There’s been a flood of information on the purloined classified papers case in the last week as well as a literal flood at Mar-a-Lago last fall. A flood? I am not making this up.

CNN, proving it’s not entirely licked by the Licht mishigas, broke the story yesterday:

“An employee at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence drained the resort’s swimming pool last October and ended up flooding a room where computer servers containing surveillance video logs were kept, sources familiar with the matter told CNN.

While it’s unclear if the room was intentionally flooded or if it happened by mistake, the incident occurred amid a series of events that federal prosecutors found suspicious.”

It turns out that Team Trump is better at draining pools than swamps. Deliberate or a bizarre accident? Either is possible. It strikes me as a clumsy way to obstruct justice but no clumsier than this:

Tricky Dick let his secretary take the fall for the 18 minute gap so it’s likely that the Kaiser of Chaos will hang his valet and pool man out to dry for this suspicious flood. Holy mixed metaphor, Batman.

I’ve had Watergate on my mind because of the excellent limited HBO series The White House Plumbers. Woody Harrelson is so good in it that he almost made me like E Howard Hunt.

Enough scandal nostalgia. Back to the scandal at hand.

The pool at MAL isn’t the only thing that’s leaking. Trumpist lawyers, witnesses, and potential defendants have leaked a series of stories harmful to the Indicted Impeached Insult Comedian. Lordy, there are tapes.

One recording  in particular makes it clear that Trump knew he wasn’t supposed to have classified material at his Florida crib. Intent is often the hardest thing to prove but Trump’s indiscreet public statements and private actions have provided the DOJ with evidence of his mens rea, which is a fancy way of saying intent.

Lost in the shuffle of floods, weird public defenses, and campaign rallies is the fact that the government always prosecutes these cases regardless of the motive. Most of the prominent possessors of purloined papers plead guilty including General David Petraeus and Clinton Nat Sec adviser Sandy Berger.

Repeat after me: This is the Trumpiest crime ever. If former President* Pennywise had returned the documents voluntarily, we wouldn’t be having this discussion. But he thinks this is an unconstitutional monarchy and he’s king. That’s why I call him the Kaiser of Chaos.

I realize there’s skepticism out there about Merrick Garland but once Special Counsel Jack Smith was appointed the die was cast. The die to die for is an indictment of Donald John Trump. People who spend too much time on the Tweeter Tube are shaking their heads just now: they’re certain Garland will cave. I am just as certain he will not. John Durham praised Garland for not interfering in his inquiry. Why would he be less deferential to his own appointee? Even Bill Barr thinks charges are inevitable.

I had a bizarre colloquy with a writer I admire via Twitter direct message. I’m leaving their name out of it because I still like and respect their past work. They publicly claimed that Merrick Garland is a Federalist Society mole. The proof: Garland appeared on a panel at some Federalist Society event many years ago. That’s it. I pointed out that if Garland were a mole, Mitch McConnell would have let his SCOTUS nomination be voted on.

Trump Derangement Syndrome is a terrible thing. It turns otherwise sensible people into paranoiacs like James Jesus Angleton, CIA mole hunter.

I need a palate cleanser after that distasteful discussion:

I think indictments are imminent in the wake of two stories. First, it is customary in cases such as this for a target’s lawyers to meet with prosecutors and give them a good reason not to indict. That happened yesterday. The Trump mouthpieces claimed the meeting was about prosecutorial misconduct but that’s just another story from the Trumper bullshit factory.

Second, after a hiatus the grand jury will meet this week. There’s a decent chance that charges will be presented and voted on this Thursday or Friday, which is when they’ve met since being empaneled. That doesn’t mean an indictment will be made public, it could be sealed until next week. But it’s time for DOJ to move on this case given its political import and implications. If you don’t believe me, I’m merely echoing The Puppetmaster:

A zillion stories about Trump case — but bottom line is he is getting charged and it will be in DC. And this week.
Open issues are whether others may be charged and whether they will be in DC or FLA.

— Andrew Weissmann 🌻 (@AWeissmann_) June 5, 2023

I could be wrong about all of this, but indications are that indictments in the purloined papers case are on the way. Until then, the indictment watch continues.

The last word goes to Peter Gabriel: