Graeme
Sloan/Bloomberg
via
Getty
Images
Yesterday,
Acting
Attorney
General
Todd
Blanche
stepped
up
to
the
podium
to
give
a
straightforward
criminal
investigation
update
on
the
White
House
Correspondents’
Dinner
shooting
—
the
kind
of
routine
law
enforcement
briefing
that
happens
after
any
high-profile
incident.
And
then
he
explained
that
investigators
had
been
unable
to
recover
all
the
physical
evidence
from
the
scene
because,
when
weapons
are
fired
inside
a
hotel,
evidence
recovery
is
“not
an
exact
science”
and
“sometimes
you
find
the
bullet,
and
sometimes
it
just
disappears.”
It
just
disappears.
Now,
to
be
fair:
we
are
a
society
that
has
badly
over-indexed
on
forensic
procedurals.
Gil
Grissom
is
not
walking
through
that
door.
Real
crime
scenes
are
messy,
chain
of
custody
is
complicated,
and
the
CSI
effect
has
been
warping
jury
expectations
in
ways
that
have
driven
defense
attorneys
crazy
for
20
years.
Bullets
do
sometimes
end
up
in
unexpected
places.
All
of
that
is
true.
But
holding
a
press
conference
where
the
Acting
Attorney
General
shrugs
and
says
the
bullet
kind
of
just
vanished
is
Keystone
Cops-level
shit.
Not
because
it
isn’t
technically
possible.
But
because
you
have
already
handed
the
conspiracy
theorists
the
keys
to
the
car,
and
“sometimes
it
just
disappears”
is
them
finding
the
gas
pedal.
We
said
it
before
and
we
will
say
it
again:
there
is
no
credible
evidence
this
was
a
false
flag.
The
suspect
sent
his
family
an
apology
note
10
minutes
before
the
attack.
The
evidence
points
to
exactly
what
it
looks
like.
But
false
flag
theories
do
not
run
on
evidence.
They
run
on
the
appearance
of
suspicious
incompetence,
and
the
DOJ
is
currently
providing
that
in
quantities
that
would
satisfy
even
the
most
demanding
conspiracy
theorist.
The
sequence
of
events
the
online
crowd
is
now
working
with:
shooting
occurs
at
event
Trump
chose
to
attend
and
chose
not
to
designate
as
a
high-security
event;
DOJ
sends
letter
to
opposing
counsel
demanding
ballroom
lawsuit
be
dropped
within
hours;
DOJ
holds
press
conference
and
confirms
it
cannot
account
for
all
the
physical
evidence
because
bullets
sometimes
just
disappear.
The
DOJ
did
not
plan
any
of
this
as
a
coherent
narrative.
It
is
just
what
happened.
But
it
is
really
something
as
a
coherent
narrative.
There
is
also
the
small
matter
of
Blanche’s
words
now
living
permanently
in
the
record.
The
Deputy
Attorney
General
of
the
United
States,
on
camera,
stating
that
evidence
recovery
is
not
an
exact
science
and
that
bullets
fired
inside
buildings
sometimes
just
vanish.
Defense
attorneys
in
federal
cases
from
coast
to
coast
are
already
reaching
for
their
screenshot
buttons.
Expect
“as
the
Acting
Attorney
General
himself
acknowledged”
to
appear
in
suppression
motions
for
years.
The
DOJ
handed
every
defendant
challenging
forensic
evidence
a
pull
quote,
and
he
doesn’t
even
seem
to
realize
his
blunder.
Kathryn
Rubino
is
a
Senior
Editor
at
Above
the
Law,
host
of The
Jabot
podcast,
and
co-host
of Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer.
AtL
tipsters
are
the
best,
so
please
connect
with
her.
Feel
free
to
email her with
any
tips,
questions,
or
comments
and
follow
her
on
Twitter @Kathryn1 or
Bluesky @Kathryn1