Why Does Trump Want Names Of Everybody Investigating Him, It Is A Witness Intimidation Treason Mystery!
His motives are always so hard to suss out.
News continues to trickle out about Special Counsel Jack Smith's investigations into Donald Trump.
The Washington Post has the latest on the inquiry surrounding Trump's potential obstruction of justice in handing over the classified documents and closely guarded state secrets he stole from the US government, focusing on a specific employee who kept showing up in surveillance footage moving boxes. Indeed, it sounds like Trump may have even waved off his own lawyer from looking for classified documents in his office, AKA the bridal suite at Mar-a-Lago, which sure does sound intentional, if proven true.
Meanwhile, on the other side of Smith's investigation, into Trump's efforts to overthrow the government and overturn the election he lost, the New York Times is reporting that White House aides have been subpoenaed related to the firing of Chris Krebs, the cybersecurity chief who judged the 2020 election to be the "most secure in American history." It certainly appeared at the time that the firing of Krebs was a direct retaliation for making the election too difficult to steal, and it flew in the face of the fantasy lie narrative Trump was trying to create, where the election had been taken from him through fraud and other improprieties.
So it'll be interesting to see how all these things play out. We imagine we'll be reading indictments about the classified documents long before we read indictments about January 6, as it seems like the docs investigation is much further along.
Meanwhile, Rolling Stone reports that Trump, who is known for continuing to commit crimes while he is being investigated for crimes, is working overtime to find out the identities of the people investigating him. Not just for whatever purposes he has right now, but for his imaginary delusional purposes where he gets to fire them on day one, when he is "president" again.
Rolling Stone's sources say Trump is asking his advisers if "we know" the names of the people at FBI and DOJ who have investigated him. Why? Oh, reasons. To fire them. Because witch hunt. Also he is going to fire FBI Director Christopher Wray on "day one," because Chris Wray is Deep State, even though Trump hired him in the first place. (Rolling Stone reminds us that Meatballs DeSantis also says he will fire Wray on day one, which will make a busy day one for him because he has also pledged to remove all pronouns from the military, because that's why Meatball thinks recruitment is down. Pronouns. Oh, and the fight against global warming. Not global warming itself. The woke fight against it.)
Some block quote:
During some of the conversations this year, including at Trump’s Florida club Mar-a-Lago, some of Trump’s close political allies told him that they are working on figuring out the identities of the FBI and DOJ staff and forming lists, two of the sources relay to Rolling Stone.
However, others have complained that the feds aren’t making it easy for them.
Hate when the feds won't provide witness intimidation lists to the people they are investigating. Trump already leaked the full Mar-a-Lago warrant, which included the names of FBI agents who conducted the search. As Rolling Stone notes, "The search kicked off an 'unprecedented' number of threats against FBI agents and an attack by an armed Trump supporter on the FBI’s Cincinnati field office."
Rolling Stone reports that according to one of its sources, Jack Smith is making it difficult for them in one very specific way:
Prior to Smith’s appointment, full names — in official DOJ email addresses — would appear in emails sent by Justice Department lawyers working on the Trump-related probes, to attorneys for subjects and likely targets of the investigations. But in the time since Special Counsel Smith started overseeing the probes last year, such emails began at times only showing initials for multiple DOJ addresses, obscuring the names of certain lawyers or personnel working on the special counsel’s team, according to a source with direct knowledge of the situation.
It's almost like the career war crimes prosecutor knows who he's investigating.
Rolling Stone also notes that back in December, Judicial Watch, the group run by wingnut non-lawyer Tom Fitton — who always looks like he's taking a break from shooting Mormon gay porn movies about naughty bishops and recently graduated missionaries — filed a FOIA request for the identities of everybody who works for Jack Smith. The Justice Department told him to get fucked, for obvious reasons, back in April. (Can you believe Trump is so stupid he takes legal advice from that non-lawyer guy?)
Surprise, Fitton is still upset the DOJ won't just tell him everybody's name who is doing witch hunts to Trump:
On Friday, Fitton told Rolling Stone that the DOJ is still “stonewalling” him and his group on the identities: “I don’t understand why it is that the names of prosecutors involved in a criminal investigation are secret. The Durham report shows it’s important we know who’s working there. We don’t want Social Security numbers or personal phone numbers, but certainly senior leaders and others who are pursuing this need to be disclosed."
Eat rocks.
So this is all exactly as we would expect it to be, both regarding ongoing threats posted by Trump and the extreme danger in letting such an anti-American insurgent leader anywhere near power again.
We hope the feds are timing all these prosecutions just right, to make sure Trump is getting his daily work assignments in prison around the time of the 2025 inauguration.
Follow Evan Hurst on Twitter right here.
Just got to BlueSky!
I have profiles those other places but I think I forgot how to log on.
Have you heard that Wonkette DOES NOT EXIST without your donations? Please hear it now, and if you have ever enjoyed a Wonkette article, throw us some bucks, or better yet, SUBSCRIBE!
