t have been the end of it."

Why not? Happens all the time. Prosecutorial discretion. Do what they say and they'll let it go, especially if they know you're going to put up a fight. I think that one was 100% created by him being petulant and dragging it out. But that's just my opinion.

[Zeb]

I'm sure he didn't help himself there. But people are clearly determined to get him on something, so I tend to doubt that prosecutorial discretion would have tilted in his favor.

[DesigNate]

You said what I was thinking better. Thanks!

[SRG2]

The "Trump as Gollum" hypothesis.

But we jes' know that what Trump did wasn't illegal because Trump did it! That's how we know that Trump is innocent of all crimes - because Trump did it and if Trump did it it's not illegal!

[DesigNate]

Said no one, ever.

[Chumby]

Shrike is a child trafficking ring wraith.

[SRG2]

That may or many nor be true, but I am not shrike.

[SRG2]

Not said explicitly, but that is nonetheless the tenor of the general defence of Trump here and elsewhere, that somehow when he breaks the law it doesn't count and further, that he shouldn't be prosecuted because TDS and Hunter's laptop and Benghazi, etc.

[Michael Ejercito]

A lot of it has to do with the contrived interpretations of the law that these prosecutions are based on.

[SRG2]

Some of it, certainly. But the documents case in Florida and the fraud case in NY don't rely on contrived interpretation. We shall see whither the Georgia case.

[Tony]

I go away for a while, and it appears the commenters on the whole have unified into a libertarianism distilled to one principal: Donald Trump and his supporters should be above the law. If they fail in a coup, they should be allowed to coup anyway, or at least not go to prison.

Libertarianism, small government for Trump, not so much anyone else.

[Michael Ejercito]

Just like the Cunt®™ (legally known as Hillary Rodham Clinton) is above the law?

https://ethicsalarms.com/2023/05/17/assorted-ethics-observations-on-the-durham-report-part-ii-the-substance/

Barack Obama and Joe Biden actively participated in the scheme, as McCarthy’s last paragraph above reminds us. This was genuinely impeachable conduct, far, far worse than the contrived grounds for Trump’s two impeachments.

[SRG2]

"Whatabout?"

[Michael Ejercito]

It is called precedent.

[DesigNate]

I maintain that anyone who cries whatboutism doesn't like their hypocrisy being thrown in their faces.

[SRG2]

And your maintaining would be misplaced. It is accurate to note that ME's response was pure whataboutism and did not address the point at all.

[Moderation4ever]

What I dislike about whataboutism and why I try to not use it is that too often the user is attempting to set up false equivalencies.

[Michael Ejercito]

The Cunt®™ destroyed evidence under subpoena.

Imagine if Trump actually burned the documents in question in a huge bonfire...

[Moderation4ever]

Except this is all BS. John Durham spent millions with nothing to show for the money spent. His report was little more than a rehash of the DOJ's own IG report. That IG report criticized some of the DOJ methods but did not find fault in the overall investigation of Russian action in the 2016 election campaign. We know that there were connections between Russians and the Trump campaign because Paul Manafort wrote about his own interactions in his book.

[sarcasmic]

Don't confuse those people with libertarians.

[Pear Satirical]

Oh shit, Tony is back.

[Moderation4ever]

I tend to agree with the My Box Theory. He simply wanted them and he took them. I doubt that he even looked at them before hand. His crime here is not taking them but rather not returning them when asked. I also fail to see why his last Chief of Staff, Mark Meadows is not being question about why this happened. As COS, part of Meadows duty would have been seeing to the transition which would include transferring materials to NARA. How did he let these boxes slip through the cracks and into Mar a Lago?

[TJJ2000]

Funny out of all the Presidents and Vice-Presidents before who kept boxes and kept them for entire decades ... It's only headline news, and endless headlines at that, when Trump does.

Witch-hunting 101.

[Moderation4ever]

No, they gave them back when they were found. Your trying Obfuscation 101.

[TJJ2000]

Post witch-hunting season. You might have a point if all your points weren't washed out the window by being retaliation cases for the BS against Trump in the first place.

[SRG2]

Did these other presidents lie and get others to lie about retaining documents?

[BigT]

Obama had the ‘Lie of the Year’ and millions of others. Many were significant disinfo about policy, not about crowd size. Much the more skilled and clever liar was Barack.