Posted on Dec 5, 2022
SFC Kathy Pepper
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Should these recent events disqualify him?
1. He took classified documents and stored them in unlocked rooms.
2. He had dinner with two known antisemitic men.
3. He is now talking about suspending the Constitution.

Should he disqualify himself? In 2020 he said Biden was too old to become President. If Trump is reelected in 2024, he will be five months older than the age Biden was in 2020.
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Maj Kevin "Mac" McLaughlin
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Edited >1 y ago
Speaking as someone who does not want him to run, I will still address your points. However, whether I vote for him or not, which is really the question, depends on the candidate the Dems put up should Trump win the nomination (which I do not think he will this time around).

1. He did not "take" classified documents, he retained them and fought with the Library of Congress as to whether he could continue holding on to them. The documents were not left in an unlocked room, that is a complete mischaracterization of the information released. They were stored in his resort in offices not accessible to anyone without authorization and he still has Secret Service personnel providing security to his Mara Lago resort. To say they were unprotected is a farce. Had this been the case, the FBI would have retrieved them a long time ago.

2. Maybe so and the facts are still coming out about that. Having dinner with antisemitic people does not make one antisemitic. You do know his son-in-law and his daughter are Jewish right? I assume you also noted his support to Israel as President right? The fact is, we have no idea how the dinner played out, what happened, what they may have talked about, etc. This is why it is important to get all the facts before judging people.

3. Trump, as usual, spoke irrationally and I personally think he never meant "suspend the Constitution" as he was referring to rules in general on the Twitter topic. He's frustrated about Twitter's actions to suppress information and rightfully so. However, the way he articulates his frustration and such is what I take issue with. Not because I believe he wants to do away with the Constitution. There are plenty of folks on the left who want to do away with all kinds of parts of the Constitution (Right bear arms, Electoral College, some even want to allow children and illegal immigrants to vote). What Trump said in typical Trump fashion, not separating and qualifying his statements, was stupid and yes, it is a big reason why I do not want him to run.

With that said, I will not be voting for him in the Primaries. The General election has yet to be determined, but a second term for Biden I believe will be much worse. Either way, we'd be screwed, which is why I say it is time for the American people to start promoting my generation (X) and end the Baby Boomer era of control over the office of the President (and several other significant positions). It's not their age I'm concerned about so much (although Biden absolutely looks like he doesn't know where he is or what he's doing), it's their ability to grasp today's issues and resonate better with the American people. Trump and Biden are both set in their ways and way too polarizing, so I have little desire to see either of them continue. There are better options out there. But if you think Trump or even Biden will "disqualify" themselves, I don't think you understand these people that well. In the end, even two new candidates will be turned into polarizing figures, but I didn't like either one of these two before they chose to run from President. Finally, if you're going to use those three points to call for Trump to disqualify himself, have you ever put thought to Biden's questionable actions and statements? They're essentially two peas in the same pod.
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Maj Kevin "Mac" McLaughlin
Maj Kevin "Mac" McLaughlin
2 mo
SGT Shawn Coulter Down vote for insulting anyone’s service. Keep it respectful please SGT.
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Maj Kevin "Mac" McLaughlin
Maj Kevin "Mac" McLaughlin
2 mo
I missed the other attack mentioned above, so I have added yet another down vote. This is not a place to question one's oath or service and I implore the moderators to take action please. In the meantime, I am now blocking SGT Coulter as he has demonstrated an unfortunate lack of respect to his fellow Veterans.
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SGT Warren Crutcher
SGT Warren Crutcher
2 mo
If Trump didn't care about the troops, why did he go to Afghanistan to be with them on thanksgiving and help serve them thanksgiving dinner. Donald Trump has done more to try and fix the VA system then any recent president. Joe Biden signed executive orders to reverse everything Trump did for the VA.
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PO1 Joseph Glennon
PO1 Joseph Glennon
18 d
MSgt Steve Sweeney - Who is the final arbiter (final authority) on what is or is not classified? Who has the final word on who does or does not get to see / hold / carry classified documents and information?
Who? The President? That's right. So, then-President Trump granted himself permission to see / hold / carry documents.
That's within his authority. Then-VP Biden? Not so much.
Let's hear your intellectual honesty condemn former VP Biden's boxes of classified documents in his unsecure garage. C'mon. Do it.
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SFC David Reid, M.S, PHR, SHRM-CP, DTM
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I hope not! In my opinion, he does not embrace our value system and integrity! These factors and questionable behaviors are not consistent with the leader of the free world!
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SGT Shawn Coulter
SGT Shawn Coulter
2 mo
SPC Suzie Clary - lol your clueless I know people with worse issues who went to nam nd you never lisito why he thought about people who join the military?
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SGT Shawn Coulter
SGT Shawn Coulter
2 mo
SGT Shawn Coulter - and for you who have never been in a combat zone ,I have it should look chaotic when you fly to anyone not part of it cause if it's predictable or too long you give the enemy more chances to attack you we got lucky we could have lost more if the enemy had more time to plan and set up or if things were predictable for you no one combat vets and none combat arms
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SPC Suzie Clary
SPC Suzie Clary
1 mo
TSgt William Cramer - Expand your news sources
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PO1 Joseph Glennon
PO1 Joseph Glennon
6 d
"In my opinion, he does not embrace our value system and integrity!"
The current president, who is also the Democrat nominee for the upcoming election, also "dodged the draft" with the same number of medical waivers as former president Trump. The current president has also had numerous allegations of sexual impropriety, including from his own daughter (written in her diary). He was also viewed and condemned for decades for touching / "sniffing" women who he had no objective right to be pawing.
The current president was instrumental in pushing through many of the racist laws that caused the imprisonment of many Blacks from the 1990s through today.
The current president *still* makes racially-divisive and condescending remarks - like at his recent campaign stop where he said that unlike Blacks, Hispanics weren't a simple people (yes, I paraphrased that).

