Mar-a-Largo raided by FBI?

[marc]

It is quite unbelievable that he wanted to keep the Kim Jong Un letter as some sort of trophy of his, as if that was a positive thing for the country or even himself. He is so deluded.

why is it unbelievable? Something (that he probably can't read) showing a world leader praising him. Especially as it is from a 'strong man' leader, which he can interpret as he is recognized as another 'strong man'. And it is real, unlike his Time magazine cover.

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

It is quite unbelievable that he wanted to keep the Kim Jong Un letter as some sort of trophy of his, as if that was a positive thing for the country or even himself. He is so deluded.

Nothing Boy Orange does surprises me anymore. Maybe if he did something intelligent and good for the country, do something for anyone other than himself, I might be surprised.

 

[ZiprHead]

Justice Department ordered to release redacted Mar-a-Lago search warrant affidavit

The Justice Department must release a redacted version of the Mar-a-Lago search warrant affidavit by noon on Friday, a federal judge ruled.

www.cnn.com

(CNN)The Justice Department must release a redacted version of the Mar-a-Lago search warrant affidavit by noon on Friday, a federal judge ruled.
The affidavit lays out why investigators believe there was probable cause that crimes had been committed. The warrant authorized the FBI to search former President Donald Trump's home and private club earlier this month.
Earlier Thursday, the DOJ submitted its proposed redactions to US Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart, who issued the order for the public release.
Justice Department Spokesman Anthony Coley said: "The United States has filed a submission under seal per the Court's order of Aug. 22. The Justice Department respectfully declines further comment as the Court considers the matter."

 

[Swammerdami]

How common is it that a judge will force prosecutors to publish such an affidavit? Even when a case goes to trial, the prosecution is not required to divulge its sources (right?) just the actual evidence to be submitted.

I assume the redactions will be brutal. In addition to other information to be kept secret, the names of all investigators and informants will need redaction, as otherwise Trump's million-strong gang of QUPAnon thugs will target them for assassination. And an affidavit mostly covered in black redaction ink will be the headline story for Fox and QOPAnon for months to come.

 

[Ford]

How common is it that a judge will force prosecutors to publish such an affidavit? Even when a case goes to trial, the prosecution is not required to divulge its sources (right?) just the actual evidence to be submitted.

It is very much starting to look like DOJ has gamed all this out in advance. Not necessarily for the media response, but legally. "You want to see the warrant? Okay, give us a minute." Bam. "You want to see the affidavit? Okay, give us a minute." Bam. Team Trump has been all "how DARE you do this to a President?!" and the AG seems to be a step ahead of them or at least prepared to respond to their moves. TFG's lawyers think they're playing "4d chess" while Garland is actually playing chess. Trump sends out a Tweet Truth? DOJ drops a proof.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

I wouldn't say he is a Russian agent, but I do think he is probably a Russian asset. Someone corrupt that they could manipulate, giving him loans when no one else would, playing to his ego. Those meetings with Putin where he either ripped up the translator's notes, or ones where there was no US official with him at all? The time he let Russian 'journalists' into the oval office? He probably passed along all kinds of useful information. Maybe not in the mindset of "I must sneak these secrets to Russia", but in the mindset of "My buddy Vlad asked about X, and I had to tell him we got a beautiful setup, the best you've ever seen."

Anyway, I was just positing a theory of why he might have kept the documents, other than the ones that would apply to just about any rational person.

I think Russia would be very careful about trying to make any use of him--he can't be trusted to keep his mouth shut. He might talk about what he said. It would be much better for them to have someone close to him as a handler and leave him in useful idiot status.

 

[ZiprHead]

Trump floats dubious new legal defense in Truth Social tirade at FBI

Trump appears to think the Presidential Records Act he may have violated gives him access to secret docs.

www.salon.com

Former President Donald Trump wasted little time on Thursday once again attacking the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation for executing a search warrant on his Mar-a-Lago resort to retrieve top-secret government documents that he had refused to hand over.

"Even though I am as innocent as a person can be, and despite MY campaign being spied on by the Radical Left, the FISA COURT being lied to and defrauded, all of the many Hoaxes and Scams that were illegally placed on me by very sick & demented people, and without even mentioning the many crimes of Joe and Hunter Biden, all revealed in great detail in the Laptop From Hell, it looks more and more like the Fake News Media is pushing hard for the Sleaze to do something that should not be done!" Trump began, and he wasn't close to being done.

"Joe Biden said he knew nothing about the Break-In of Mar-a-Lago or, the greatest political attack in the history of the U.S. Does anybody really believe this???" the twice-impeached former president wrote in a followup post.

"The Radical Left Democrat prosecutors are illegally trying to circumvent, for purely political gain, the Presidential Record's Act, under which I have done absolutely nothing wrong," Trump wrote after this. "It can not be circumvented, for me or any other President. They illegally Raided my home, and took things that should not have been taken. They even broke into my safe, an unthinkable act!"

In fact, the search of Mar-a-Lago was conducted legally after the DOJ obtained a search warrant from a judge who thought that there was probably cause to believe the search would uncover evidence of multiple crimes.

