Mary Trump, niece of former President Donald Trump and a trained clinical psychologist., wrote in her book entitled, “Too Much and Never Enough — How my Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man,” “If he can in any way profit from your death, he’ll facilitate it, and then he’ll ignore that you died.”
In my opinion, if Donald Trump could profit from the release of classified information, he’d facilitate it, and then express outrage if the Department of Justice responded to prevent such release. According to the Washington Post, on May 15, 2017, Trump released classified Israel intelligence to the Russian Foreign minister and ambassador without consent of the Israel government. Now the FBI executed a search warrant seeking classified materials held by Trump at his Florida residence. The Republican Party pundits predictively are screaming foul belying their support of national security.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the FBI recovered 11 sets of classified documents during their search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence. Some of the material was classified as Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information. While all classified materials need to be retained at all times within a locked safe approved by the Department of Defense, and while access to all compartmentalized materials requires the appropriate security clearance including special access clearance as well as a need to know. Furthermore, all materials shall be maintained within a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility. Mar-a-Lago does not meet the requirements to be authorized as a SCIF and I doubt that any members of Mar-a-Lago possess the requisite credentials.
On Mike Garcia’s website “Support Mike Garcia for Congress,” in which he asks for contributions for his campaign for the new 27th District, Congressman Garcia is pictured in his flight suit along with his son and an F-18 in the background. While Congressman Garcia is recognized as a family man and a former Navy pilot, for which he has every right to be proud, as a former Navy pilot and manager for Raytheon, Congressman Garcia is uniquely aware of how to handle classified materials and that his pledge to maintain strict confidentiality of said materials lasts a lifetime. I fail to understand why Congressman Garcia hasn’t vehemently condemned Trump’s failure to protect the nation’s secrets. Congressman Garcia purports that national security and protecting the homeland is our No. 1 priority, yet he (is silent on) Trump’s mishandling of classified materials and the GOP assault on the DOJ and FBI in their attempt to protect national security and the homeland. Will Garcia defend our democracy and the Constitution as he pledged upon taking his current office or will he pledge his loyalty to Trump and the GOP?
Reading Congressman Garcia’s website, he would have us believe he also supports law enforcement. “Mike, whose stepdad is a former LAPD officer, is proud to work to keep our neighborhoods safe by providing our departments with the resources they need.” We should all praise Congressman Garcia’s stepdad for his service to the public as a member of the LAPD. However, I’m skeptical of Congressman Garcia’s support for law enforcement including the DOJ and the “rule of law.” While ensuring that law enforcement has all the resources they need, it’s also important to support them whenever attacked by anyone, including members of your own party. Mike’s silence regarding the recent attacks on the FBI agents and his constant and consistent support of his fellow Republicans tells another story. Instead of speaking out against House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s attacks on the DOJ and the FBI, he remains silent. Instead of condemning Republican Sen. Ron Johnson’s assault on law enforcement, he remains silent, thereby expressing his support of Trump and the MAGA Republican agenda. Again, Mike Garcia has put his party and his political ambitions before the country as well as his constituents.
In a Signal opinion entitled, “Does Garcia Represent All of the 25th?” Corey Nathan asks, “Of all those historic votes, was there even one the representative (Garcia) of this closely divided electorate could have cast to oppose those who tried to overthrow the government? Could there have been one opportunity to exhibit integrity by reflecting the diverse community he (Garcia) serves?” Furthermore, “The individual who is supposed to be our representative has chosen to serve a radical fringe who support insurrection instead of all the people of the 25th District.”
Liz Cheney, Republican congresswoman from Wyoming, recently wrote on Twitter, “I have been ashamed to hear members of my party attacking the integrity of the FBI agents involved with the recent Mar-a-Lago search. These are sickening comments that put the lives of patriotic public servants at risk.” Instead of supporting a true patriot like Cheney, Congressman Garcia chooses to support Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who (theorized) that Jews firing lasers into the forests (may have) started the California wildfires. The same MTG who called Democratic megadonor George Soros a Nazi and suggested Muslims do not belong in government. The same MTG who supported the execution of prominent Democrats in 2018 and 2019 before running for Congress: “Marjorie Taylor Greene indicated support for executing prominent Democrats in 2018 and 2019 before running of Congress,” EM Stock and Andrew Kaczynski, CNN Politics, Jan. 26, 2021. The same MTG who called the FBI the Gestapo following the execution of the search warrant on Trump’s Mara-a-Lago residence.
This is a man who claims he supports law enforcement. With friends like Congressman Garcia, who needs enemies?
Rudolph Fillinger
Valencia
