The day has arrived. Parts of the Biden Justice Department affidavit that provided probable cause for the FBI to raid the home of a former president have been released. Spencer and Katie wrote about this supposed bombshell that was predictably a dud when it comes to corroborating the most explosive allegations against Donald Trump and the dispute over missing documents with the National Archives. Judge Bruce Reinhart, who also signed off on the equally shoddy search warrant, wasn’t convinced by the government’s arguments for keeping the entire affidavit under seal. He allowed the Department of Justice to redact portions that could harm the integrity of the investigation, the security of its sources, and here’s the kicker: the safety of Donald Trump.
It's a sea of black ink that does very little to support the narrative that this federal raid, which occurred on August 8, was justifiable. There’s no smoking gun here; Trump isn’t even mentioned in the affidavit in a way that gives the impression that he was targeted for criminal acts. All it did was bolster the argument that an over-politicized goon squad at the FBI and DOJ ransacked Trump’s home as a warning to Trump to stay at home in 2024. Federal agents have threatened those who might paint the Biden White House negatively. This raid is a Trump-media-DOJ story. The point is if there were something genuinely criminal—we would have known about it by now; the same applied to the Russian collusion hoax.
Some are focused on the classified documents that the FBI discovered on the Mar-a-Lago property, but there are no specifics about the nature of these documents. Also, there is nothing about nuclear secrets, a comical DOJ leak that further exposed this raid as part of a political persecution campaign. Brett Tolman, executive director for Right on Crime, noted that the affidavit does not contain evidence that supports the federal mens rea requirements, which is a burden of proof benchmark the government must meet to show criminal intent. There was no evidence to provide probable cause to search the safe. In other words, it’s quite a nothingburger that shows the DOJ cobbled together a bunch of fake law violations to make for incomprehensible legalese to bust down the doors of the home of an ex-president. That’s not law and order; that’s a rogue DOJ that’s become increasingly engulfed by paranoia, vindictiveness, and political animosity.
1–it does not appear to include any exculpatory evidence or mitigating facts. While it includes a letter from Trump’s lawyers it doesn’t acknowledge potential advice of counsel defenses or even that they may lack authority to bring such a case against a former POTUS
— Brett L. Tolman (@tolmanbrett) August 26, 2022
3-The affidavit is filled with conclusory statements “there is probable cause” is stated authoritatively but without any reference to whom the PC applies nor to sufficient facts supporting such PC
— Brett L. Tolman (@tolmanbrett) August 26, 2022
4–(My Favorite part) The focus of the facts is less on if FPOTUS may or may not be able to possess but whether docs are in a secure, designated room. No mention that the whole place is secured by the Secret Service.
— Brett L. Tolman (@tolmanbrett) August 26, 2022
6-There is no set of facts revealed to show that the target transported, removed, destroyed, altered or instructed others to do so Re: classified docs.
— Brett L. Tolman (@tolmanbrett) August 26, 2022
8–Shockingly, it admits that the FBI searched through boxes of documents that NARA had recovered, and did so pursuant to their “criminal investigation” but did not use a Taint Team to ensure they were not reviewing privileged documents.
— Brett L. Tolman (@tolmanbrett) August 26, 2022
9-The brief reference to the article citing Kash Patel’s statements that documents were declassified should have given the judge pause that this is not a criminal case and that requisite Mens Rea would be impossible to establish against the target.
— Brett L. Tolman (@tolmanbrett) August 26, 2022
Katie added that Jonathan Turley, an instructor at George Washington University Law University, said the affidavit leaves more questions unanswered.
Last, rehashing what some legal observers who aren’t Trump-deranged have already noted, the president is the ultimate determining individual when it comes to declassifying sensitive materials. Some have argued that taking the records to Mar-a-Lago, which is secure—Trump has Secret Service protection—is the declassifying action. All former presidents have former staff to handle these documents and store them, most of which are over-classified from the start. The classification statutes and guidelines do not apply to the office of the presidency. Trump had already declassified troves of records relating to the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane probe. Did the FBI raid Trump’s home over records he could legally possess? Also, why was there such an immense show of force to ensure compliance with the Presidential Records Act, which isn’t even a criminal statute? The Trump legal team was already cooperating with the National Archives on the documents in question, sending some 15 boxes back in January. What evidence makes the case that Trump violated the Espionage Act, and where is the obstruction of justice?
Anyone really believe the head of counterintelligence at FBI raided a President over an archives dispute? Fact a judge bought that pretext is embarrassing. Unless, the former Epstein lawyer knew the real goal was to get evidence of Deep State corruption out of Trump's possession.
— Robert Barnes (@barnes_law) August 26, 2022
The intel agencies have a crisis on their hands.
— Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) August 26, 2022
This is completely political and the American people see it. https://t.co/Ejs92s8YJh
It went from “nuclear documents” to “he wouldn’t give us stuff back” real quick.
— Viva Frei (@thevivafrei) August 26, 2022