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Twitter users suggested former President Donald Trump and his associates looked like they'd stepped off the set of HBO's The Sopranos or one of director Martin Scorsese's gangster movies after they were photographed having a meeting on one of his golf courses even though no one was golfing.
Trump's plane touched ground September 11 at Dulles Airport in Virginia. The trip was unannounced and was never announced on social media or otherwise. Trump arrived dressed in golf clothes.
Photos showed several individuals crowded around Trump on the green of one hole, no golf clubs in sight.
\u201cThis could be lots of things, but golfing isn't one of them.\u201d— Randi Mayem Singer (@Randi Mayem Singer) 1663014868
\u201cMobsters\u201d— MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) 1663019127
Kelly O'Donnell, the senior White House correspondent for NBC News, also posted video footage of the meeting taken from a "considerable distance."
\u201cFormer Pres. Trump at his Virginia golf property today but not appearing to play as he moved about with a large group. This video was shot at considerable distance.\u201d— Kelly O'Donnell (@Kelly O'Donnell) 1663008811
The meeting came just after the Department of Justice (DOJ) ordered its agents to seize the phones of two top Trump aides and "blanketed his aides with about 40 subpoenas in a substantial escalation of the investigation into his efforts to subvert the 2020 election," according to people familiar with the inquiry who spoke to The New York Times.
The two men were identified as Boris Epshteyn, an in-house counsel, and Mike Roman, a campaign strategist who directed Election Day operations in 2020.
Emails reviewed by The New York Times and authenticated by people who worked on the Trump campaign at the time showed that both men, along with multiple members of Trump's inner circle, conspired to help Trump overturn the results of an election that Democrat Joe Biden won decisively, one of the many developments in a larger story largely focused on Trump's actions on January 6, 2021, the day a mob of his supporters attacked the United States Capitol on the false premise the election had been stolen.
Emails were regularly sent to Epshteyn, who coordinated with people inside and outside the Trump campaign and the White House. Epshteyn was in regular contact with John Eastman, who openly planned to derail the certification of the Electoral College on January 6.
Epshteyn also passed along messages to Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, even sending him the detailed plan Eastman had mapped out, but also handled "questions about how to pay Mr. Eastman and made the arrangements for him to visit the White House on Jan. 4, 2021," per the report.
Given these facts, Twitter users were remarkably curious.
\u201cJustice Dept issues 40 new subpoenas in its Jan 6 inquiry, involving Trump\u2019s fake elector scheme & the Save America PAC whose aim was to overturn the election\n\nThe same day Trump holds a mob meeting on his Sterling golf course with no golf clubs\n\nI\u2019m sure it\u2019s just a coincidence\u201d— Lindy Li (@Lindy Li) 1663033657
\u201cTrump flew to the golf course to play a game of witness tampering.\u201d— KD \ud83d\udcda\ud83c\udf0e\ud83c\udf0a\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 (@KD \ud83d\udcda\ud83c\udf0e\ud83c\udf0a\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8) 1663024139
\u201cYou can be sure Trump wondered if anyone on the golf course was wearing a wire.\u201d— Steven Beschloss (@Steven Beschloss) 1663046450
\u201cSo, now theyre reporting that Trump is in DC to play golf\n\nHe may be playing golf, but I dont buy that as a reason for him being there\n\nHe arrived last night, in golf attire, no entourage, no security detail, in secrecy...very unlike trump\n\nSomething is going on and its not golf\u201d— Rick Taylor (@Rick Taylor) 1662998983
\u201cThe Back Nine Coup!\u201d— David Corn (@David Corn) 1663013815
\u201cTrump plotting at his golf course today in VA reminds me of Tony Soprano holding court at his waste companies. This man is nothing but a two-bit hustler and intimidator, who is about to get his due.\u201d— Amy Siskind \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08 (@Amy Siskind \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08) 1663016231
\u201cDidn\u2019t Trump standing on a golf course with his cronies remind you of every scene in every mob movie where the gangsters realize their social club is bugged and they need to speak somewhere \u201csafe?\u201d\u201d— Bryan Behar (@Bryan Behar) 1663022780
Investigations into Trump's criminality appear to have intensified in the weeks since the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) raided Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate on the hunt for classified documents that Trump took from the Oval Office.
The DOJ sought a search warrant for Trump's estate after "obtaining evidence that highly classified documents were likely concealed and that Mr. Trump’s representatives had falsely claimed all sensitive material had been returned," according to The New York Times, which broke the news about a recent court filing outlining what authorities uncovered during their search.
Agents found three classified documents in desks in Trump's office as well as more than 100 documents in 13 boxes or containers with classification markings, some with the highest restrictions. They are looking for still more documents after recovering empty folders with classified markings.