First sentence in heavily redacted Mar a Lago search warrant affidavit:
Ergo, there was no probable cause for a criminal investigation.
Had the National Archives wished to pursue further civil means, it could have done so.
The name of the FBI special agent who promulgated the search warrant affidavit has been redacted. Thus, responsibility is "kicked upstairs" to FBI Director Christopher Wray, Attorney General Merrick Garland and unnamed White House officials. Yet, that agent's name is a matter of public concern.
The anonymous agent claims that a basis for the probe is that someone with "unauthorized" access to serious national security secrets might be intent on transferring that information to a dangerous foreign power.
The affidavit then goes on to imply that Donald Trump, as president, was required to go through various bureaucratic procedures before declassifying anything. In the case of a president, this interpretation of the law is novel.
The FBI includes in its affidavit an illegible reproduction of a Trump statement of response.
Among 15 boxes seized from Mar a Lago, the FBI said, were 184 unique docmnents 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 compartmental/dissemination controls: HCS, FISA, ORCON, NOFORN, and SI.
Other markings are hcs = intelligence community consumers only; fisa = foreign intelligence surveillance act; orcon = can't be moved without approval; noforn = can't be distributed among foreign agencies; and SI = signals intelligence.
In addition, the FBI said, "Several of the documents also contained what appears to be FPOTUS's handwritten notes." FPOTUS is FBI lingo for former president.
Of course the unnammed agent claims that the FBI was worried about a danger to national security. But it is fair to ask whether the Biden White House, Joe Biden's Justice Department and the FBI's top brass were actually worried about what information Trump had on the FBI's involvement in the Democrats' bogus "national security" attack on Trump during his 2016 campaign and after he took office. In particular, the presence of FISA material brings up that possibility since, as we know, a politically cooked FISA warrant was used to justify eavesdropping on Trump's campaign.
The fact that Trump wanted some of the materials protected under attorney-client privilege adds fuel to conjectures that the documents at issue concern the Deep State's desire to protect itself from strong evidence of misuse of the FBI, CIA and other agencies in order to railroad an undesired person.
Many of the papers that the FBI and Justice Department are poring over are not classified, implying that the motive for documents seizure may be largely political.
Further context is added by the disclosure by Mark Zuckerberg, top gun at Facebook, that he ordered the shadow-banning of the New York Post's story on Hunter Biden's abandoned laptop, which pointed to "high crimes and misdemeanors" in the taking of hefty emoluments from foreign sources by his father Joe when he was vice president. Zuckerberg said the FBI had pressured him to curtail "Russian disinformation."
In this respect, more than 50 former intelligence officials in October 2020 issued a public letter claiming the Hunter Biden laptop story gave off a very strong odor of Russian disinformation. These persons, most of whom retained top secret clearances, made this statement while knowing that the FBI held the original laptop and had issued no such claim about its content.
The New York Times, citing government sources, has reversed itself and conceded that the laptop information is genuine. Yet, the laptop's whereabouts are unknown, according to Garland, and if there has been an FBI investigation, it has been very muted so far, with no sensational actions like the raid on Trump's residence.
FBI's Mar a Lago claims
https://fm.cnbc.com/applications/cnbc.com/resources/editorialfiles/2022/08/26/govuscourtsflsd6178541021.pdf
The government is conducting a criminal investigation concerning the improper removal and storage of classified information in unauthorized spaces, as well as the unlawful concealment or removal of govermnent records.The premise of the Mar a Lago raid is spurious. There can have been no crime since a president has the right to summarily declassify any secrets he wishes and has had the longstanding discretion to remove papers used during his presidency.
Ergo, there was no probable cause for a criminal investigation.
Had the National Archives wished to pursue further civil means, it could have done so.
The name of the FBI special agent who promulgated the search warrant affidavit has been redacted. Thus, responsibility is "kicked upstairs" to FBI Director Christopher Wray, Attorney General Merrick Garland and unnamed White House officials. Yet, that agent's name is a matter of public concern.
The anonymous agent claims that a basis for the probe is that someone with "unauthorized" access to serious national security secrets might be intent on transferring that information to a dangerous foreign power.
The affidavit then goes on to imply that Donald Trump, as president, was required to go through various bureaucratic procedures before declassifying anything. In the case of a president, this interpretation of the law is novel.
The FBI includes in its affidavit an illegible reproduction of a Trump statement of response.
Among 15 boxes seized from Mar a Lago, the FBI said, were 184 unique docmnents 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 compartmental/dissemination controls: HCS, FISA, ORCON, NOFORN, and SI.
✓ "Confidential" is the lowest classification. That classification is routinely applied to documents that officials would rather that the public not see.This says that Trump had on hand 25 documents that could notionally have compromised national security -- though it is possible that other highly secret materials were removed prior to the raid. In any case, surely Trump and his staff could easily have reviewed 25 documents and declassified them before Trump's term expired.
✓ "Secret" is the second tier of classification. Low-level officials and military personnel are routinely given access to material marked "secret." This classification is ambiguous, as the data covered might be of critical importance to an adversary -- but generally isn't. But if so, time sensitivity generally figures in. Old "secret" information has by now probably leaked (such as enlisted personnel knowledge of standard weapons systems).
✓ "Top secret" is the highest classification. People who work in national security, whether for the government or contractors, must have top secret clearance. A great deal of trivia, along with genuinely important secrets, have that classification.
Other markings are hcs = intelligence community consumers only; fisa = foreign intelligence surveillance act; orcon = can't be moved without approval; noforn = can't be distributed among foreign agencies; and SI = signals intelligence.
In addition, the FBI said, "Several of the documents also contained what appears to be FPOTUS's handwritten notes." FPOTUS is FBI lingo for former president.
Of course the unnammed agent claims that the FBI was worried about a danger to national security. But it is fair to ask whether the Biden White House, Joe Biden's Justice Department and the FBI's top brass were actually worried about what information Trump had on the FBI's involvement in the Democrats' bogus "national security" attack on Trump during his 2016 campaign and after he took office. In particular, the presence of FISA material brings up that possibility since, as we know, a politically cooked FISA warrant was used to justify eavesdropping on Trump's campaign.
The fact that Trump wanted some of the materials protected under attorney-client privilege adds fuel to conjectures that the documents at issue concern the Deep State's desire to protect itself from strong evidence of misuse of the FBI, CIA and other agencies in order to railroad an undesired person.
Many of the papers that the FBI and Justice Department are poring over are not classified, implying that the motive for documents seizure may be largely political.
Further context is added by the disclosure by Mark Zuckerberg, top gun at Facebook, that he ordered the shadow-banning of the New York Post's story on Hunter Biden's abandoned laptop, which pointed to "high crimes and misdemeanors" in the taking of hefty emoluments from foreign sources by his father Joe when he was vice president. Zuckerberg said the FBI had pressured him to curtail "Russian disinformation."
In this respect, more than 50 former intelligence officials in October 2020 issued a public letter claiming the Hunter Biden laptop story gave off a very strong odor of Russian disinformation. These persons, most of whom retained top secret clearances, made this statement while knowing that the FBI held the original laptop and had issued no such claim about its content.
The New York Times, citing government sources, has reversed itself and conceded that the laptop information is genuine. Yet, the laptop's whereabouts are unknown, according to Garland, and if there has been an FBI investigation, it has been very muted so far, with no sensational actions like the raid on Trump's residence.
FBI's Mar a Lago claims
https://fm.cnbc.com/applications/cnbc.com/resources/editorialfiles/2022/08/26/govuscourtsflsd6178541021.pdf
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