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

[keith]

I do remember...now! I think I was so overwhelmed with trump scandals, whenever a new broke, it pushed an old one out of my brain.

Thats their entire plan.

[Kendra]

https://wapo.st/3w1qiYo

As FBI agents pulled up to Donald Trump’s Florida club Monday morning to conduct a search for top-secret government documents — approved by a federal judge and requested by the attorney general of the United States — the former president was by chance already huddled with his lawyers in Trump Tower in New York, a thousand miles to the north.

They were supposed to be preparing Trump to be deposed later in the week in an entirely different matter, a civil probe of Trump’s family business. But the session was interrupted by a phone call informing the former president of the extraordinary events unfolding at his Mar-a-Lago Club, said Ron Fischetti, his New York attorney.

Trump and his close allies quickly became transfixed by the events unfolding in Palm Beach, people familiar with the day said. Some monitored the agents via CCTV security cameras as they searched Trump’s office and personal quarters and a first-floor storage facility, another of his lawyers, Christina Bobb, told Fox News. Distracted, Trump kept jumping on the phone, Fischetti said, trying to figure out why the agents, casually dressed in khakis and polo shirts to cause less of a scene, were roaming the seaside facility he had tried to brand “the winter White House,” which was mostly closed for the summer.

[Delarin]

Interesting blog post from emptywheel about the two separate receipts for the seized materials:

One likely (though not the only) explanation for the two receipts has to do with the venue in which Trump’s suspected crimes were committed and therefore the ultimate destination of the seized materials, with the SSA receipt materials being sent to DC as evidence of 18 USC 1519 and the CLASS receipt materials being kept in Miami as evidence of multiple violations of the Espionage Act that occurred at Mar-a-Lago.

https://www.emptywheel.net/2022/08/13/o ... lf-resort/

[raison de arizona]

From the WaPo article (thx Kendra!)

Immediately after the search, Trump seemed to believe the FBI had played into his hands. Instead of exhibiting any concern, two people who spoke to him Monday evening both reported that Trump was “upbeat,” convinced the Justice Department had overreached and would cause Republicans to rally to his cause and help him regain the presidency in 2024.



“He feels it’s a political coup for him,” said one friend, who spoke to Trump repeatedly during the week. Like many others interviewed for this article, the person spoke on the condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the criminal probe.


By Friday, however, the unsealed court records showed agents had seized 11 sets of classified documents, among other things. Republicans’ howls of protest became somewhat more muted, and people around Trump said his buoyant mood at times turned dark.

Great article, a lot about Garland too, gift link: https://wapo.st/3QKMrCv

[Luke]

From the WaPo story...

But as Archives officials sifted through the recovered documents, [from Jan 15] they began to suspect some records were still missing. They also realized some of the returned material was clearly classified, including highly sensitive signals intelligence — intercepted electronic communications such as emails and phone calls of foreign leaders.
***
Bobb, a Trump lawyer, said Trump’s legal team embarked on a thorough review of all the presidential material still at Mar-a-Lago, including what she told The Washington Post were two dozen to three dozen boxes of documents held in a storage room on the first floor of the club, below areas open to the public. She told Fox News’s Laura Ingraham that the lawyers had identified all the documents they believed could be considered government property. “We turned over everything that we found,” she said.

If we're talking about classified materials, including possible signals intelligence, wouldn't it be a crime for civilians like Christina Bobb to even SEE THEM? Idiots like Taylor Budovich and other T**** flunkies were all over that place.


And sweet! Phillip Bump commented on a tweet Loren Collins posted. The Fogbow is everywhere!





Saw Loren's tweet because was asking Phil if any of the documents recovered were actually in a SCIF -- heard T**** had one and MAGAts have been posting on Twitter that they were all in the SCIF but somehow I don't believe them. https://www.washingtonpost.com/national ... go-search/?

[RTH10260]

It's now my understanding that most if not all of the former guy's lawyers have little to no understanding of the US government security regulations and they do not recognize the meanings of those cryptic mnemonics stamped on the papers.

As was often said: only the best


ps. did the FBI only remove documents listed in the search warrant? So the National Archive still needs to be concerned about those remaining documents at MaL, the basis for the presidential library of #45?

[bill_g]

These guys really bend over backwards for Trump
https: //twitter.com/marklevinshow/status/1558579606906609666?s=20&t=KMlaXVY3RWQ1Q4PSrs4fFQ

What did I miss in 2001?

Hal refused to open the pod bay door.