"These factors and questionable behaviors are not consistent with the leader of the free world!"
Like LBJ did? Like Carter did? Like Clinton did? The last good Democrat president was JFK, and even he was a lech. Most presidents, in fact, regardless of party, have been immoral in their personal lives.

Your opinion is biased - but, that's okay, it's an opinion... just don't pretend that "your guy" is any better than "the other guy."
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LTC Eugene Chu
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Along with your three points, we need to remember additional accusations (tampering with Georgia electors, egregious tax fraud, January 6th involvement, etc.)

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/23306941/donald-trump-crimes-criminal-investigation-mar-a-lago-fbi-january-6-election-georgia-new-york
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SGT Shawn Coulter
SGT Shawn Coulter
2 mo
PO1 Terry Scott - remember your oath or did you forget it?
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SGT Warren Crutcher
SGT Warren Crutcher
2 mo
Tax records disproved the tax fraud that he was never charged with. New evidence has been released showing that he did in fact authorize national guard for Jan 6th and they refused to use them. The Georgia election accusations are also falling apart. what else do you have?
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CPT Ray Joakimson
CPT Ray Joakimson
7 d
It would be impossible for Trump to commit tax fraud as the IRS helps his tax lawyers prepare his tax returns because of their complexity. Then again if you asked six IRS agents a tax question, they would probably give you six different answers to your tax question so....
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CPT Ray Joakimson
CPT Ray Joakimson
7 d
SGT Warren Crutcher - Sergeant be careful when using facts with some people, because they can't handle the truth.
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Should Donald Trump run for President in 2024?
SP5 Renee Reif
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25
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age has nothing to do with this. trump is a criminal and should be imprisoned ASAP.
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LTC Eugene Chu
LTC Eugene Chu
1 y
SGT J M Porters - No indictments yet...but there are four separate investigations. Georgia elector fraud, NY tax fraud, willful taking and concealment of classified documents and January 6th insurrection attempt.

