Trump allies are morons. They believe criminal indictments will help Criminal Donald become more "popular" as they blame others for Donnie's crimes. These people are truly deranged. But MAGA suckers will keep sending Donnie their hard earned money. And anyone could have had access to these top secret classified documents at Donnie's residence putting the entire world at risk. That's how serious this is.
Trump allies thought indictment was a big political boost — until they saw the charges: analyst
Donald Trump's associates were initially hopeful that his being indicted in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case would be a good thing for him, by giving him a boost to his fundraising and polling — but they were horrified when they actually got a look at the indictment and realized he was on the hook for 37 charges including Espionage Act offenses and obstruction, reported Kristen Holmes on CNN Friday.
"What are you learning about the mood in Trump World tonight, now that they know he's been indicted, now that they've had a very riveting read and a very damning read in this indictment?" asked anchor Erin Burnett.
"We spent the day talking about Trump's orbit," said Holmes, adding that "there was a shift in the mood in Trump World."
"As we reported last night, some of these Trump advisers were feeling really bullish," said Holmes. "They were talking about how good this was going to be politically. I had one person tell me that they were happy that the indictment came before the fourth quarter was over because they were looking for a fundraising boost like they saw after that Manhattan indictment. Today it seemed to shift a little bit. Even this morning Trump played golf with a representative. Allies were calling Trump World trying to shore up support for the president. Once the charges were revealed, it took a shift once people started weighing what was in the document. It went from being political to legal. The legal implications of these charges. What is this going to mean? What is a trial actually going to look like? As you noted, how is this going to affect the election?"
"I had talked to a number of advisers who said, yes, this might help him win the GOP nomination," continued Holmes. "There is no doubt this will rile up the base. However, what is this going to do for a general election? It seems as though it wasn't a small handful of advisers I had spoken to, that a larger group that this perspective was starting to sink in. As we talk about the shifting view, looking at the legal aspect. As you noted, this is a day when Trump is rebuilding his entire legal team. He has two top lawyers who have resigned and he is looking at Miami-based lawyers right now. We know he is scouting that out."
"I have been talking to a couple of sources down in Florida who have heard about calls being made," Holmes added. "Something to keep an eye on. They are taking this seriously, and it really does seem as though the gravity has sunk in of the charges."
Never secured in any way': Reporter says anyone at Mar-a-Lago could have seen defense secrets
Former President Donald Trump's indictment for allegedly concealing classified information in boxes at Mar-a-Lago and demanding his attorneys destroy evidence subpoenaed by a federal grand jury is an unprecedent in American history.
But also unprecedented is the extent to which the former president put critical national security secrets at risk, as CNN's Kristen Holmes detailed out on Friday — because the photographed boxes of documents were in areas that had essentially no security at all.
"What do we know about how secure or insecure these documents, these classified documents containing important national secrets were when stored at Mar-a-Lago?" said anchor Jake Tapper.
"Well, I reached out to a Mar-a-Lago member when we got these," said Holmes. "We know it's not a house, it's a club that people have access to. But I wanted to know how much access. Were these pictures familiar to them? This is what this member told me. They said they have never seen anything, including that white and gold ballroom on there, locked. The direct quote is, 'Once you are on the property, you can really go anywhere. I do.' Being a private club, they can't really stop you from going into the public spaces. One thing to note, you do have to be a member to go on the property, but you can also be the guest of a member."
"This has been a long-term issue for security around the former president," Holmes continued. "We know that while he was president, his advance team, his body men, they had very specific protocols in place for when members brought an 'unsavory character' as a guest. That is, limit proximity to the president, not boxes in a room with an event. This source said they had taken guests to the ballroom on multiple occasions. Never had an issue going in and out of there. It was never secured in any way."
"The other thing to note, since he has been president, since these documents were there, we know that the protocols have gone wayside," Holmes added. "He had dinner with Kanye West. None of that was vetted by any staff. All of those protocols were no longer in place, which gives you an idea of who could have been on this property."
"Yeah," said Tapper. "And we should note, I said this earlier, go to Google and Google 'Mar-a-Lago intruder,' and you'll see at least two Chinese nationals were caught on the property; one of them was deported back to China. There is another allegation about somebody who appears to have been a con artist. Those are just the three we know about."
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