Daisy Daisy give me your answer do

[Foggy]

Off Topic

Second verse (in case you were never 9 years old):

Harry, Harry, here is your answer true,
You're half crazy, if you think I'm in love with you!
There won't be any marriage,
If you can't afford a carriage,
'Cause I'll be damned if I'll be crammed on a bicycle built for two!

[Uninformed]

I have no idea of how it is supposed to be carried out, or what tfg’s “transition team” actually did, but I would assume that it’s not just a case of getting a random removals company to come in, box-up everything and anything, then without any oversight transport the lot to its new location.

It is probably too much to ask tfg’s minions to have conformed to (or even be aware of) any established protocols etc, but surely there must be (should have been?) a requirement for an accurate chain of custody. If so, what appears to have taken place would in itself seem to be a breach of the Presidential Records Act. (Not to mention the implications of who might have had access to restricted documents before, during, and after the move).

I’m no great fan of the “intelligence community” but for good or bad they are responsible for extremely sensitive matters. This will scare the crap out of intelligence services around the world.

[Foggy]

It is probably too much to ask tfg’s minions to have conformed to (or even be aware of) any established protocols etc ...

No, it's not. Every single other administration in our brief history has dutifully complied with the transfer of power, beginning with the first - one of the most important things George Washington ever did was to establish, we thought permanently, a tradition that at the end of your term you go quietly into private life.

This is the first time that a president lost re-election and tried to overturn the results by committing felony crimes against the United States of America.

I have to say that some more: Felony crimes against the United States of America, felony crimes against the United States of America, felony crimes against the United States of America, felony crimes against the United States of America, felony crimes against the United States of America.

I feel a little better now.

But yeah, he should have had people who 1) knew what they were supposed to do, and 2) did the job competently, like every other president before him.

[Ben-Prime]

This is the first time that a president lost re-election and tried to overturn the results by committing felony crimes against the United States of America.

I have to say that some more: Felony crimes against the United States of America, felony crimes against the United States of America, felony crimes against the United States of America, felony crimes against the United States of America, felony crimes against the United States of America.

I'm sorry, but it's a little unclear. What are you *really* trying to say here?

[Foggy]

Oh, sorry.

I was just venting, we call it.

Or you could say acting out.

[Chilidog]

the inventory list has been leaked

[Foggy]

[Shizzle Popped]

[bill_g]

I question the line with the description Box labeled A-17.

[Foggy]

Our former member 7rob7, who is executive director of the theater program at UNC Chapel Hill, wrote a haiku describing the events of the past week:

Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha
Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha
Ha Ha Ha Ha Hai!

You can tell he put a good deal of thought into that one.

[bill_g]

You can sing that to the tune of Jingle Bells.

[Foggy]

Tweet from @AkivaMCohen: Current official GOP position:

"Sure, it was absurdly dangerous to national security that these documents were at Mar-a-Lago, but that's fine, because Trump says he had a standing 'it's OK if I seriously jeopardize national security' order"

[Volkonski]

[Chilidog]

i wonder about the people who have been financially backing Trump over the past year….

how is this going to sit with them?

https://www.forbes.com/sites/danalexand ... ec64763970

[RTH10260]

Surely the lenders relied on collateral stored in a safe place at MaL

[Kendra]

Maria Bartiromo had Kash and Devin on this morning. I was still waking up and struggled to follow their *logic* (hopefully some of the twitter guys will break it down for us), but I did hear something about this goes back farther than Russia Russia Russia, like Benghazi even

Somehow it's a big plot with top folks at the DOJ whose names keep coming up in all these evil plots against poor Donald, Susan Rice (for realz), Jake Sullivan and Lisa Monaco. Oh, and now there's attorney client privilege docs that were taken. Gasp! Kash says Trump was declassifying documents related to Russia-Gate, boxes and boxes at a time and the public's only seen 60% of them But yeah, he was really declassifying boxes at a time.

Oh, and of course they had to finish the segment up with photos of the luxury mansion the Biden family is vacationing at for free and a shot of Hunter in the water. Because, important news.

Off to Acyn's twitter feed, apparently Brianna Keihlar (sp?) is nailing Rep Mike Turner to the cross. Gonna have to watch State of the Union when it's up again at 9AM.

[tek]

None of this hangs together at all. But the rubes are stupid.

Too, Also: while the President "can declassify anything" .. remember, I Am Not A Lawyer .. but improper declassification could be treasonous or something amirite?

[Kendra]

“Trump’s social media network put out a push alert promoting a story from a conservative outlet that identified the FBI agents involved in this search. How is that not encouraging violence against federal law enforcement officers in this climate to identify them?”