Mar-a-Largo raided by FBI?

[ZiprHead]

The ABCs (and Provisions e, f, and g) of the Espionage Act - emptywheel

The CFR guidelines regarding standards for storing classified information not only dictate what type of lock one must used, but it also requires that someone inspect the Secret information stored in non-compliant closets every 4 hours, which may be why DOJ subpoenaed Trump for his surveillance...

www.emptywheel.net

When Donald Trump wrote the Acting Archivist to give Kash Patel and John Solomon access to what they have since claimed were his Presidential Archives, he made a point of emphasizing that neither had been convicted of the crime that would disqualify them from accessing the records archived in official government archives at 700 Pennsylvania Avenue and elsewhere: “a crime that involves reviewing, retaining, removing, or destroying NARA records.”

Both individuals meet the requirements for access to records under 36 C.F.R. § 1270.44(a)(4).

That is, as far as we know, true. Neither has been convicted of a crime specifically involving access to the Archives.

But Solomon has long been publicly implicated in an investigation into a Dmitry Firtash-linked attempt to funnel Trump Russian-provided dirt. And The Hill’s review of his work included many details that might allow DOJ to treat him as something other than a journalist in that investigation.

As for Kash, at least in April 2021, he was reportedly under investigation for leaking classified information, something that might have led the government to strip his clearance if they hadn’t already.

Both would be wildly inappropriate people to give preferential access to Trump’s Presidential archives. But they nevertheless would qualify under statute.

But Trump wasn’t writing to give Kash and Solomon access to his Archives. His letter explicitly stated he was giving them access to, “Presidential records of my administration.” A week ago, the FBI carted away 27 boxes of “Presidential records of [Trump’s] administration” that had not been properly turned over to the custody of the Archives for safe keeping.

Those details from Trump’s letter, plus new reporting on the events of June, adds to the possibly that this letter was an attempt to retroactively justify access to classified records that, in addition to documents pertaining to the Russian investigation, also likely included even more sensitive documents.

 

[Toni]

The last time I checked, Forbes had put Trump's net worth at between $3 billion and $10 billion. They count the estimated value of property he owns and subtract his known debt. Nobody really knows except him and his accountants, all of whom are being investigated for tax fraud based on how they overvalued and undervalued those properties for financial gain.

Even if his net worth were $10B, which I highly doubt, it would still be trivial to Putin, or the Saudis, compared with what Trump knows, even if he doesn’t know he knows. Half truths are often extremely dangerous. Now, N.Korea? If Trump is actually with even $1B that would be extremely useful. Or if they thought he was.

*Adding to say I did not take into account the Ukraine war that Russia has instigated. Russia maybe could use the $$. Also: Putin’s health is reported to be failing badly. Not sure how that changes the equation but surely it does.

 

[ZiprHead]

Also: Putin’s health is reported to be failing badly. Not sure how that changes the equation but surely it does.

Maybe Russia can replace Putin with Trump.

 

[Elixir]

Putin’s health is reported to be failing badly. Not sure how that changes the equation but surely it does.

May his passing be peaceful and painless.
Or not.
As long as it’s soon.

 

[TomC]

The last time I checked, Forbes had put Trump's net worth at between $3 billion and $10 billion. They count the estimated value of property he owns and subtract his known debt. Nobody really knows except him and his accountants, all of whom are being investigated for tax fraud based on how they overvalued and undervalued those properties for financial gain.

The key words in your post are "estimated" and "known".

Reminds me of an old joke.

Boss is interviewing applicants for an accountant position.

Boss: How much is 3 +5?
Applicant #1: 8
Boss: Thank you. Maybe we'll call back.

Boss: How much is 4 +6?
Applicant #2: 10
Boss: Thank you. Maybe we'll call back.

Boss: How much is 3 + 6?
Applicant #3: How do you want it to be?
Boss: You're hired. Let me show you your office.

Tom

 

[Toni]

Also: Putin’s health is reported to be failing badly. Not sure how that changes the equation but surely it does.

Maybe Russia can replace Putin with Trump.

Seems like less a good deal for them than replacing Trump with Putin....which they definitely tried to do: convert Trump to a puppet of Putin. Not a huge change, I know but still...

 

[blastula]

Justice Dept. Objects to Releasing Affidavit Used to Search Trump’s Home - The New York Times.

Even as the former president counterattacked, new details emerged of how Mr. Trump and his inner circle flouted the norms, and possibly the laws, governing their handling of government records.

According to two people with knowledge of the situation, Mr. Trump and his chief of staff, Mark Meadows, the man who oversaw presidential records in the chaotic closing days of the administration, failed to organize an effort to collect, box and deliver materials to the National Archives — as prior presidents, and Mr. Trump’s own vice president, Mike Pence, did.