Trump then followed up this post with an all-caps message that simply read, "PRESIDENTIAL RECORDS ACT!"

Trump concluded his Truth Social tirade with yet another attack on the DOJ and FBI.

"The Justice Department and FBI are "leaking" at levels never seen before - and I did nothing wrong!!!" he fumed.

 

[Artemus]

The redacted affidavit is here. The redactions are so heavy that I didn't learn much of anything scanning through it. I'll let the news sites dig through it and see if there are any new details that I missed.

 

[Ford]

The redacted affidavit is here. The redactions are so heavy that I didn't learn much of anything scanning through it. I'll let the news sites dig through it and see if there are any new details that I missed.

Cue the "well of course it's all redacted! The Deep State is trying to cover everything up!" from team Trump.

 

[ZiprHead]

There's a lot redacted but enough left to still be damning. But nothing we didn't already know.

 

[dannyk]

Attachment A is interesting. Is that really a defense?

 

[Elixir]

The redacted affidavit is here. The redactions are so heavy that I didn't learn much of anything scanning through it. I'll let the news sites dig through it and see if there are any new details that I missed.

Cue the "well of course it's all redacted! The Deep State is trying to cover everything up!" from team Trump.

We got all that already from the Mango Moron. "Nothing nuclear! see? I'm innocent! Hoax hoax hoax!"
Ya sure, fuckstick, they wouldn't have redacted THAT!
Now the delay exercise becomes even more important, because if anything more sensitive comes out before elections, he's even more fucked.

 

[ZiprHead]

The redacted affidavit is here. The redactions are so heavy that I didn't learn much of anything scanning through it. I'll let the news sites dig through it and see if there are any new details that I missed.

Cue the "well of course it's all redacted! The Deep State is trying to cover everything up!" from team Trump.

We got all that already from the Mango Moron. "Nothing nuclear! see? I'm innocent! Hoax hoax hoax!"
Ya sure, fuckstick, they wouldn't have redacted THAT!
Now the delay exercise becomes even more important, because if anything more sensitive comes out before elections, he's even more fucked.

 

[Ford]

The thing (well, one of the many things) I don't get is...who helped Donnie Two Scoops to get this stuff?

If I understand it, there are documents in these boxes that you don't even get in the room with unless you've been through extensive background checks, have served at the highest levels of the relevant departments, and the chance that you'd be able to say "hey, can you let me take this to the President?" without signing for it and establishing a chain of ownership is effectively zero.

I don't for a minute think that Fragilego Mussolini was packing up his belongings in advance of his move to Florida and said "hey, I've got a list of classified documents I was reading through the other night and I'd like you to bring them with. Can you go down to the room with the armed guards and get them?"

I mean, the host of the Celebrity Apprentice was notorious for not even reading the daily briefings his intelligence services prepared for him on a daily basis. The idea that he'd have a detailed inventory of state secrets he wanted to do "homework" on after he left office is ludicrous.

I guess what I'm saying here is that this wasn't a case of "whoops, we inadvertently took some classified stuff." It was espionage. And Trump was not the one who gathered up the documents.

 

[blastula]

The most pertinent extracts.

3. The FBI's investigation has established that documents bearing classification markings, which appear to contain National Defense Information (NDI), were among the materials contained in the FIFTEEN BOXES and were stored at the PREMISES in an unauthorized location.

Further, there is probable cause to believe that additional documents that contain classified NDI or that are Presidential records subject to record retention requirements currently remain at the PREMISES. There is also probable cause to believe that evidence of obstruction will be found at the PREMISES

24. The NARA Referral stated that according to NARA's White House Liaison Division Director, a preliminary review of the FIFTEEN BOXES indicated that they contained "newspapers, magazines, printed news articles, photos, miscellaneous print-outs, notes, presidential correspondence, personal and postpresidential records, and 'a lot of classified records.' Of most significant concern was that highly classified records were unfoldered, intermixed with other records, and otherwise unproperly [sic] identified."

47. From May 16-18, 2022, FBI agents conducted a preliminary review of the FIFTEEN BOXES provided to NARA and identified documents with classification markings in fourteen of the FIFTEEN BOXES. A preliminary triage of the documents with classification markings revealed the following approximate numbers: 184 unique documents bearing classification markings, including 67 documents marked as CONFIDENTIAL, 92 documents marked as SECRET, and 25 documents marked as TOP SECRET. Further, the FBI agents observed markings reflecting the following compartments/dissemination controls: HCS, FISA, ORCON, NOFORN, and SI. Based on my training and experience, I know that documents classified at these levels typically contain NDI. Several of the documents also contained what appears to be FPOTUS's handwritten notes.

