FBI Executed a Warrant at Mar a Lago; the Investigation Continues

Nothing related to January 6th showed up in the inventory and I can't imagine why anything like that would be classified. This case is entirely separate from the Jan. 6th investigation and the charges are much more serious. The Justice Department already have enough physical evidence to indite him for the crimes listed in the warrant.

 

Is Trump Milo Mindbender?

 

This is all the more prescient given Schiff's experience prosecuting defendants charged with espionage.

 

I might be wrong, but I think they opened boxes, and if they found anything marked classified in it, they took the whole box. The warrant says:

a. Any physical documents with classification markings, along with any containers/boxes (including any other contents) in which such documents are located, as well as any other containers/boxes that are collectively stored or found together with the aforementioned documents and containers/boxes;

They likely got tons of stuff not classified to have a look at, and it's apparently entire legal to use what they find to build other cases if they found other criminal activity.

 

That’s deep. It’s been 30+ years since I read Catch-22. I had sort of equated Trump to Major Major Major Major. Born on third base and totally incompetent. I’d have to think about the Milo extreme capitalism as a Trump representation..

 

You're likely not wrong. When classified material is stored with unclassified material (or when multiple classifications are stored together), the cabinet/container will be classified at the highest level of the documents contained therein.

 

Taking his passport seems a bit of an overreach. I mentioned it before but couldn't they have the FAA ground his aircraft?

 

I don't think any of the contents can be appreciably defined yet.

 

This could be interesting.

 

Things that make you go hmmmm. Just a week or so after the warrant was served hmmmm.

 

it might make me go hmmm, but I've no idea what this means. Someone help a brother out.

 

Unfortunately, it seems to be wildly ambiguous. Could be a filing from trump's camp, the DOJ, responses of the court to press requests, etc.

 

Well, a possible hmmm might concern classified material that could not be described in an unsealed, public document

 

The most likely out is just to say "We got what we wanted" and not press any charges. That's being speculated…

FBI raid might not have been about indicting Trump: Experts

 

Don't know where I read or heard it but the FBI is scanning documents for finger prints. I have my own thoughts but what does that sound like to the legal professionals here?

 

a) Not legal professional but it could be related to 793(d). If unauthorized people had access to classified data, that's on trump.

b) If unauthorized foreign nationals saw the docs, that's grave.

c) trumps tiny fingerprints on a document could deny him the chance to claim ignorance.

What else?

 

I'm sure they are also doing electronic searches in case images were taken of said documents and stored/shared.

 

Former Dir of Homeland Security, a man experienced in protocols of how classified info should be treated (Jeh Johnson) weighs in:

A very legitimate example of an exercise of the president's declassification authority is this: suppose the president is about to have a bilateral meeting with another head of state somewhere, and wants to share classified information with that president in the best interests of the United States and its relationship with that other nation’s government. Many classified documents bear the express marking "NOFORN"—i.e., it may not be shared with any foreign national. Undoubtably, a U.S. president has the authority to make a unilateral and summary decision to share that information with his or her foreign counterpart without following the normal and very cumbersome process for declassifying documents or information—though doing so may be deeply unwise without first consulting all the relevant national security agencies to understand the implications of revealing that classified information to another government

In light of all this, the defense asserted by Trump's team—that while in office Trump issued "standing orders" that any "documents removed from the Oval Office and taken to the residence were deemed to be declassified the moment he removed them"—is nothing short of laughable. It's a little like saying that the speed limit on the New Jersey Turnpike is whatever speed the governor chooses to drive at in any given moment.
Thoughts on the Mar-a-Lago Search and the President’s Classification and Declassification Authority

 

I don't think there will be charges over the National Archives part.

I don't see how Trump's lawyers avoid charges over the "we sent everything" affidavit.

The espionage one is where it gets dicey.

 

What are the likely next steps for the DOJ?