Thread by @rgoodlaw

More indicators this is about crimes like #Espionage Act:

NYT:
“Two people briefed on the classified documents that investigators believe remained at [MAL] indicated that they were so sensitive in nature, and related to national security, that the Justice Department had to act.”

2. “The F.B.I. left behind a two-page manifest of what was taken…The inventory .. does reference an array of sensitive material …. For example, it alludes to miscellaneous confidential documents as well some labeled ‘top secret.’”

via @maggieNYT et al

nytimes.com/2022/08/11/us/…

3. For more context on the significance of Jay Bratt, Chief of DOJ’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section signing the government’s motion before court.👇

From former Chief of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) Unit @BVanGrack👇

https://twitter.com/BVanGrack/status/1557821184892407810

4. Also from David Laufman (@DavidLaufmanLaw), who led the Justice Department’s Counterintelligence section until 2018.👇

https://twitter.com/davidlaufmanlaw/status/1557809831695814662

5. WaPo back in Feb 2022 reported that some of the documents taken from MAL back then were “records at the very highest levels of classification, including some that can be viewed by only a small number of government officials.”

@JaxAlemany @thamburger
washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/…

6. And again in June at MAL “Trump’s attorneys showed the investigators documents – some of them had markings indicating they were classified. The agents were given custody of the documents that were marked top secret or higher.”

@evanperez @GabbyOrr_
cnn.com/2022/08/11/pol…

7. It’s an astounding timeline:

Jan 2022: DOJ removes from MAL highly classified Top Secret docs

But Trump keeps more.

June 2022: DOJ returns and finds more highly classified Top Secret docs

But Trump keeps more.

Aug 2022: DOJ under court order removes more Top Secret docs

8/8. Finally for a must read, top expert analysis of how the Espionage Act fits the currently known information, read this by @AshaRangappa_ @NormEisen @BradMossEsq

justsecurity.org/82619/expert-e…

Addendum-1

#Espionage Act criminal liability just got a whole lot more likely.

“Classified documents relating to nuclear weapons were among the items FBI agents sought in a search” of MAL on Monday.

@DevlinBarrett @jdawsey1 @PerryStein @shaneharris

washingtonpost.com/national-secur…

This new Washington Post report also has this:

“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.”

washingtonpost.com/national-secur…

Addendum-2

ABC News @jonkarl reports:

On Monday, "investigators were also looking for material labelled 'Special Access,' which is only available to a limited number of individuals with the highest level of security clearance."

https://twitter.com/GMA/status/1558048046939869184?s=20&t=-upA5VMiveXOs-QgwWYFvw

Addendum-3 Wall Street Journal report:

On Monday, "FBI agents ... removed 11 sets of classified documents, including some marked as top secret and meant to be only available in special government facilities."

via @learyreports @aviswanatha @sgurman

wsj.com/articles/fbi-r…

These are the nation's most carefully guarded secrets!

From the Wall Street Journal.
Not simply what FBI was looking for.
But what they found.

"One set of documents marked as 'Various classified/TS/SCI documents.'"

Top-secret/sensitive compartmented information.

Plus ...

Plus

"Four sets of top secret documents,
three sets of secret documents, and
three sets of confidential documents."

Looks like Trump's defense lawyers are going to be in a real bind, as is their client.

wsj.com/articles/fbi-r…