A short thread on the #EspionageAct, now linked to the court-approved search warrant of former President Trump's Florida home:
2/
The espionage act goes back more than a century to World War One — it’s a sweeping, very broad statute that’s aimed at individuals who, the government claims, undermine the government by disclosing secrets that could harm national security
3/
The list of those who have been charged with violating the Espionage Act is long. Examples include Julius and Ethel Rosenberg — executed in the 1950s for being atomic spies
4/
The Espionage Act has also snared leakers of sensitive information — e.g. Chelsea Manning during the Iraq war — and former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden — who remains in Russia, under the protection of Vladimir Putin (shown here in Moscow in 2014)
5/
But the Espionage Act has also been used to charge individuals with mishandling government secrets. This is what appears to have ensnared Trump. Top secret documents — some with the highest security classification - taken by him and stored at Mar-A-Lago. Could = indictment
6/
Trump has a history of handling sensitive information in a loose, and dangerous manner. He used his personal cell phone while in office — an unsecured, unencrypted device — easy to listen in on. He ignored security warnings repeatedly
7/
It was reported in 2017 that during this Oval Office meeting with the Russia's ambassador to the U.S. and its foreign minister, he blabbed about sensitive information that placed a sensitive intelligence operation in the Middle East in jeopardy
8/
Trump also demanded that a security clearance be given to his son-in-law Jared Kushner — against the advice of security officers - who said that his business dealings would make him vulnerable
9/
Security at Mar-A-Lago itself has been shown to be vulnerable. You may recall the Chinese woman arrested for wandering around there a few years back — when she was arrested she had four cellphones, a laptop, an external hard drive and a thumb drive later found to carry malware

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More from @WestWingReport

Jun 5
Mini-Thread: Were it not for two events that are marking major anniversaries this weekend, our world, our place in it, and much that we take for granted, might be quite different:
2/
It's the 80th anniversary of one of the most momentous naval battles in history - certainly in U.S. history - one that turned the tide of the Pacific War: Midway. In one day, the United States got swift revenge for Pearl Harbor, sinking four Japanese aircraft carriers (more)
3/
Luckily for the U.S., its aircraft carriers were not at Pearl Harbor six months earlier, when Japan's sneak attack pushed America into the war. They got revenge at Midway. Here: "Famous Four Minutes" by R.G. Smith, showing the U.S. attack on the carriers Akagi and Kaga
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Mar 8
Min-Thread:
There is always confusion about energy prices, so if you'll indulge WWR for a moment, he (Paul) will try and clear up a few common (and understandable) misconceptions:
1) The United States does not import and export energy. Private sector companies do, with prices set by the free market. Producers (drillers and frackers) sell to the highest bidder - and often the highest bidder is overseas (more)
2) but U.S. refiners also import oil, which sometimes is cheaper - the market bounces up and down, as it does for any commodity. Futures prices (what a company will pay at a future date) are one way to lock in price, but futures have been rising for weeks in anticipation...
Read 7 tweets
Feb 24
Thread
Putin has called the fall of the Soviet Union the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century. Not World War II, when tens of millions of Soviets citizens were killed. Not the horrors of Soviet totalitarianism (thanks to his hero Stalin) that killed millions more
2/
Not the Holocaust, which began in force on Soviet territory itself. No, Putin said, the greatest catastrophe was the peaceful dissolution of the Soviet empire, which gave tens of millions their first exposure to true freedom That, he thinks, is the real tragedy
3/
The mindset of this lifelong KGB man is that the Soviet empire must somehow be restored. Prior to invading Ukraine, he sent, just weeks ago, troops into another former Soviet republic — Kazakhstan — to help thwart “outside interference.” And Georgia in 2008 and Crimea in 2014
Read 17 tweets
Feb 24
Dodging a Baltimore assassination plot, president-elect Abraham Lincoln arrived in Washington in secrecy - this day 1861. As Lincoln prepared to take office, seven states had already left the Union, and civil war was imminent (more)
2/
Allen Pinkerton, a private detective, had uncovered a plot to kill Lincoln as his train passed through Baltimore. Lincoln did not want to appear cowardly, but felt the threats were serious, and agreed to the secret arrival
This day, 1915:
Asked to speak out against the lynching of black women in the deep south, Woodrow Wilson was silent. The Civil War may have ended slavery in the United States, but not racial hatred; lynching—of men, women, even children—was commonplace
Read 4 tweets
Oct 1, 2021
Rebellion:
This day in 1794, President Washington led troops into battle in western Pennsylvania - to put down a rebellion by farmers who refused to pay a tax on whiskey. It showed the power and ability of the new federal government to suppress violent resistance to its laws Image
Lincoln - this day 1858 - two weeks before his final debate with Stephen Douglas (Calvin Jackson/Library of Congress) Image
Some think it unusual, if not sinister, that President Kennedy rode in an open car in Dallas the day he was killed, with guards far behind. Actually, that's the way he preferred it. Here: This day in 1963, in Washington. Same car (X100), same driver (Bill Greer) Image
Read 6 tweets
Aug 29, 2021
The death of American soldiers in an operation gone wrong is hardly grounds for a president to resign or be impeached. If it was, dozens of chief executives would have been in trouble. This day in 1862, the second Battle of Bull Run was a disaster for President Lincoln (more)
2/
Union forces suffered twice as many casualties as Confederate forces, and the defeat (the Union also lost the first Battle of Bull Run) left Washington wide open for an invasion by Robert E. Lee's troops
3/
Lincoln's leadership during the Civil War, and the massive loss of Union lives, soured even Republicans, who showered him with vicious criticism. In 1864, even Lincoln himself predicted that his re-election bid was utterly doomed
Read 5 tweets

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