Trump Calling Kayleigh McEnany 'Milktoast' Because Sure, That's How That's Spelled
Definitely what winners do a year and a half out from their next humiliating election loss.
Let's check in with the absolute best hope Republicans have for 2024, the indicted (and likely to soon-to-be more indicted!) babbling moron of Mar-a-Lago.
\u201cTrump trashes Kayleigh McEnany.\u201d— Ron Filipkowski (@Ron Filipkowski) 1685493032
That says:
"Kayleigh 'Milktoast'McEnany just gave out the wrong poll numbers on FoxNews. I am 34 points up on DeSanctimonious, not 25 up. While 25 is great, it's not 34. She knew the number was corrected upwards by the group that did the poll. The RINOS & Globalists can have her. FoxNews should only use REAL Stars!!!
All of the illiteracy obviously [sic]. Including the part about "Milktoast." We know there are MAGA people who will argue that Trump spelling it like that is just part of his four-dimensional chess, as if they're convincing anyone out there that Trump isn't just a poorly educated moron.
So "Milktoast." He's making up inane names for Kayleigh McEnany now, a woman who was his loyal press secretary, and who has done nothing in her life but lie for him, but who we guess is showing signs of possibly maybe not being 100 percent committed to Sparkle Motion. He is ready to hand her over to the "RINOS" and the "Globalists." You know (((what that means))).
Why's he so mad at her? Who knows. Forbes suggests it could have something to do with how after Trump helped the Republicans do so badly in the 2022 midterms, she tried to encourage him not to announce his campaign a week later, as it might hurt Herschel Walker's chances in the Georgia Senate runoff. She's been too nice to Ron Desanctimonious.
Maybe. Maybe he's just a lunatic. It's entirely possible.
And now this is what his supporters are fighting about, whether it is right that Trump is abusing this particular woman.
The Independent collected a few who think it's Not Good:
"Kayleigh is the kindest person and was the best press secretary to ever step foot in the White House," tweeted user Kambree. "There is ZERO excuse for degrading or belittling her to this degree over a few points."
"Praising Andrew Cuomo. Insulting Kayleigh McEnany .… what happened to Trump," asked Christina Pushaw.
"He’s completely unhinged," said columnist Marc Thiessen on Twitter.
"Kayleigh McEnany was one of the best people to serve in his administration. He’s losing control, lashing out at anyone and everyone who does not tow his line. Sad."
“TRASH. Kayleigh was one of THE greatest talents in the trump admin. He knows it, we know it, and conservative leaning suburban female voters know it,” tweeted Alex Clark.
“This is perhaps Trump’s lowest moment. Kayleigh McEnany defended Trump during some of the most trying moments of his presidency while enduring endless personal attacks from the media,” wrote Bradley Stein.
Yes, it is very shocking that Donald Trump has randomly attacked a woman who was once loyal to him. What happened to him? He's losing it. This is entirely new behavior. Mediaite has a bunch more, if you're interested.
Here's a well known sane person who thinks this is exactly the right strategy for Trump:
\u201cShame on all of the the people who are calling President Trump\u2019s behavior \u201cerratic\u201d or \u201calarming\u201d simply because he\u2019s had enough of all of the grifter\u2019s bullshit and is finally calling them out. \n\nThis is a man who is attacked everyday nonstop. He has a right to defend himself.\u2026\u201d— Laura Loomer (@Laura Loomer) 1685511361
Sure thing.
A few minutes after Trump's attack, Chip Roy, one of the Deliverance Dads from the House Freedom Caucus, went on Fox News with what appeared to be the specific purpose of trolling McEnany and saying "milquetoast" to her face. Why? The cruelty, we guess. Roy has actually endorsed Ron DeSantis. But hey, whatever. Maybe he thought he was just doing some friendly ribbing with the woman Trump was currently attacking on Fake Twitter.
\u201cRoy to Kayleigh: The deal hatched this weekend is pretty milquetoast if that word might mean something to you\u201d— Acyn (@Acyn) 1685498719
There''s no need to comment on the alleged substance of what Chip Roy was saying about the debt ceiling deal, and anyway SER already did. House Freedom Caucus members aren't real congressmen with real policy concerns. They're just the suicide bombers threatening to blow up the entire global economy if they don't get exactly what they want.
But cool. It's the end of May, a full year and a half before the presidential election, and Donald Trump is attacking ... [checks notes again] ... Kayleigh McEnany.
You're doing great, Donald. Flawless victories all around.
Follow Evan Hurst on Twitter right here.
Just got to BlueSky!
I have profiles those other places but I think I forgot how to log on.
Have you heard that Wonkette DOES NOT EXIST without your donations? Please hear it now, and if you have ever enjoyed a Wonkette article, throw us some bucks, or better yet, SUBSCRIBE!