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/23306941/donald-trump-crimes-criminal-investigation-mar-a-lago-fbi-january-6-election-georgia-new-york
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SPC Suzie Clary
SPC Suzie Clary
10 mo
It's called lawfare.
Broward County, FL, judge and prosecutor broke over 58 laws to get Ken Hovind, aka, Dr. Dino, in prison for 8yrs and then tried to keep him there using USPS lawfare.
If you disturb the agenda too much, shake too many feathers, they come after you.
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Sgt Den OBrien
Sgt Den OBrien
2 mo
Update.....corrupt GA prosecutor "fanny" is in deep schumer, along with her jockey. Jack smith is disintegrating and self destructing. NY's alvin bragg illegally charged Trump for a federal violation that he has no jurisdiction over, and the rest of the b.s. will be getting a good slamming soon.
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PO1 Steve Newton
PO1 Steve Newton
2 mo
Im not sure politics is a good topic for this forum however whoever is in charge WILL be the commander in chief. That being said I am some what astounded by the anti Trum sentiment. Folks if nothing else look at what he ACCOMPLISHED during his administration. And look at what we have now. Use critical thinking.

I tend to ignore mean tweets, law fare and media attacks. Just look at what he has done and what he has promised to do. Yes Im voting for Trump.
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Michelle Dickerson
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Absolutely not. I don’t believe he exhibits any qualities necessary to be president. And the list of his failings is much too extensive to try to list here.
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PO1 Terry Scott
PO1 Terry Scott
11 mo
Because you don't have any. Yes he frosted my butt before he ran. I couldn't stand to watch him on TV. So the corrupt two levels of justice in this government isn't worse than Trump?
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MSG Stan Hutchison
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A simple answer to your question:

Hell NO!
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CSM Thomas McGarry
CSM Thomas McGarry
2 mo
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SGT Shawn Coulter
SGT Shawn Coulter
2 mo
CSM Thomas McGarry - not when we first went over and yes I was there 2002
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Sgt Richard Crouse
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Never should be allowed to step foot on Capitol grounds. January 6th. As a veteran I watch that whole thing live and was pissed off and even more livid when the cowardly republicans denied it was a riot caused by Humpty. Any veteran who agrees with that coward is a traitor themselves. He has betrayed our country and we have become weaker because of his lack of leadership.
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SPC Vincent Ferri
SPC Vincent Ferri
7 mo
Let's revive France's Devils Island and deposit Trump, his children and most of the GOP anarchists/obstructionists, right-wing evangelical christians (most of whom Jesus would not recognize as being christian) and radicalized mothers attacking school boards there. Then we should forget about them and get on with our lives.

Trump, his family and the GOP radicals are criminals, pure and simple.
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SGT Shawn Coulter
SGT Shawn Coulter
2 mo
SPC Vincent Ferri - true and by legal definition of terrorism trump and the terrorists who attacked the capital fit it
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CSM Thomas McGarry
CSM Thomas McGarry
2 mo
I can say many veterans disagree with your statement, if those in the Capital on Jan 6th were guilty of treason than why hasn't our very partisan Justice Dept charged anyone with that crime?
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CSM Thomas McGarry
CSM Thomas McGarry
2 mo
SGT Shawn Coulter - Are they the same as the antisemitic pro Hamas terrorist on the Left?
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SP5 Renee Reif
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20
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4d0e23a1
never forget that 45 connects with authoritarian dictators and endangers our country.
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SPC Suzie Clary
SPC Suzie Clary
9 mo
SPC Suzie Clary - Sorry, I can't delete above comment.
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SPC Suzie Clary
SPC Suzie Clary
9 mo
CPL LaForest Gray - Agreed. It was both the prosecutor and the judge in Broward County FL that unlawfully used RICO to imprison a creation science evangelist, Kent Hovind, and his wife for 8yrs; then tried to keep him in prison using USPS codes. His DVD series was changing a young generation. So they had to get him off the grid. His lawyer says they broke 58 laws to imprison him.
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SPC Suzie Clary
SPC Suzie Clary
9 mo
CPL LaForest Gray - (I hope I have the county info correct...)
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CPL LaForest Gray
CPL LaForest Gray
9 mo
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SPC Suzie Clary My last response pertaining to your on-going “round robin/red herring” rhetoric questions.

