This is a very interesting escalation of events. Merrick Garland had previously said that “no one is above the law” and by golly, now we tend to believe him.
As you’ve seen from posts here in the last hour, Mar-a-Lago was the scene of a large number of FBI agents showing up on Donald Trump’s doorstep and staying for hours. The New York Times has confirmed that the main purpose of executing a search warrant on Mar-a-Lago was to recover documents which Donald Trump took from the White House without permission.
There also seems to be a connection, at least a temporal one, between the raid and the release of photos from Maggie Haberman’s new book about Trump tearing up documentation earmarked for the presidential archives and stuffing up the toilet with it.
Now, before you read this Twitter thread, bear a few things in mind: Before today the idea of Donald Trump being charged was somewhat far fetched. Now, not so much. Also, the documents in question (those taken wrongfully from the White House) were taken long ago, namely January, 2021 or before. Why the raid now? it would seem that some new intelligence was revealed.
I flat out wonder and have wondered for some time if Trump was selling national security secrets. I am simply wondering now if the DOJ got some evidence of that.
Here is post-raid commentary.
/2 To get a federal search warrant, a federal agent submits an affidavit under oath to a federal magistrate judge, setting forth where they want to search, for what items, and what the probable cause is that those things are evidence of a federal crime and are there.
— ComprisedHat (@Popehat) August 8, 2022
/4 So the affidavit has to show that there is probable cause to believe that the specified location has the specified evidence of a specified federal crime. That's the ideal at least. Note it doesn't have to establish probable cause a particular person committed a crime.
— ComprisedHat (@Popehat) August 8, 2022
/6 So. The agents show up at the specified location (during the day unless they asked for and got a night warrant) and secure the location, which depending on the skin color of the occupants means proning you out on the pavement or putting you on a couch.
— ComprisedHat (@Popehat) August 8, 2022
/8 Eventually the agents leave. This part is crucial to what we can find out about the scope of the investigation. They don't leave the warrant application — the long narrative describing the investigation and the evidence supporting it.
— ComprisedHat (@Popehat) August 8, 2022
/10 For instance, if the warrant shows them looking for evidence of violations of the federal statute limiting removal of federal records, that would reflect a focus on the allegation Trump improperly took docs when he left.
— ComprisedHat (@Popehat) August 8, 2022
/12 But we'll only know that if someone leaks the warrant form, or, hypothetically, if someone emotionally unregulated releases it and starts shouting at Tucker Carlson about its contents. Hypothetically.
— ComprisedHat (@Popehat) August 8, 2022
/14 A search doesn't ensure they will charge Trump — or anyone –but it suggests they've found the political will to do so if necessary and overcome any policy or legal theory reasons not to move forward.
The very unlikely (Trump being charged) has become fully plausible.
— ComprisedHat (@Popehat) August 8, 2022
/16 As @jbarro and I were just discussing, it's rather surprising to me that the misappropriated documents (even if classified) would get DoJ to execute a warrant. Not what I'd expect them to find adequate to do something this big. So I suspect there's more.
— ComprisedHat (@Popehat) August 8, 2022
/18 People are asking "if they are searching for X, can they seize Y if they find it?" Only if it's in plain sight and obviously evidence of another crime, which is tricky when the crimes are document-based and complex as opposed to cocaine or dead bodies.https://t.co/zacqfqwg2W
— ComprisedHat (@Popehat) August 8, 2022
Isn’t that intriguing? Sorta makes your day, doesn’t it?
If this is Garland doing nothing, him doing something must involve saving the world.
Although I posted this on a Murfster article it seems appropriate to also post it here:
Trump’s making a lot of noise about having his safe opened by the FBI. Wonder what was in it? Other than Putin’s private phone number, that is … oh and Lindsey Graham’s balls.
That is the most likely source of the right-wing freakout. He probably had his blackmail material on all to them stashed in there.