Nigel Farage Speaks Too Soon

After the FBI arrived at Mar-A-Lago, the Florida retreat of Combover Crybaby Donald Trump, armed with a search warrant, and proceeded to execute it, there was the now customary sight of all those Trump cultists out there on the right pretending that The Great Man had been the victim of a politically motivated witch hunt, and that there was Nothing To See Here.

One of those sounding off the loudest was former Brexit Party Oberscheissenführer Nigel “Thirsty” Farage, whose initial reaction to the FBI search was to combine the pitching of a batshit conspiracy theory and a little self-promotion: “Shocked to wake up and hear about the raid on Trump's Mar-a-Lago home. The deep state truly does exist” was his first reaction.

Having pitched the conspiracy theory, the self-promotion followed: “I will be on [GB News] at 9.20am to respond to the appalling raid on Mar-a-Lago. Is America becoming a Banana Republic?” And so it came to pass that he rocked up at Gammon Broadcasting News (“Bacon’s News Channel”) to say something he may soon come to regret. Because he was talking crap.

“Utterly appalled. Shocked … there’s been a witch hunt against Donald Trump ever since he was elected in 2016 … they’re scared of Donald Trump … to any fair minded person [!], they’re going to say, how on earth can this be happening in 21st Century America”. And then he dropped the clanger.

Might Trump have hung on to papers he shouldn’t have had? Mr Thirsty laughed at the thought. “The idea that Donald Trump would take documents from the White House and keep them in Mar-A-Lago is utterly ludicrous … there was no plan for this [the storming of the Capitol] to happen on January 6th and therefore those documents won’t exist .., and do you honestly think that if he had taken documents, that they’d be stored at Mar-A-Lago?”

This conceit was repeated on Farage’s own GB News show. “Overnight, the FBI have raided Mar-A-Lago, they’re seeking documents from the Oval Office, that they somehow think Trump has kept … well, had he ever planned a coup, on the 6th January, I doubt he’d have been stupid enough to keep the documents, and certainly not take the documents back to his home”.

As recently as last night, he was doubling down on the ridicule. “The idea that Donald Trump would keep top secret documents from the Oval Office at Mar-a-Lago is laughable. This is a set-up and people won't believe it”. So, as regards what the FBI found at Mar-A-Lago and took away with them, as Cilla used to say on Blind Date, shall we have a look and find out?

We get a flavour of what was discovered by the “Receipt for Property” given to Trump by the FBI following their visit. This noted such items as “Info re: President of France … Various Classified TS/SCI documents … Miscellaneous Secret Documents … Miscellaneous Top Secret Documents … Miscellaneous Confidential Documents”. The Washington Post had more.

“FBI searched Trump’s home looking for nuclear documents and other items … Experts in classified information said the unusual search underscores deep concern among government officials about the types of information they thought could be located at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club and potentially in danger of falling into the wrong hands … People familiar with the investigation did not offer additional details about what type of information the agents were seeking, including whether it involved weapons belonging to the United States or some other nation”. So is this as bad as it sounds?

Brian McBride’s observation suggests it is: “CNN analyst says the intel Trump stole are so sensitive that FBI agents will begin FINGER PRINTING each document to find out who actually touched them”. And what was that about “Various Classified TS/SCI Documents?” Asha Rangappa had that covered.

The former FBI Special Agent mused “Unpacking the Espionage Act, 18 U.S.C., Chapter 36. We are concerned here with Section 793 - Gathering, Transmitting, or Losing Defense Information … [S.793 concerns] info which the person who has them has reason to believe could a) be used to the injury of the U.S. or b) to the advantage of a foreign [Government]”. Do go on.

Trump has claimed he unilaterally declassified some material, which he could as President, but not as an ex-President. However, “it appears that nuclear secrets cannot be unilaterally declassified…which makes sense, [because] you can imagine that we might not want to leave secrets that could involve blowing up the entire planet in the hands of one individual”.

Whether or not Trump was allowed to retain such information, “it is a violation of the Espionage Act to wilfully retain such information and fail to turn it over to an official who is lawfully entitled to receive it … That is, it appears, what Trump has done … If he affirmatively conveyed it to a foreign government … it would be a violation of Section 794…which … can carry the death penalty”.

And there is Nigel Farage blustering away in defence of The Donald, but managing to miss all those inconvenient facts. Why would he do that so readily, so willingly? You might wish to ask that - I couldn’t possibly comment.

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