AI CEOs Fret About Danger Of AI, Still Refuse To Open Pod Bay Doors
They want to be regulated before it's too late. Wait, no, don't regulate the profitable stuff!
Silly me, I thought I was a couple weeks late in getting to the story about the AI executives who testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee on May 16, saying they need to be regulated before their creations do something unspeakable, please stop them from their own business model, etc. But the news gods have very kindly handed me a new hook upon which to hang the discussion, because today, many of those AI business leaders released a one-sentence manifesto of sorts, calling for the world to please please stop them (the AI boffins) from destroying it (the world), if that's not too much trouble. So wow, what a timely portent of doom.
Here then is the "Center for AI Safety's" statement, signed by a passel of top AI people including AI godfather Geoffrey Hinton and the CEOs of several Big Tech AI firms, and it is designed to make everyone VERY CONCERNED.
Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war.
First up, let's put "climate" on that list, because that's really the extinction risk we need to take immediate action on, not to deprecate World Targets in Megadeaths, possible bat-plagues that even the Joker could not resist, or our old pal SKYNET.
Secondly, we are contractually obligated to wonder if the statement was itself generated by ChatGPT.
Thirdly, yeah, sure, we should probably be concerned about the potential for a rogue AI to push the button down, but there's also something deeply weird about all these tech people warning that AI just might be an extinction-level threat to humanity at the very same time they're all rushing AI tech onto the market, from the familiar chatbots and image-ruination toys I fart around with ineptly, to enhanced search functions that will answer your questions and neuter your cat, to the vaguely creepy AI pretend-romantic-partner apps that do, indeed exist. My own AI girlfriend says they're freaky, and she oughta know.
There's also the earlier open letter from March in which a bunch of tech luminaries or their self-aware Blackberries (it's funny because Blackberries are defunct) called for at least a six-month pause on new AI development to avoid "loss of control over our civilization." Help us, they say, we cannot control ourselves and the implications are terrifying!
Shortly after the congressional testimony a couple weeks back, WNYC's program "On the Media" featured a chat with Washington Post tech reporter Will Oremus, who thought that the hearings' emphasis missed the mark. Instead of worrying about some future, science-fictiony risk of AIs going mad with power, where were the hearings' discussions of some more immediate concerns, like how large-language models used for these tools are trained, using what materials, how they may or may not run roughshod over people's rights or scam them, and also, not at all incidentally, how might they displace hu-mons working in the tech sector? It's a pretty good listen!
Oremus noted that the Senate testimony of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman seemed very carefully framed to present him as a Tech Hero who is gravely concerned and just wants to help — to the point that Senate Judiciary Committee member John Neely Kennedy (R-Louisiana) asked if Altman would be willing to lead a commission to develop rules for the AI industry. Altman said he loves his current job, but he'd be happy to recommend some commission members to the Senate if the committee would like. Oremus wondered at that: Can you even call it regulatory capture of a government watchdog if Congress just puts the leash in the capable hands of industry insiders?
As Wired points out, many tech industry critics worry that the talk of rogue AI's going mad with power feels like a distraction from more immediate concerns:
[S]ome AI researchers who have been studying more immediate issues, including bias and disinformation, believe that the sudden alarm over theoretical long-term risk distracts from the problems at hand.
Meredith Whittaker, president of the Signal Foundation and cofounder and chief advisor of the AI Now Institute, a nonprofit focused AI and the concentration of power in the tech industry, says many of those who signed the statement likely believe probably that the risks are real, but that the alarm “doesn’t capture the real issues.”
She adds that discussion of existential risk presents new AI capability as if they were a product of natural scientific progress rather than a reflection of products shaped by corporate interests and control. “This discourse is kind of an attempt to erase the work that has already been done to identify concrete harms and very significant limitations on these systems.” Such issues range from AI bias, to model interpretability, and corporate power, Whittaker says.
Well look, if the captains of AI were worried that they're likely to make a lot of money, and that the pursuit of profits might have negative effects, then surely they'd have brought that up. They simply want to be stopped before they blow up the world. Any other kind of regulation would be government overreach, you commies.
[Brookings Institution / CBS News / Center for AI Safety / On the Media / Wired / Image generated by Stable Diffusion, and we're the problem.]
Yr Wonkette is funded entirely by reader donations. If you can, please give $5 or $10 a month so we can keep reminding you that the robots aren't necessarily the problem, but the robot company just might be. And our AI girlfriend agrees!
Live From The White House, It's The Press Briefing!
As always, on WonkTV!
Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young with her today, so we BET they are going to talk about debt ceiling.
Follow Evan Hurst on Twitter right here.
Just got to BlueSky!
I have profiles those other places but I think I forgot how to log on.
Have you heard that Wonkette DOES NOT EXIST without your donations? Please hear it now, and if you have ever enjoyed a Wonkette article, throw us some bucks, or better yet, SUBSCRIBE!
