‘FBI executes search warrant at Trump's Mar-a-Lago in document investigation’
“former President confirmed that FBI agents were at Mar-a-Lago and said ‘they even broke into my safe.’ He was at Trump Tower in New York when the search warrant…”
“… Following the National Archives' recovering of White House records from Mar-a-Lago in recent months, the FBI on Monday had to verify that nothing was left behind.”
“… In early June, a handful of investigators made a rare visit to the property seeking more information about potentially classified material from Trump's time in the White House that had been taken to Florida.”
Jay Bratt
DOJ Counterintelligence & Export Control
“… the investigators asked the attorneys if they could see where Trump was storing the documents. The attorneys took the investigators to the basement room …
some of the documents shown to investigators had top secret markings.”
“The Florida raid, which one of the people said took ‘hours,’ resulted in the seizure of paper records, according to one person familiar with the development, who also noted that Trump attorney Christina Bobb was present during the search”
“In February, the National Archives asked the Justice Department to investigate Trump's handling of White House records. The National Archives said some of the documents Trump turned over to them had been ripped up and taped back together.”
“The raid by over 30 plain clothes agents from the Southern District of Florida and the FBI’s Washington Field Office extended through the Trump family’s entire 3,000-square-foot private quarters, as well as to a separate office and safe, and a locked…”
“… A legal source said that the boxes had been packed up by the General Services Administration and shipped to Mar-a-Lago when Trump left office in January 2020.”
“Trump attorney Lindsey Halligan, who was present during the multi-hour search, says that the FBI targeted three rooms—a bedroom, an office and a storage room. That suggests that the FBI knew specifically where to look.”
The Journal said it talked to anonymous sources familiar with the matter who said a person who knew where the papers were stored had been in touch with investigators.”
“Trump and his team seemed unaware of the possible gravity of the situation during this meeting, the newspaper said. ‘The former president even popped into the June 3 meeting at Mar-a-Lago, shaking hands,’ the Journal reported. …”
“… The FBI sent a missive several days later asking for a more secure lock to be placed on the storage room’s door. ‘In the following weeks, however, someone familiar with the stored papers told investigators there may be still more classified documents at the private club’”
‘Subpoena Preceded Search Warrant in Push to Retrieve Material From Trump’
‘The Justice Department had sought the return of classified documents it believed might still be at Mar-a-Lago before it sent F.B.I. agents this week to look for them.’
‘Feds removed documents from Mar-a-Lago in June with grand jury subpoena’
“The FBI search at Mar-a-Lago this week came months after federal investigators served an earlier grand jury subpoena and took away sensitive national security documents from…”
Investigators executed Monday's search in part because they had developed evidence, including from at least one witness, that there were potentially classified documents still remaining at the Palm Beach, Florida, property”
“… The criminal investigation started with concerns about missing documents raised by the National Archives … The 15 boxes contained some materials that were part of special access programs (SAP), a classification that includes protocols…”
‘Feds served subpoena, seized documents from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago in June: report’
“the subpoena was issued before an early June meeting, during which investigators were shown the basement storage room where boxes of documents and other …”
“… other memorabilia from Trump’s four years in the White House were reportedly kept. The outlet added that the 45th president’s attorneys handed over documents that were marked ‘top secret’ or higher.”
“… A person familiar with the inventory of 15 boxes taken from Mar-a-Lago in January indicated that signals intelligence material was included in them. The precise nature of the information was unclear.”
‘FBI searched Trump’s home for classified material about nuclear weapons: report’
“government officials were deeply concerned that the nuclear documents believed to be stored at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence could fall into the wrong hands.…”
“… The Post said their sources did not give details about the nuclear documents, such as whether it involved U.S. weapons or those of foreign countries.”
‘Is Trump being investigated over national security concerns under the Espionage Act?’
“The Act specifically states that anyone who ‘through gross negligence permits [such documents] to be removed from [their] proper place of custody’ can…”
“… including one set of documents marked as ‘Various classified/TS/SCI documents,’…
The property receipt also shows that FBI agents collected four sets of top secret documents, three sets of secret documents, and three sets of confidential documents.”
“The Journal reviewed a three-page list of items that FBI agents took from the Palm Beach, Fla., property on Monday, revealing that they took about 20 boxes of items, binders of photos, a handwritten note and Trump’s grant of clemency to … Roger Stone”
“Trump on Friday attempted to push back on a separate report that FBI agents searched his Mar-a-Lago residence for classified documents relating to nuclear weapons, saying in a social-media post that the ‘issue’ is a hoax.”
“Per the warrant, the feds are scrutinizing if Trump broke laws against gathering, transmitting, or losing defense information; the destruction, alteration, or falsification of records; and the concealment, removal, or mutilation of records.…”
“neither the government nor Trump proposed releasing the affidavit, which is likely to contained far more information about the case. But several news organizations have made that request, and the judge overseeing the case has given the government …”
“But according to Trump’s lawyer, Trump and his family were able to watch the entire search on Mar-a-Lago’s closed-circuit security cameras. So much for the crackpot claim that the FBI could have planted evidence!”
“Leonard called the caterwauling over what Trump could & could not declassify while president a ‘red herring.’ Yes, he acknowledged, Trump had broad powers to declassify nearly all intelligence, except when they contained information of nuclear issues…”
“… covert operations and operatives, or data sent to the U.S. by a treaty partner.
But he doesn’t have the right to leave those papers lying around Mar-a-Lago for anyone to access, especially when the club is a counterintelligence nightmare with horrific security.”