Instead, they often focused on settling political grievances and personal grudges, they said.

In the weeks leading up to Mr. Trump’s departure from the White House, officials discussed what to do about material that he had at various points taken up to the residence and that needed to be properly stored and returned.

By then, the staff secretary, Derek Lyons, known for trying to keep systems in place, had left the administration. Mr. Meadows said he would address such issues, according to a senior administration official.

While all this was happening, a very different scenario was playing out just across West Executive Avenue, in Mr. Pence’s less frenetic office.

As Mr. Trump sought to hold on to power, two of Mr. Pence’s senior aides — Marc Short, his chief of staff, and Greg Jacob, his counsel — indexed and boxed all of his government papers, according to three former offcials with knowledge of the work.

Mr. Jacob spent the bulk of his final few days in government preparing the final boxes, with the goal of ensuring that Mr. Pence left office without a single paper that did not belong to him, one of the officials said.

Haha, looks like some Pence allies throwing Meadows under, with this Goofus and Gallant account.

 

[TomC]

Haha, looks like some Pence allies throwing Meadows under, with this Goofus and Gallant account.

I practically live in Pence's hometown.
I do know a bit about him.

This would totally be in character for him. I despise his politics. But his personal ethics are squeaky clean.
Tom

 

[jab]

I agree that this makes the FBI appear political to the ignorants who don’t know what is required for this sort of thing to take place. The FBI was surely aware of the blowback the move would cause, which is all the more reason to think this is serious.

Considering all the partison and biased media today, aren't all of us pretty much in the ignorant camp now? Sure, you might believe you are safely on the side knowing it all....but really, how do you really know first hand what takes place inside the FBI workings? And how do you really know what the Biden administration is doing or not doing in the middle of this?

I'd say because the sitting AG is a moderate centrist and a former Federal Prosecutor. And that any judge signing off on this would want to be certain to an unprecedented degree of certainty about the claims made in the warrant.

All assuming that they are not corrupt......I would not hold your breath.

re "I would not hold your breath"--nice to know that you are inclined to choke or strangle Jimmy Higgins

 

[jab]

Any explanation for WHY Trump committed this crime? Is it simply that he is the sort of moronic bully for whom purposeless crimes are an end in themselves — just to brag that he's above the law and can thumb his nose at prosecutors and judges?

Having held on to the documents illegally for over 18 months, presumably he's had time to go through them, to find nuclear secrets his friend Putin might like, or whatever. The value of such intelligence tends to decline rapidly with time, so any documents like that have long since been photoed and sold or hid.

Or maybe he just had a vague idea that miscellaneous secret documents would have cash value if donations dry up. I've heard — though it seems like exaggeration — that when IBM and another big company do cross-licensing agreements, they bring in boxes with many thousands of patents and weight them! "We've got 10 kilos of patents." "We've got 13 kilos. You throw in a million dollars and we'll call it even." Remember auctions where unopened suitcases or lockers were sold? What's the going rate, among Trump's international mafia friends, for One 10-kilo box of U.S. secret documents, miscellaneous ?

I think it also had to do with him maintaining the illusion to himself that he was still the real Pres of the USA. I think that's one reason why he took all those boxes of stuff (recovered by the govt. in 3 stages) when he fled on Jan. 20 2021.

 

[jab]

* One side used a server deemed safe by the Secretary of Defense that was not legally specified for that use.

* The other side tried to overthrow the results of a free and fair election via armed assault on our Capitol, demonstrating their willingness to destroy the Country for personal gain, then stole top-level secret materials, stashed them away, lied about having returned them and now is trying to monetize the lawful search and seizure conducted to return those material to their rightful owner.

No proof of either of those just allegations. You are part of the problem

When someone actually goes to jail for something I will accept that as more than just an allegation.

Lots of people have already gone to jail for the Jan 6 violence. More on the way.

I am not certain that you realize the burdens that must be overcome to execute a search warrant on the property of a former POTUS--there must have been quite substantial probable cause in order to get such a warrant. Despite what Trump and his gang like to assert, the documents in question were requested, subpeonaed and at every step Trump ignored legal requests and his lawyers lied about what was and was not returned---The documents being retrieved should NEVER have been taken. It was not legal for them to leave with Trump, he had no right to retain them, and it appears that at least some are very highly classified/beyond top secret. Trump did not have the power to declassify documents simply by saying that they were declassified and for some of them, even if Trump had followed all the paperwork necessary to declassify, they still would have remained the property of the US Government.

If Trump retains his passport, I strongly suspect he will avoid being jailed. Otherwise, it does not look good for him or his inner circle or his surrogates.

