Trump's Classified Docs Theft: Mar-A-Lago, FBI Subpoenas, Searches & Seizures - DOJ, Garland, GOP Madness - Spy Hard

[MsDaisy 2]

Lock him up!
Lock him up!!
Lock him up!!!

[Foggy]

Ty Cobb is the genius who blabbed loudly in an outdoor café, and a journalist heard every word.

His judgment might could be a little unreliable.

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

I remembered that and wondered why the author praised him so highly.

[Kendra]

Cross posting:

BREAKING: sources tell the WSJ Jack smith is all but FINISHED with the documents probe, and people in trump’s orbit are beginning to plan how to FUNDRAISE off trump indictments. 1/

Paywall.

[AndyinPA]

Gifted: https://wapo.st/3oA87Zt

Two of Donald Trump’s employees moved boxes of papers the day before FBI agents and a prosecutor visited the former president’s Florida home to retrieve classified documents in response to a subpoena — timing that investigators have come to view as suspicious and an indication of possible obstruction, according to people familiar with the matter.

Trump and his aides also allegedly carried out a “dress rehearsal” for moving sensitive papers even before his office received the May 2022 subpoena, according to the people familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a sensitive ongoing investigation.

Prosecutors in addition have gathered evidence indicating that Trump at times kept classified documents in his office in a place where they were visible and sometimes showed them to others, these people said.

Taken together, the new details of the classified-documents investigation suggest a greater breadth and specificity to the instances of possible obstruction found by the FBI and Justice Department than has been previously reported. It also broadens the timeline of possible obstruction episodes that investigators are examining — a period stretching from events at Mar-a-Lago before the subpoena to the period after the FBI raid there on Aug. 8.

[Kendra]

Thanks Andy.

John Irving, a lawyer representing one of the two employees who moved the boxes, said the worker did not know what was in them and was only trying to help Trump valet Walt Nauta, who was using a dolly or hand truck to move a number of boxes.

“He was seen on Mar-a-Lago security video helping Walt Nauta move boxes into a storage area on June 2, 2022. My client saw Mr. Nauta moving the boxes and volunteered to help him,” Irving said. The next day, he added, the employee helped Nauta pack an SUV “when former president Trump left for Bedminster for the summer.”

The lawyer said his client, a longtime Mar-a-Lago employee whom he declined to identify, has cooperated with the government and did not have “any reason to think that helping to move boxes was at all significant.” Other people familiar with the investigation confirmed the employee’s role and said he has been questioned multiple times by authorities.

[Kendra]

I expect this will result in Espionage Act charges. Dissemination is key.

"Prosecutors...have gathered evidence indicating that Trump at times kept classified documents in his office in a place where they were visible and sometimes showed them to others."

[RVInit]

The part of the story that talks about the guy helping Nauta load boxes into an SUV prior to Trump's trip to Bedminster harkens back to this story. Several of us posted the video seen in this clip as being something that could be "interesting".

[much ado]

I would really like to know which documents Trump showed, or probably showed, to others.

However, because they are secret, we will likely never know...

[SuzieC]

Does his motive matter for purposes of the Espionage Act? Because I can totally see OSG showing off classified documents to Merde-A-Lardo guests to prove how important he is.

[bob]

Does his motive matter for purposes of the Espionage Act?

Strictly speaking: no.

Motive is rarely an element of a crime, but a motive helps to explain intent, which is almost always an element. That is, if a criminal statute prohibits doing something intentionally, prosecutors often will prove a motive, to show the defendant intentionally acted in accordance with that motive.

Too also: 18 USC sec. 793 prohibits, among other things, national defense information being transmitted or unlawfully retained.

It is anticipated a defense to the "unlawfully retained" portion would be that the retention was, in fact, lawful. (It isn't a good defense, but it is anticipated nonetheless.)

So the prosecutor may opt to also show that the information was "transmitted," that is, shown to people without the proper clearance.

(Both options likely will invoke the "magic declassification" defense.)

[much ado]

Is there any information about the identity of any of the persons to whom the classified documents were shown?

[Gregg]

Is there any information about the identity of any of the persons to whom the classified documents were shown?

Nyet

[somerset]

不是

221023-xi-jinping-jm-0926-05d630.webp (24.69 KiB) Viewed 1133 times

[Phoenix520]

C924F149-F07B-4E3B-AEFB-052F08232B45.jpeg (48.91 KiB) Viewed 1082 times

Wut?

