Kash Patel whines that "brown lives matter" after getting a star billing in the Mar-a-Lago affidavit
Most MAGAs say that the Mar-a-Lago affidavit should be released unredacted because Americans deserve ‘transparency’. Kash Patel, one of Trump’s unqualified, off-the-books functionaries disagrees. In a monument of hyperbolic overreach, he blames his publicity on the deep state and curses them for endangering him. From whom, he does not say. But he is pissed.
“Today marks another vicious attack from DOJ/FBI who intentionally jeopardized my safety by un-redacting my name in the most reviewed search warrant in the history of the United States. This cartel of corruption inside our government is so devoid of concern about national security, they could not be bothered to see the judge in-person. Instead, they literally called in the raid on the home of a former president via the FBI’s best friend, Zuckerberg’s WhatsApp.”
As always, the irony is in the projection. Patel knew his boss was storing sensitive information in a broom closet with no concern for “national security”. But he maintains the problem is a WhatsApp text sent to get permission to safely return the highly-sensitive material — which our enemies would do anything to get their hands on — to a secure location.
He only has himself to blame for being in the affidavit in the first place. Rather than keeping mum, he wrote a piece for Breitbart in which he claimed Trump was innocent of criminality because the ex-President had declassified all the documents he had stolen. As the FBI agent preparing the document wrote,
“I am aware of an article published in Breitbart on May 5, 2022, available at www.breitbart.com/..., which states that Kash Patel, who is described as a former top FPOTUS administration official, characterized as ''misleading" reports in other news organizations that NARA had found classified materials among records that FPOTUS provided to NARA from Mar-a-Lago. Patel alleged that such reports were misleading because FPOTUS had declassified the materials at issue.”
Many conservatives have used the “everything was declassified” meme as justification for Trump’s sloppy, or worse, security practices. But legally, that is a non-starter. The affidavit revealed the probable cause to believe that Trump had committed the following crimes
the concealment, mutilation, or destruction of government documents.
the unauthorized possession of and refusal to return national defense information.
the intent to impede, obstruct, or influence the investigation.
None of these crimes rely on the documents having a security classification.
More disturbing is that, even if Trump had declassified the documents, the information they contain on foreign agents and intelligence gathering methods is still the same. Which raises the question, what was Trump doing with these documents? He does not read — except for his own media coverage and anything that could make him money.
As Trump and his team repeatedly denied he had kept anything — and knowing Trump’s transactional nature — it is reasonable to consider that the ex-President was shopping America’s secrets around. To most of us, that seems inconceivable. But Trump is a man devoid of any concern for others. It would not trouble his conscience if his actions sent foreign assets to gulags - or worse. He is, after all, a man who thought his VP should be hanged — by a lynch mob.
And talking of violence, who are the people promoting it? From the beginning of his run for the White House, Trump has repeatedly encouraged his followers to get physical — and make war, not love.
In the unrest after the George Floyd murder, he tweeted, “we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts.” He told the residents of several states protesting COVID restrictions to "LIBERATE MICHIGAN!; LIBERATE MINNESOTA!; LIBERATE VIRGINIA, and save your great 2nd Amendment. It is under siege!" (2nd Amendment — could he be any clearer?)
He asked the police to bang up suspects. "When you guys put somebody in the car and you're protecting their head you know … You can take the hand away, OK?” And he played down the violence at Charlottesville by saying there were "some very fine people on both sides" - after one side had killed a woman.
And infamously, he watched with tumescent glee as ‘his people’ stormed Congress on 1/6 and threatened America’s legislative branch, with God knows what results had they got their hands on the lawmakers.
If Patel wants to blame someone for his unease, it must be Trump. But he can take solace that no one knows who he is or could pick him out of a line-up. Unless his whining has made him an exemplar of the Streisand effect. I doubt it. No doubt Patel has a healthy self-regard. But no one else gives a damn who he is — unless some other MAGA thinks he has done the big man a wrong and takes action. Oh, sweet irony.