Beat me to it. Was just about to link this. Very good information and more detail, including the fact that what was left at Mar a Lago was classified material, the FBI knew where it was, and also had surveillance about who was possibly entering the area with the classified materials. Trump, or at least his lawyers, had to know that if Trump didn't comply with the subpoena about these records, the next step the DOJ was going to take was a "raid" on the property with a signed search warrant. Maybe Trump didn't think the DOJ would go through with it?
Or because Trump thinks he knows more about everything than anybody else including his own attorneys. Additionally, Trump never misses an opportunity to inflame and incite his followers and the "raid" on Mar a Lago presented him with the opportunity to do so.
"Former President Donald J. Trump received a subpoena this spring in search of documents that federal investigators believed he had failed to turn over earlier in the year, when he returned boxes of material he had improperly taken with him upon moving out of the White House, three people familiar with the matter said. The existence of the subpoena helps to flesh out the sequence of events that led to the search of Mr. Trump’s Florida home on Monday by F.B.I. agents seeking classified material they believed might still be there, even after efforts by the National Archives and the Justice Department to ensure that it had been returned. The subpoena suggests that the Justice Department tried methods short of a search warrant to account for the material before taking the politically explosive step of sending F.B.I. agents unannounced to Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Trump’s home and members-only club. Two people briefed on the classified documents that investigators believe remained at Mar-a-Lago indicated that they were so sensitive in nature, and related to national security, that the Justice Department had to act." Subpoena Preceded Search Warrant in Push to Retrieve Material From Trump
Given that under the DOJ's own guidelines prosecutors aren't supposed to provide details regarding an ongoing investigation I don't expected AG Garland to provide very much of substance beyond a statement to the effect that all of the appropriate procedures were followed with respect to obtaining and executing the search warrant.
Good legal advice comes from lawyers whose invoices get paid in full. That's not something that happens to people who work for Trump.
Trump was absolutely going to leverage whatever materials he had against "perceived enemies" or against the United States, itself.
I'm glad somebody at the DOJ/FBI finally grew a spine. All Trump's sycophantic supporters should be demanding Trump hand over the purloined documents, not threatening violence because the law is being enforced. This goes for the Democrats, too. Leaders should be held more accountable for illegal/unethical actions than regular citizens, not less. It just makes no sense that these already grossly entitled leaders also get to enjoy immunity from their misdeeds, often at the insistence of their supporters.
This is what's been nagging me: the same way Trump for MONTHS implored his followers NOT to do mail in voting for the cynical purpose of being able to show a supposed lead as the polls closed only to scream conspiracy as the mail in ballots were counted through the night and successive days... ...there's a part of me that wonders if he took these materials, harmless, innocuous materials and kept them at Mar-a-largo despite knowing the action this would ultimately trigger for the sole purpose of having that action triggered as a means to gin up his base and re-frame himself as a victim of, yet again, some rogue deep state witch hunt. It all sounds too damn made for 1990 Cinemax B-movie political thriller and yet... his mail in voting election ruse worked one thousand percent and so I don't put this one past him either.
Nah. Because now he's talking about the FBI planting evidence against him. That's an indication there's something really bad in there.
hard to imagine a worse client. In addition to likely nonpayment of all or a portion of the invoices, he’s constantly running off at the mouth, making unfounded statements, and sabotaging his legal position. A lot of the elite legal talent isn’t going to have anything to do with him.
1. Garland personally approved MAL search warrant. 2. DOJ has filed a motion to unseal the warrant and the property inventory so we can all see it. Let’s see if Trump objects to its unsealing.
