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President Trump lit up Truth Social on Thursday in response to news that the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) has been unable to identify who leaked the draft opinion on the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade last year.
“The Supreme Court has just announced it is not able to find out, even with the help of our ‘crack’ FBI, who the leaker was on the R v Wade scandal,” he wrote. “They’ll never find out, & it’s important that they do.”
According to a statement of the court, SCOTUS stated that the Marshal of the Supreme Court, appointed by Chief Justice Roberts, had conducted months of “diligent analysis of forensic evidence and interviews of almost 100 employees.” However, the Marshal’s team was “unable to identify a person responsible by a preponderance of the evidence.”
President Trump’s advice on the matter was straightforward: “So, go to the reporter & ask him/her who it was. If not given the answer, put whoever in jail until the answer is given. You might add the publisher and editor to the list. Stop playing games, this leaking cannot be allowed to happen. It won’t take long before the name of this slime is revealed!”
In response to Trump’s comments, Jonathan Turley, the Shapiro Chair of Public Interest Law at George Washington University, remarked that the House of Representatives was “already moving toward an investigation.” He noted that the leaker, if included in a lineup of those who would give testimony, would have to “choose between admitting guilt or committing perjury. If evidence later emerged, the prosecution for the false statements to Congress could produce serious jail time.”
Per the Marshal’s Report of Findings and Recommendations on Jan. 19, the investigation suggested that it was “unlikely that the Court’s information technology (IT) systems were improperly accessed by a person outside the Court.”
The report further noted that in the course of their investigation, they conducted 126 interviews with 97 employees of the Court. And yet, they have been unable to determine how the draft opinion was leaked and by whom.
Trump simply advised, “Arrest the reporter, publisher, editor – you’ll get your answer fast. Stop playing games and wasting time!”