[tek]

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[SuzieC]

https://statuskuo.substack.com/p/did-tr ... dium=email

Jay Kuo's analysis.

[Reddog]

Interesting, I noticed one point in the analysis:
Section (b) prohibits making copies or stealing national defense information

I was just curious if copy machines actually retain information of copies made?
Of course now cell phone cameras can make fair quality copies anyway.

[New Turtle]

Yeah most copy machines have hard drives and embedded OS because they need to handle copy via scan and email. People used to scour landfills in 3rd world countries where these machines go to die, they would get the hard drives and sell them to identity thieves.

[Foggy]

Gosh, they've amassed so much incredible evidence, at some point there might even be an informal suggestion that Trump might possibly have committed a crime!









I'm joking, of course.

[RTH10260]

Trump lawyer said to have been waved off searching office for secret records
Exclusive: Evan Corcoran said he was steered away from Trump’s office, where the FBI later found the most sensitive materials

Hugo Lowell in Washington
Tue 30 May 2023 11.00 BST

Donald Trump’s lawyer tasked with searching for classified documents at Mar-a-Lago after the justice department issued a subpoena told associates that he was waved off from searching the former president’s office, where the FBI later found the most sensitive materials anywhere on the property.

The lawyer, Evan Corcoran, recounted that several Trump aides had told him to search the storage room because that was where all the materials that had been brought from the White House at the end of Trump’s presidency ended up being deposited.

Corcoran found 38 classified documents in the storage room. He then asked whether he should search anywhere else but was steered away, he told associates. Corcoran never searched Trump’s office and told prosecutors that the 38 papers were the extent of the material at Mar-a-Lago.

The assertion that there were no classified documents in Trump’s office or elsewhere proved to be wrong when the FBI retrieved 101 classified documents months afterwards, including from the office, which was found to be where the most highly classified documents had been located.

Corcoran’s previously unreported account, as relayed to the Guardian by two people familiar with the matter, suggests he was materially misled as the special counsel Jack Smith examines whether his incomplete search was actually a ploy by Trump to retain classified documents.

It was not clear who waved off Corcoran from searching elsewhere at Mar-a-Lago – whether it was Trump himself or Trump employees who advised him to look for classified documents in the storage room, according to an account of his testimony to the grand jury.




https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... ent-search

[Slim Cognito]

This will be one for the history books.

Oh wait.

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/5 ... -zeroes-in

Trump's lawyer quits just as shoe drops in classified documents case

On Wednesday, another member of Donald Trump’s legal team resigned. According to Politico, attorney Tim Parlatore announced that he was leaving for “purely personal” reasons. It seems a lot of attorneys find a sudden longing to see more of their families after spending any time with Trump. In this case, Parlatore’s decision to invest more time at home happens to align with another big announcement.

Parlatore was one of the attorneys defending Trump over his appropriation and mishandling of government documents. That includes not just hundreds of classified documents—with some classified at the highest possible level—but also crates of letters, files, gifts, and various items that fall firmly under the Presidential Records Act. This is one of the two areas being investigated by special counsel Jack Smith, and considering Trump’s obvious lies, obfuscation, and failed attempts to deflect the investigation, defending him on this can’t have been high on any attorney’s to-do list.

On Thursday evening, within hours of Parlatore’s resignation, CNN reported that the National Archives had sent a letter to Trump informing him that it was sending information to Jack Smith showing that Trump’s advisers were aware that he had not taken proper steps to declassify documents.

With Trump, it’s always hard to tell if he’s lying or simply ignorant. In some situations, both definitely apply.

In this case, Trump is lying. Because the letter from National Archivist Debra Steidel Wall makes it clear that the records she is providing to Smith directly address whether Trump knew that his “I declassified them all” defense is a lie.

“The 16 records in question all reflect communications involving close presidential advisers, some of them directed to you personally, concerning whether, why, and how you should declassify certain classified records.”

Trump didn’t take steps to properly declassify documents. His advisers knew he hadn’t taken these steps and warned him personally. Trump ignored them.

He was aware enough that he had done the wrong thing, that he attempted to protect these records from Smith using a claim of “constitutionally based privilege.” Normally that’s the kind of thing that might kick off a round of court cases all on its own, but in this case the archivist had physical and legal control over the documents in question. If she says they’re going to Smith, they are going.