“In the spring, the department issued a subpoena to Mr. Trump seeking additional documents that it believed may have been in his possession. The former president was repeatedly urged by advisers to return what remained, despite what they …”
“… The former president was repeatedly urged by advisers to return what remained, despite what they described as his desire to continue to hold onto some documents.”
“… The letter signed by the attorney raises fresh questions about the number of people who may have legal exposure in the ongoing investigation into the handling of classified materials from Trump's time in the White House.”
‘Trump Raid Documents Could Reveal Informants on U.S. Payroll’
“the FBI was seeking to retrieve Top Secret and ‘compartmented’ documents dealing with intelligence ‘sources and methods,’ two federal government sources tell Newsweek—documents …”
“… The claim added two new excuses to his and his supporters’ ever-evolving list of reasons as to why the raid was unlawful, inappropriate, fruitless, overly intrusive, no big deal, or a mix of all five.”
‘Trump’s Shifting Explanations Follow a Familiar Playbook’
‘The former president and his allies have given often conflicting defenses of his retention of classified documents, without addressing why he had kept them.’
‘Justice Dept. Objects to Releasing Affidavit Used to Search Trump’s Home’
‘Prosecutors say its release would compromise the investigation into Donald J. Trump’s handling of secret documents after he left office. Now a judge must decide.’
“the prosecutors said the affidavit should not be unsealed because that could reveal the scope of the investigation into Trump’s unauthorized retention of classified White House records.
‘The affidavit would serve as a roadmap to the government’s…’”
“‘… a roadmap to the government’s ongoing investigation, providing specific details about its direction and likely course,’ prosecutors wrote. They also argued that releasing the document could compromise the continuing investigation.”
‘F.B.I. Interviewed Top White House Lawyers About Missing Trump Documents’
‘Pat A. Cipollone and Patrick F. Philbin are the most senior former Trump aides known to have been interviewed in the investigation into his handling of classified material.’
“Cipollone and Philbin were designated by Trump shortly before he left office to deal with the issues related to his presidential records. The former President recently added Kash Patel … and John Solomon … as designees on these matters.”
“Cipollone and Philbin were designated as Trump's representatives to handle material requested for the National Archives as Trump was moving out of the White House in January 2021. Once the Archives officials began to realize that some material was …”
‘TS/SCI: What an acronym reveals about the files seized from Mar-a-Lago’
“‘When you talk about, for example, issues dealing with operational activities of covert case officers, identities of informants and assets ... that's when you start to get far…’”
‘FBI Sought Documents Trump Hoarded for Years, Including about Russiagate’
“two government sources agree the private cache was located separately from the storage room that contained the 11 sets of documents that were the bulk of what the FBI retrieved.”
“‘… They were also after some number of documents that they considered more sensitive, but also documents that they felt the former president had no intention to return.’”
“Both Ms. Bobb and Ms. Halligan were present at Mar-a-Lago the day of the FBI search.
The women were barred from entering the building during the actual search and seizure of the documents, and Ms. Bobb later went on to claim that the FBI would have…”
“‘… He’s also a very difficult client in that he’s always pushing the envelope, he rarely listens to sound legal advice, and he wants you to do things that are not appropriate, ethically or legally.’”
“#Guangxin received his primary education in the Anhui Military School. This was the time of China-Vietnam war, and the military required soldiers. He was selected for the service, and served in the military for a few years. In 1989, he left the army…”
‘Texas bans secretive Chinese billionaire - who spent $110m quietly buying-up land -from setting up 15,000 acre wind farm amid fears turbines could be fitted with spying equipment or used by Chinese government to cripple energy grid’
“He has spent ten years working in the Middle-East for the ruling families of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Jordan; and in 2003 was appointed by the White House, as the Interim Minister of the Interior of Iraq following the fall of Saddam Hussein.”
“In 2004, he was tapped by President George W. Bush to serve as secretary of homeland security. This nomination led to a federal investigation, which ultimately resulted in #Kerik serving three years in prison on multiple felony convictions. …”
‘Trump Appointee Resigns After Fight With Democratic Bank Regulators’
‘Jelena #McWilliams, the chairwoman of the #FDIC, said that she would step down effective Feb. 4. Democrats on the board contended she was stonewalling their attempts to review policy’
‘#FDIC chair intends to resign in February, giving Biden more say over bank regulation’
“#Gruenberg has spoken out against the deregulatory actions taken over the past several years at the Federal Reserve that also have drawn sharp criticism from …”
“Ilya #Sachkov cofounded Moscow's Group-IB at just 17 and now works alongside banks & law enforcement, from Russia's Ministry of Internal Affairs to Europol, helping to uncover cybercriminals. He's been spied showing his technology to Vladimir Putin, too.” forbes.com/profile/ilya-s…
“#Sachkov graduated w/ honors from the Bauman Moscow State Technical University, where he studied Information Security. Being a student, in 2003 he founded Group-IB, the company that soon became one of the leading international companies specializing…”
“Ilya #Sachkov is a Russian businessman and co-founder of Group IB, Russia’s top cybersecurity organization. His organization assists clients from all around the world in combating cyber security concerns such as cyber-attacks. …”
“Jeff #Fortenberry represents Nebraska’s First Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives. He is a member of the House Appropriations Committee, which is responsible for the expenditures of the United States government. …”
#Fortenberry “earned a B.A. in economics from Louisiana State University in 1982 and a Master's of Public Policy in 1986 from Georgetown University, in addition to a Master's of Theology from the Franciscan University of Steubenville in 1996.”