61. On June 8, 2022, DOJ COUNSEL sent FPOTUS COUNSEL 1 a letter, which reiterated that the PREMISES are not authorized to store classified information and requested the preservation of the STORAGE ROOM and boxes that had been moved from the White House to the PREMISES. Specifically, the letter stated in relevant part:

As I previously indicated to you, Mar-a-Lago does not include a secure location authorized for the storage of classified information. As such, it appears that since the time classified documents were removed from the secure facilities at the White House and moved to Mar-a-Lago on or around January 20, 2021, they have not been handled in an appropriate manner or stored in au appropriate location. Accordingly, we ask that the room at Mar-a-Lago where the documents had been stored be secured and that all of the boxes that were moved from the White House to Mar-a-Lago (along with any other items in that room) be preserved in that room in their current condition until farther notice

77. Based upon this investigation, I believe that the STORAGE ROOM, FPOTUS's residential suite, Pine Hall, the "45 Office," and other spaces within the PREMISES are not currently authorized locations for the storage of classified information or NDI. Similarly, based upon this investigation, I do not believe that any spaces within the PREMISES have been authorized for the storage of classified information at least since the end of FPOTUS 's Presidential Administration on January 20, 2021.

78. As described above, evidence of the SUBJECT OFFENSES has been stored in multiple locations at the PREMISES.

 

[lpetrich]

From the affidavit,

The FBI's investigation has established that documents bearing classification markings, which appear to contain National Defense Information (NDI), were among the materials contained in the FIFTEEN BOXES and were stored at the PREMISES in an 1mautho1ized location. (redacted) Further, there is probable cause to believe that additional documents that contain classified NDI or that are Presidential records subject to record retention requirements currently remain at the PREMISES. There is also probable cause to believe that evidence of obstmction will be found at the PREMISES.

The redaction was successful enough for me to be unable to copy out anything underneath the black boxes.

Part of the affidavit listed various kinds of classification.

• SCI - Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI) means classified information concerning or derived from intelligence sources, methods, or analytical processes, which is required to be handled within formal access control systems
• Special Intelligence, or "SI," is an SCI control system designed to protect technical and intelligence information derived from the monitoring of foreign communications signals by other than the intended recipients. ...
• HUMINT Control System, or "HCS," is an SCI control system designed to protect intelligence information derived from clandestine human sources, commonly referred to as "human intelligence." The HCS control system protects human intelligence-derived information and information relating to human intelligence activities, capabilities, techniques, processes, and procedures.
• Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act - FISA - (no further details)
• Classified information may be marked as "Not Releasable to Foreign Nationals/Governments/US Citizens," abbreviated "NOFORN," to indicate information that may not be released in any form to foreign governments, foreign nationals, foreign organizations, or non-U.S. citizens without permission of the originator.
• Classified information may be marked as "Originator Controlled," abbreviated "ORCON." This marking indicates that dissemination beyond pre-approved U.S. entities requires originator approval.
• Classified information of any designation may be shared only with persons determined by an appropriate United States Government official to be eligible for access, and who possess a "need to know." ...

How is Donald Trump going to make a case for need-to-know about the contents of those boxes?

 

[Copernicus]

The redacted affidavit reveals almost nothing new, so it seems that there was no reason to release it in the first place. A waste of everybody's time. Maybe Trump's people will find some clue in there that will enable them to discover who spilled the beans on them so they can get their revenge.

 

[Ford]

The redacted affidavit reveals almost nothing new, so it seems that there was no reason to release it in the first place.

The reason was to call Trump's bluff.

Trump's supporters are fond of saying "he's playing 4D chess!"

Garland appears to be playing poker. And he's sitting on a very good hand.

 

[TomC]

The redacted affidavit reveals almost nothing new, so it seems that there was no reason to release it in the first place.

The reason was to call Trump's bluff.

Trump's supporters are fond of saying "he's playing 4D chess!"

Garland appears to be playing poker. And he's sitting on a very good hand.

That's how it looks to me.

Trump is banking on his privilege. He's never known a world where he didn't have it. He has always been able to get away with anything he wanted, the worst problem he ever had was needing to hire lawyers.

This might not be so easy to buy his way out of.
Tom

 

[lpetrich]

From May 16-18, 2022, FBI agents conducted a preliminary review of the FIFTEEN BOXES provided to NARA and identified documents with classification markings in fourteen of the FIFTEEN BOXES. A preliminary triage of the documents with classification markings revealed the following approximate numbers: 184 unique documents bearing classification markings, including 67 documents marked as CONFIDENTIAL, 92 documents marked as SECRET, and 25 documents marked as TOP SECRET. Further, the FBI agents observed markings reflecting the following compartments/dissemination controls: HCS, FISA, ORCON, NOFORN, and SI. Based on my training and experience, I know that documents classified at these levels typically contain NDI. Several of the documents also contained what appears to be FPOTUS 's handwritten notes.

So the documents contain details of US espionage operations, both eavesdropping and getting information from people. Revealing such details would show to the targets how they are being spied on, and revealing would also put the human sources at risk. I recall a briefing about classified information in which the briefer said that one should not reveal even very innocuous-looking information, because that may contain clues on how it was gathered.

The "nuclear secrets" could thus be efforts to spy on nations with nuclear arsenals or suspected to have such arsenals or that desire to build such arsenals. Russia, China, North Korea, India, Pakistan, Israel, Iran, Saudi Arabia, ... all of those nations' leaderships would want to know how they are being spied on, and some of them would want information on rivals. Russia vs. China. India vs. Pakistan, and Israel vs. Saudi Arabia vs. Iran (vs. Israel also).