Donald Trump’s indictment of James Wolfe is full of holes

| 1:13 pm EDT June 8, 2018
Dear Palmer Report readers,

We all understand what a dark era we're heading into. Journalists will be prosecuted. Major media outlets are caving to Trump already. Even the internet itself and publishing platforms may be at risk. Advertising networks can't be counted on. But Palmer Report is nonetheless going to lead the fight, because someone has to.

In that regard we're looking to start funding our 2025 operating expenses now, so we can keep publishing no matter what happens or how dark things get. We've launched a reader supported fund, and we've already raised $3360 and counting. I'm asking you to contribute if you can, because the stakes are just so high. You can contribute here. Thank you in advance.
Sincerely,
Bill Palmer
Palmer Report

Donald Trump thinks he’s finally found a way to scare the media into backing down when it comes to exposing his criminal scandals. He’s seized the communications of a New York Times reporter, and landed an indictment against the reporter’s government source. Of course that’s only going to motivate the media to work even harder to take him down. But Trump also has another problem: the indictment is full of holes.

The indictment against James Wolfe alleges that he leaked that former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page was “MALE 1” four days after Page’s identity had been exposed elsewhere, as pointed out by Polly Sigh on Twitter. You can’t “leak” something that’s already become public. At least in this instance, there’s no crime here. Besides, Page quickly confirmed that he was in fact MALE 1, making clear that he didn’t see this information as being injurious.

There are, of course, other aspects to the indictment of James Wolfe. But it’s taken all of a few minutes for people on social media to do the research and figure out that this indictment is full of holes. How many more errors and/or non-crimes might we end up finding in this indictment? If the mainstream media properly plays up the illegitimacy of this indictment, then Trump and his goons will end up looking very abusive – and very foolish – for having gone after Wolfe in such an inappropriate manner.

It’s long been said that federal prosecutors can get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich, because all that’s required is for the jurors to believe that there’s enough evidence such that a trial should take place. The grand jury doesn’t have to be convinced that the target of the indictment is actually guilty. It looks like this indictment may fall apart rather quickly. If Wolfe lied to the FBI as alleged, then there’s no getting around that – but this whole thing looks like it might blow up in Trump’s face.

Dear Palmer Report readers,

We all understand what a dark era we're heading into. Journalists will be prosecuted. Major media outlets are caving to Trump already. Even the internet itself and publishing platforms may be at risk. Advertising networks can't be counted on. But Palmer Report is nonetheless going to lead the fight, because someone has to.

In that regard we're looking to start funding our 2025 operating expenses now, so we can keep publishing no matter what happens or how dark things get. We've launched a reader supported fund, and we've already raised $3360 and counting. I'm asking you to contribute if you can, because the stakes are just so high. You can contribute here. Thank you in advance.
Sincerely,
Bill Palmer
Palmer Report