The FACTS are public documented historical records.

Reality of trump’s administration leaks.

A.) The Trump Administration’s Extraordinary Leak Investigations

A Times reporter on the news that Democrats’ and reporters’ phone data were seized by the Justice Department.

By Isaac Chotiner
June 16, 2021

SOURCE : https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/the-trump-administrations-extraordinary-leak-investigations


B.) The Intercept_

CIA DROVE SPIKE IN MEDIA LEAK INVESTIGATION
REQUESTS UNDER TRUMP

Records released by the Department of Justice provide new details about Trump's campaign against whistleblowers and leakers.
Jason Paladino, Nick Schwellenbach, Ken
Klippenstein
July 29 2021, 7:00 a.m.

SOURCE : https://theintercept.com/2021/07/29/media-leak-whistleblower-trump-cia/


C.) Leaks Of Classified Info Surge Under Trump
04.08.19

SOURCE : https://fas.org/publication/leaks-surge/



1.) JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
Under Trump, more leaks — and more leak investigations

There were 120 leak referrals for possible prosecution in 2017 and 88 in 2018, up from 37 in 2016 and 18 in 2015, according to a top intelligence watchdog.

Criminal referrals for prosecutions relating to leaks have surged in the Trump administration — likely the result of a big increase in unauthorized disclosures of classified information, a leading intelligence watchdog says.

The number of leaks that were reported as potential crimes by federal agencies reached record high levels over the last two years, according to data released by the Justice Department last week and reported Monday by the Federation of American Scientists, which monitors the intelligence community.

SOURCE : https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna992121



2.) TRUMP ADMINISTRATION REFERRED A RECORD NUMBER OF LEAKS FOR CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION

Efforts to crack down on leakers skyrocketed under Trump, according to a Justice Department document obtained via FOIA.

March 2 2021, 6:51 p.m.

THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION referred a record number of classified leaks for criminal investigation, totaling at least 334, according to a Justice Department document obtained by The Intercept under the Freedom of Information Act.

While leak investigations had already been on the rise under the Obama administration, which prosecuted more than twice as many leakers under the World War I-era Espionage Act as all previous administrations combined, that number still rose sharply under the Trump administration.

In 2017, there were a staggering 120 referrals for leak investigations from government agencies to the Department of Justice — higher than any year since at least 2005. There were also 88 criminal referrals for leaking classified information in 2018, according to the document, 71 in 2019, and 55 for the first three quarters of 2020, according to the most recent data available. By comparison, during the Obama administration, there were 38 referrals in 2016, 18 in 2015, and 41 in 2014.

SOURCE : https://theintercept.com/2021/03/02/trump-leaks-criminal-investigation/


3.) May 13, 2018 - Politics & Policy
White House leakers leak about leaking

SOURCE : https://www.axios.com/2018/05/13/trump-white-house-leakers-leak-about-leaking


BONUS -

The Cabinet

Established in Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution, the Cabinet’s role is to advise the President on any subject he may require relating to the duties of each member’s respective office.

President Donald J. Trump’s Cabinet includes Vice President Mike Pence and the heads of the 15 executive departments – the Secretaries of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Labor, State, Transportation, Treasury, and Veterans Affairs, and the Attorney General. Additionally, the Cabinet includes the White House Chief of Staff and heads of the Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Management and Budget, United States Trade Representative, Central Intelligence Agency, Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and Small Business Administration.

President Trump’s Cabinet

Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue

Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen

Director of the Central Intelligence Agency Gina Haspel

Secretary of Commerce Wilbur L. Ross, Jr.

Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher C. Miller

Secretary of Education Elisabeth Prince DeVos

Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette

Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency Andrew Wheeler

Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar

Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf

Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Benjamin S. Carson, Sr.

Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt

Secretary of Labor Eugene Scalia

Director of the Office of Management and Budget Russ Vought

Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe

Administrator of the Small Business Administration Jovita Carranza

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo

Secretary of Transportation Elaine L. Chao

Secretary of the Treasury Steven T. Mnuchin

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer

Secretary of Veterans Affairs Robert Wilkie


Vice President Michael R. Pence
White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows

SOURCE : https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/the-trump-administration/the-cabinet/
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SGM Civil Affairs Specialist
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18
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I can't believe this is even a debate among our profession....he's unfit to be our Cmdr. in Chief.
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CSM Thomas McGarry
CSM Thomas McGarry
9 mo
PV2 Larry Sellnow - Thanks your article from September 2020 duly noted. I'm also sure you watched the House testimony from the Gold Star families regarding the lies they were told by the current Administration regarding the deaths of their loved ones during the Afghanistan pullout right?
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1SG Signal Support Systems Specialist
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SPC Suzie Clary
SPC Suzie Clary
9 mo
No divorces. But somehow the wifey died while Jill was the baby and Joe sitter. They secretly married much earlier than the 'news' reports. Indictments.... innocent until proven guilty... sexual abuse convictions in a kangaroo court vs creepy joe smelling and fondling women and man handling little boys. No fraudulent charities or universities; just bs. Biden crime family covered up by fbi... treason on a serial basis. Shell bank accts moving foreign bribery/extortion monies.
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TSgt Andrew Harper
TSgt Andrew Harper
4 mo
CSM Thomas McGarry Stop changing the subject. We are not talking about hunter or his croonies, in my eye, they are all corrupt, every politician is. I take it you don't mind being called a loser and sucker.
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MSG Manuel Garcia
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18
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We can put lip stick on a pig and is still a pig. In other words it regardless how you want to paint as to what a person in government handles classified documents STILL a violation. Had it been an insignificant soul that violated basic classified documents protocol, that soul would have been locked up yesterday and there would have been no rebuttal. Seen it happen in my 35 years in the Army. It is obvious that some of you are still in the protective mode of his behavior.
You can’t say that had it been a Democrat you would feel the same, as MSG Sweeney stated, I call that bullshit too.
Trump prides himself in disrupting any normalcy. I have known of Trump’s behavior going back to 75 when I live in NYC.
Dude is mentally sick and he has been very vocal about it and shown it that he will brake the law and is up to you to prove it. He will clog the judicial system with appeals until it runs out of prosecution time and gets dismissed for lack of prosecution. If you support this POS, you are part of the problem as well.
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SFC Kathy Pepper
SFC Kathy Pepper
>1 y
MSG Manuel Garcia
I held TS/SCI clearance for most of my career, and the classified documents are a HUGE sticking point with me. You or I would be in “Iron Bar City” if we had taken even one classified document, but some people want to excuse his behavior because he claims he is entitled to keep them.
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SPC Suzie Clary
SPC Suzie Clary
10 mo
So somehow it was legal for Obama to store classified docs in unsecured places after his presidency (court ruled), but illegal for Trump to store classified docs in secured location. The ruling said the president can claim any papers as personal.
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CSM Thomas McGarry
CSM Thomas McGarry
7 mo
Yet MSG Garcia who claims he's held a TS clearance seems to have no problem in being able to turn a blind eye to the pretty stark violations of National Security committed by both Hillary Clinton and her home made server and our current President who it seems stored classified documents including TS documents in an unsecure garage and other places. These documents were from when old senile Joe was VP and even a Senator. Apparently the good MSG is such a partisan hack that he's willing to over look these cear violations of national security.
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CSM Thomas McGarry
CSM Thomas McGarry
7 mo
You probably need to read a little bit of news and stop being such a partisan pundit! Who was the one who recently used taxpayer money to help bailout a number of millionaires during the recent banking crisis? It sure wasn't President Trump! Also how does a President who has never held a decent job in his life except feeding off the government tit become a millionaire oh a government salary having never written a book or anything? Perhaps your the one who need to expand his source oon!n news and see if you can do anything to cure your Trump derangement syndrome, especially when it appears that your the one who may have little going on between those ears son!
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