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

[RTH10260]

Plus the former guy got fined with self inflicted expenses

[much ado]

So much winning!!!

[Kendra]

https://wapo.st/3PrrnBe

The House Oversight Committee sent a letter to the National Archives on Tuesday requesting a review to determine whether former president Donald Trump has retained any additional presidential records at his storage facility in Florida.

The request from the committee’s chairwoman, Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.), follows a report from The Washington Post that at least two items marked classified were found by an outside team hired by Trump to search a storage unit, along with at least two of his properties, after his legal team was pressed by a federal judge to attest that it had fully complied with a May grand jury subpoena to turn over all materials bearing classified markings.

According to the letter obtained by The Post, Maloney expressed concern to acting archivist Debra Steidel Wall that Trump’s storage facility and other properties “may contain presidential records that were not the focus of the search and therefore have not been turned over to the federal government.”

Gifted link.

[pipistrelle]

The scary part is the top secret ones, but return all of them. Even the ones that make you look bad. Which is probably all of them.

[Foggy]

Major new interactive article at the top of the pile at the failing NY Times

Inside Mar-a-Lago, Where Thousands Partied Near Secret Files

This one is all about where the documents were stored, layout of the club, and people who were near the documents.

[RTH10260]

Major new interactive article at the top of the pile at the failing NY Times

Inside Mar-a-Lago, Where Thousands Partied Near Secret Files

This one is all about where the documents were stored, layout of the club, and people who were near the documents.

Has a nice 3D animated graphics of the property!

Did they purchase it from Russia or China?

[Foggy]

Nah, they got it from one of the Rothschilds, is what I'm hearing ...

[Foggy]

New story in Washington Post. Gift link:

Skepticism before a search: Inside the Trump Mar-a-Lago documents investigation

Haven't read it yet, but doing so now.

[RTH10260]

as above

Skepticism before a search: Inside the Trump Mar-a-Lago documents investigation
The FBI was initially reluctant to investigate Donald Trump’s possession of classified documents, and cautious when it did so

By Devlin Barrett, Jacqueline Alemany, Perry Stein, Josh Dawsey, Ann E. Marimow and Carol D. Leonnig
Updated December 21, 2022 at 12:33 p.m. EST|Published December 21, 2022 at 10:15 a.m. EST


FBI officials had a lot to worry about in late July as they discussed whether to search one of Donald Trump’s homes for evidence of crimes. Two concerns were paramount: Any search warrant should be authorized by the attorney general himself, and they did not want the former president to be at Mar-a-Lago when it happened.

The FBI also was wary of the remote possibility of a “blue on blue” confrontation — between the federal agents searching the location and the Secret Service agents who guard the former president, according to people familiar with the matter, who like others interviewed for this article spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal discussions.

“Executing a search like that is sensational enough. Doing it without the former president there is probably the best good-faith effort you can make to reducing the probability of it becoming even more sensationalized,” said Jeffrey Cortese, a former FBI supervisor. “They would want to get in and get out without any complications.”

Leaders of the Justice Department were proceeding cautiously as well, agreeing with the FBI on these points even as tensions sometimes flared between agents and prosecutors.



https://www.washingtonpost.com/national ... january-6/

[jemcanada2]

When this story broke in August, the DOJ and FBI said it only became so public because of tfg. Proof that it wouldn’t have become such a big deal if tfg hadn’t made it one (and had returned all the documents the first time they asked nicely).

[Reality Check]

Sounds like the FBI was bending over backwards to not offend their hero Trump. Screw them.

[keith]

Sounds like the FBI was bending over backwards to not offend their hero Trump. Screw them.

I disagree with your characterization.

Sounds like the FBI was bending over backwards to keep it from turning into a circus.

[p0rtia]

Sounds like the FBI was bending over backwards to not offend their hero Trump. Screw them.

And how. This has been so obvious for such a long time. FBI, DOJ, Secret Service. It's not only the dedicated supporters of TFG, it's the insane deference and misplaced hesitancy--which I see as a species of corruption--of all these departments. Military too. Fuck them all.

And fuck the arrogant, self-important commentators in MSM who chastise those of us with zero power who have pushed and pushed and pushed. Without that, we'd be living under a one-party dictatorship with no elections at all.

Still a good bet.

