All the experts are saying that the Maralago documents investigation is in its "early stages".

[kentuck]

It's going to take a while.

Trump believes he can somehow get it into the court system and do his trick of delaying it until it dies. He wants to evoke the Fourth Amendment for illegal search and seizure. "Illegal" to search and seize Top Secret documents that were stolen and were related to national security? Would they really take that case to court?

They will need to make a damage assessment, which might take some time? They will need to know if any of these documents were seen or transferred to a third party?

The primary goal of the FBI had to be to retrieve the documents that were at the former president's home as soon as possible. He simply could not be trusted with our national security. Simple as that.

They can have excuses galore but nothing that has a leg to stand on.

This investigation will take months, if not years, to finish. There was so much criminality that as soon as they turn over one rock, there is another rock waiting to be turned over.

I doubt there is going to be any quick resolution to this investigation. Unless, of course, the Republicans regain power.

[gab13by13]

1. I could be wrong about this,

but I remember DOJ telling the National Archives to do the investigation initially. It took a criminal referral from the National Archives before DOJ got involved.

Kentuck, I have gotten spanked here, alerted on because I kept urging DOJ and Merrick Garland to act. I never believed that Merrick Garland was not a patriotic, honorable patriot. My argument from the very beginning has been about time constraints.

How long do you think it would take to just get Trump before a grand jury? Heck how long would it take to get Mark Meadows?

Letitia James has been pursuing her civil case against Trump for 3 years and Trump has just made another appeal to have the case dropped. Even Fani Willis in Fulton County is only at the special grand jury stage.

Trump will never go to trial before 2025, if at all.

[kentuck]

2. If you have money and are intent on obstructing the justice system...

...it can be done. As Trump has shown for his entire adult life.

[yourout]

3. If they find he has made digital copies things will get very interesting.

If they find he has made digital copies things will get very interesting.

[Scrivener7]

4. 18 months after those most top secret documents went walkabout.

[fightforfreedom]

7. That is one of the problems I have with this entire investigation.

I knew the DOJ investigation into Jan 6th was going to take time. that made sense. The stolen documents investigation makes no sense.

There was no reason not to move quickly. Top secret documents sitting in an un-secure location for 18 months? That's crazy. Now their going to take years to investigate. What a failure.

[Cosmocat]

8. Its an excuse

Not from the OP personally, but all of this shit.

The lack of urgency is mind bending.

American democracy is literally one election from being completely dismantled at this point.

[Wounded Bear]

5. We know that trump didn't haul all those boxes himself...

other people are involved. We need to keep Dems in charge to continue the investigations.

[H2O Man]

9. +1

[ForgedCrank]

6. I'm not

an expert as claimed by whoever is making these statements, but they've had the materials for well over a week now.
It should be a clear distinction regarding what he was allowed to have and what he wasn't. Sure, that takes time, but not this much time. It's not like they tossed the evidence in a closet and said "we'll get around to that some day". The more time passes, the more skeptical I get. At this point, I'm starting to figure the greasy orange ass got by with it AGAIN.

[fightforfreedom]

11. Same here, I believe he may get away with it, incompetence comes to my mind.

The FBI has been getting their ass kicked by Trump for years. He is going to go after the FBI agents involved in the search. He is going to make their lives hell. He has done it before. The FBI doesn't seem to understand who the hell they are dealing with, still. There is no telling what Trump did with those secret documents as the DOJ spent many months pleading with Trump to give them back. WTF!

This is crazy.

[Scrivener7]

12. They have also already determined that the 15 boxes seized in FEBRUARY

contained top secret documents.

So, really, they have had the material they need for 6 months.

[H2O Man]

10. Recommended.

I agree that it won't result in an indictment any time soon. It is likely that the affidavit will not be unsealed in any form before the November elections, since the DOJ can appeal any decision the judge makes.

However, the republicans cannot change the course the investigation is on, unless and until they win the White House. So I'm good with knowing that the DOJ -- which always moves slowly -- is using extra care on an investigation this important. For it is not simply a matter of Trump having the documents ..... it includes what he has done with various ones.