Not only did Trump carry off classified information he knew was still classified, he continued to make the claim that he had declassified these documents not just in public, but in court, well after he knew the claim was false. That’s not something that Smith is likely to overlook.

Trump can’t claim that he declassified all the documents, and he can’t claim ignorance. So what else can he claim?

In his appearance on CNN, Donald Trump did what he has done multiple times when speaking in public; he completely inverted the purpose of the Presidential Records Act.

TRUMP: I had every right to under the Presidential Records Act. You have the Presidential Records Act. I was there and I took what I took and it gets declassified.

According to Trump, the act allows him to take what he wants, then negotiate with the National Archives of what he has to give back to them. It’s a claim that Trump has been making for months, one that may have been capped by a statement that Trump made following his arraignment on April 4 which was reviewed by The Washington Post.

“Just so everyone knows, I come under what’s known as the Presidential Records Act, which was designed and approved by Congress long ago just for this reason. Under the act, I’m supposed to negotiate with NARA, the National Archives and Records Administration. … This is what we have to deal with, but there is no criminality under the Presidential Records Act. That is not what it’s all about. We were negotiating in very good faith, proper way in order to return some or all of the documents that I openly and in very plain sight brought with me to Mar-a-Lago from our beautiful White House just as virtually every other president has done in the past.”

Not only is a significant portion of this statement simply a lie, in a legal sense, every word of it is absolutely wrong.

[Chilidog]

Trump lawyer said to have been waved off searching office for secret records
Exclusive: Evan Corcoran said he was steered away from Trump’s office, where the FBI later found the most sensitive materials

Hugo Lowell in Washington
Tue 30 May 2023 11.00 BST

Donald Trump’s lawyer tasked with searching for classified documents at Mar-a-Lago after the justice department issued a subpoena told associates that he was waved off from searching the former president’s office, where the FBI later found the most sensitive materials anywhere on the property.

The lawyer, Evan Corcoran, recounted that several Trump aides had told him to search the storage room because that was where all the materials that had been brought from the White House at the end of Trump’s presidency ended up being deposited.

Corcoran found 38 classified documents in the storage room. He then asked whether he should search anywhere else but was steered away, he told associates. Corcoran never searched Trump’s office and told prosecutors that the 38 papers were the extent of the material at Mar-a-Lago.

The assertion that there were no classified documents in Trump’s office or elsewhere proved to be wrong when the FBI retrieved 101 classified documents months afterwards, including from the office, which was found to be where the most highly classified documents had been located.

Corcoran’s previously unreported account, as relayed to the Guardian by two people familiar with the matter, suggests he was materially misled as the special counsel Jack Smith examines whether his incomplete search was actually a ploy by Trump to retain classified documents.

It was not clear who waved off Corcoran from searching elsewhere at Mar-a-Lago – whether it was Trump himself or Trump employees who advised him to look for classified documents in the storage room, according to an account of his testimony to the grand jury.




https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... ent-search

Oh bull-fucking-shit.

I refuse to believe that a person capable of graduating law school, passing the bar, and winding up as the personal lawyer of the former president is really that stupi......


Oh, never mind.

Maybe he really is just as dumb as Trump.

[Luke]

I think Tim Parlatore leaving was covered a week ago. Apparently, it was because Boris Epshteyn is such a loser (and possible Russian agent).

Timothy Parlatore, an attorney who recently left former President Donald Trump’s legal team, said Saturday that he departed because of infighting, highlighting disputes with one Trump adviser.

“The real reason is because there are certain individuals that made defending the president much harder than it needed to be,” he said to CNN’s Paula Reid on Saturday. “There is one individual who works for him, Boris Epshteyn, who had really done everything he could to try to block us, to prevent us from doing what we could to defend the president.”

https://www.politico.com/news/2023/05/2 ... m-00098033

On what T*** was showing, giving some grace, a lot of people have said he was showing off with documents like the letters with Kim Jong Un and other fluffery. Steps are finally being taken to declassify more documents, the US is so classify-crazy that it's hurting investigations and making tons of busy work. So this case may address that nexus which would be good.

One possible reason, experts say, is that too many documents are classified in the first place. The federal government classifies more than 50 million documents a year. It's difficult, if not impossible, to keep track of all of them. Some get lost and found years later — and many more are likely still out there. Jan 27, 2023

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/27/brie ... ut%20there.