[Reality Check]

Sounds like the FBI was bending over backwards to not offend their hero Trump. Screw them.

I disagree with your characterization.

Sounds like the FBI was bending over backwards to keep it from turning into a circus.

With the utmost respect, I think it is a quite logical inference to draw. The FBI resisted protecting documents that belonged to the people of the United States that were stolen by a private individual and were hidden.

[keith]

Sounds like the FBI was bending over backwards to not offend their hero Trump. Screw them.

I disagree with your characterization.

Sounds like the FBI was bending over backwards to keep it from turning into a circus.

With the utmost respect, I think it is a quite logical inference to draw. The FBI resisted protecting documents that belonged to the people of the United States that were stolen by a private individual and were hidden.

They worked out a plan where they wouldnt have to have put Trump in handcuffs to keep him from flushing papers down the toilet and out of the way while they chased his hangers on to keep them from stuffing boxes into their underwear while they also fended off secret service and lawyers trying to flood the zone.

[Foggy]

Yeah, but did you notice that when Trump turned over the 15 boxes in January, the FBI didn't look inside until MAY? And when they looked at what was there, in fairness, they did have a sudden change of attitude - Garland took over, they issued the grand jury subpoena in June, and the search warrant August 8th.

In the article, it doesn’t exactly explain why it took them until May to get their asses in gear.

[Reality Check]

They worked out a plan where they wouldnt have to have put Trump in handcuffs to keep him from flushing papers down the toilet and out of the way while they chased his hangers on to keep them from stuffing boxes into their underwear while they also fended off secret service and lawyers trying to flood the zone.

But only after the DoJ insisted this had to be addressed. Executing the warrant while Trump was not at Mar a-lago didn't require any exceptional legal acumen.

[Azastan]

They worked out a plan where they wouldn't have to have put Trump in handcuffs to keep him from flushing papers down the toilet and out of the way while they chased his hangers on to keep them from stuffing boxes into their underwear while they also fended off secret service and lawyers trying to flood the zone.

Not trying to take sides here, but I do think this is a likely reason for their caution (and quite possibly a little of 'we gotta protect TFG because we like him' as well).

[RTH10260]

Yeah, but did you notice that when Trump turned over the 15 boxes in January, the FBI didn't look inside until MAY? And when they looked at what was there, in fairness, they did have a sudden change of attitude - Garland took over, they issued the grand jury subpoena in June, and the search warrant August 8th.

In the article, it doesn’t exactly explain why it took them until May to get their asses in gear.

The NARA had first to make the referal to the FBI after they found classified documents within the boxes. The original handover was not to the FBI (while they may have assistaed - the 5th for me - no remember).

[jemcanada2]

Sounds like the FBI was bending over backwards to not offend their hero Trump. Screw them.

And how. This has been so obvious for such a long time. FBI, DOJ, Secret Service. It's not only the dedicated supporters of TFG, it's the insane deference and misplaced hesitancy--which I see as a species of corruption--of all these departments. Military too. Fuck them all.

And fuck the arrogant, self-important commentators in MSM who chastise those of us with zero power who have pushed and pushed and pushed. Without that, we'd be living under a one-party dictatorship with no elections at all.

Still a good bet.

And now there’s evidence that the IRS didn’t do the mandatory audit on tfg that is supposed to be done for every president since Nixon.

[RTH10260]

BUT... But.... but... the IRS was auditing for years - the old guy claimed so - that why he had to hide his tax info

[W. Kevin Vicklund]

Yeah, but did you notice that when Trump turned over the 15 boxes in January, the FBI didn't look inside until MAY? And when they looked at what was there, in fairness, they did have a sudden change of attitude - Garland took over, they issued the grand jury subpoena in June, and the search warrant August 8th.

In the article, it doesn’t exactly explain why it took them until May to get their asses in gear.

To be fair, they didn't get the boxes until May because Trump tried to block the transfer after NARA warned him.

[Kendra]

Question: Are you confident that all the records with classified markings have been located and turned over to the government?

[RTH10260]

Q. did the DOJ confirm that the number of empty folders found match the number of classified documents recovered?

[PaulG]

Q. did the DOJ confirm that the number of empty folders found match the number of classified documents recovered?

It never occurred to me that the number of pages would be written on the cover of the folder, but it seems obvious now you suggest it. I assume pages and pages are missing.