Utterly Not Believable and Just Plain Unbelievable

The possible motives for the Trump warrant and the imminent passage of the so-called Inflation Reduction Act push the bounds of belief.

AP/Steve Helber
An aerial view of President Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate, August 10, 2022. AP/Steve Helber

A day after Attorney General Garland’s “Where’s the Beef?” press conference, the Mar-a-Lago search warrant has been unsealed. President Trump has said that he’s never had a problem showing all the documents to whomever wants to see them. 

As noted yesterday, the search warrant and the redacted inventory list is of virtually no use whatsoever. The only thing that really matters is the application for the warrant, which will contain affidavits of probable cause for evidence of federal crimes.

The only way that’s going to see the light of day is if an actual case is brought in court and the affidavits are shared by the prosecution with the defendant. We’re a long way from that, but that’s where the actual “beef” would be found.

I see one of the search warrant leak articles, from my friend Betsy Woodruff Swan of Politico, is reporting that federal law enforcement was investigating Mr. Trump for removal or destruction of records, obstruction of an investigation, and violating the Espionage Act.

I find these charges to be utterly not believable. Completely and utterly not believable. Because the former president was fully cooperating with the FBI, this past spring, the idea of an imminent risk of documents being destroyed or concealed seems totally far-fetched, as John Solomon has reported.

What’s more, if the FBI was so crazed about document destruction or concealment, why did it wait three days from the time it got the warrant until it actually raided Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach?

Perhaps the agents got in a couple of rounds of golf at the beautiful Mar-a-Lago course with one of their inside sources.

As far as documents labeled “confidential” or “secret” or “top secret” or “TS/SCI” — that is, Sensitive Compartmented Information — I can tell you from my own experience in the White House that most of that stuff, indeed the vast majority of that stuff, is unnecessarily classified. Because you can get the bulk of it from your local newspaper.

As the late Daniel Patrick Moynihan wrote several decades ago in his book “Secrecy: The American Experience,” the federal government’s obsession over non-secret secrecy is insane. 

Now, if the secret codes to the nuclear football were hanging around, that would be a problem. But I kind of doubt that, don’t you?

Frankly, I still see this outrageous DOJ-FBI invasion of Mar-a-Lago as a January 6 fishing expedition to weaponize law enforcement for the simple political motive of keeping Mr. Trump off the ballot in 2024. Show me some real beef to the contrary, and I will change my mind.

Our second big topic to discuss is the imminent passage of the so-called Inflation Reduction Act, which neither reduces inflation or the near-term budget deficit nor provides any economic growth incentives to fight recession. 

This bill is another massive attack in the war against fossil fuels — and a huge giveaway to special interest groups and wealthy individuals in the name of fighting global warming.

Meanwhile, middle-class families will see a sizable tax hike, with those earning less than $100,000 a year facing a 77 percent probability of higher taxes. Also, there’s a new EPA slush fund and there are 87,000 IRS agents armed to the teeth and chasing after so-called underreported income from middle- and lower-income people, Uber drivers, the gig-economy, waitresses, and unincorporated small businesses. Retirees and pensioners will face a new tax on their savings, as will small pass-through businesses. Roughly $750 billion in new spending combined with nearly $300 billion in the CHIPS+ corporate welfare bill threatens higher, not lower, inflation.

Drug price controls will make life-saving drugs more, not less, expensive.

It is a pathetic piece of legislation. It is the wrong bill. At the wrong time. For the wrong country. We tried hard to save America and kill the bill. We should also try hard to stop these crazy hoaxes perpetrated against President Trump.

From Mr. Kudlow’s broadcast on Fox Business News.


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