Weren't (some of) his passports taken in the search?

 

[Elixir]

Weren't (some of) his passports taken in the search?

I heard that they took his diplomatic passport - which he should have returned upon leaving office, but he retained his "regular" one.

 

[ZiprHead]

Weren't (some of) his passports taken in the search?

They were returned.

 

[jab]

Now, ask yourself how these charges could have been known prior to the seizure of the documents that allegedly are the evidence, documents to which the FBI had previous access but no interest in? Whatever documents needed to sustain the charges will be faked and inserted into the seized boxes.

Because the wimp Mitch McConnell Republicans let the Democrats openly steal the last election, being too fearful of a partisan media to make a fuss, the Democrats currently control the Executive Branch and its military, police, and prosecutorial agencies, the Senate, and the House, and the media serves as the Propaganda Ministry for the frame-up of President Trump. We are now witnessing and experiencing a bold open coup to establish a one-party state.

The delusional "election was stolen" tinfoil conspiracy theory should destroy whatever little credibility Mr. Roberts once had.

That was exactly the wrong response from the Democrats. No one wants to be dismissed that they are an idiot even if they are an idiot.

The best response would have been to properly investigate and litigate the results of the election for all to see the proof in light of day. But the Democrats did not and probably could not do that because.....

1. Either the Democrats were convinced themselves they were wrong or
2. They did not trust the justice system to produce the results they needed to see

And both of these are rather disturbing in and of themselves. What other reasons would they be afraid of?

I'm not an Amurcan, so I don't quite know what you're talking about. I don't think there was anything for the Democrats to litigate, and thus your proposed proper behaviour for the Dems in late 2020, early 2021 seems fancifully diversionary to me.
Don the con and the Repugs' attempts to litigate failed, and failed and failed, and failed, except for one case, which did not result in enough of a turn-around to throw the electors of State in question to the dotard incumbent. There are some defamation cases proceeding as to elements of the Big Lie--will you accept their outcomes?

 

[Elixir]

No one wants to be dismissed that they are an idiot even if they are an idiot.

You can’t always get what you want.

 

[jab]

I'm also fairly well certain that the FBI asked all these questions and more when they were investigating Hillary's Buttery Mails.

Hillary's email server was confiscated by the FBI and thoroughly examined.

good point

 

[Toni]

No one wants to be dismissed that they are an idiot even if they are an idiot.

You can’t always get what you want.

But if you try sometimes you just might find
You get what you need

In this case, a big dose of reality: Trump ain't that popular.

 

[Toni]

Haha, looks like some Pence allies throwing Meadows under, with this Goofus and Gallant account.

I practically live in Pence's hometown.
I do know a bit about him.

This would totally be in character for him. I despise his politics. But his personal ethics are squeaky clean.
Tom

Are they though? There was nothing at all ethical about how he handled the HIV crisis in Austin, Indiana/Scott County. He did everything he possibly could to avoid doing the right thing and then when he had no other options, he finally did something decent. How many more people got infected before he decided God had told him what to do?

Sure, he would never have dinner with a woman unless Mother were present but bfd. I'd be more impressed if he never had dinner with any boys or men without Mother present.

 

[Jarhyn]

Haha, looks like some Pence allies throwing Meadows under, with this Goofus and Gallant account.

I practically live in Pence's hometown.
I do know a bit about him.

This would totally be in character for him. I despise his politics. But his personal ethics are squeaky clean.
Tom

Are they though? There was nothing at all ethical about how he handled the HIV crisis in Austin, Indiana/Scott County. He did everything he possibly could to avoid doing the right thing and then when he had no other options, he finally did something decent. How many more people got infected before he decided God had told him what to do?

Sure, he would never have dinner with a woman unless Mother were present but bfd. I'd be more impressed if he never had dinner with any boys or men without Mother present.

It's really uncomfortable seeing this insofar as it's not uncouth or improper to have some kind of relationship which touches on parent/child dynamics, assuming you are both adults walking into that knowing what you want and are bringing in, but it seems so unnecessarily exposed to bring that in front of the entire nation.

It's unfair to make others participate to that extent, as a public figure.

 

[TomC]

It's really uncomfortable seeing this insofar as it's not uncouth or improper to have some kind of relationship which touches on parent/child dynamics, assuming you are both adults walking into that knowing what you want and are bringing in, but it seems so unnecessarily exposed to bring that in front of the entire nation.

It's unfair to make others participate to that extent, as a public figure.

What are you talking about?

Pence said, years ago, "I would not have dinner alone with a woman who isn't my wife".

Toni is making up stuff, and you're running with it.
Tom