Trump staff tell FBI "Trump was a pack rat who had been personally overseeing his collection of White House records since even before leaving Washington and had been reluctant to return anything."
Former Trump WH lawyer Herschmann warned Trump late 2021 he "could face legal liability if he did not return government materials he had taken with him when he left office"..."particularly any classified material."
In returning some documents to National Archives in January 2022, "Trump had overseen the packing process himself with great secrecy, declining to show some items even to top aides."
Trump's attorney told DOJ "Trump had authorized him" to allow DOJ to see storage room (after DOJ asked) "but they were explicitly prohibited from opening any of the approximately fifty to fifty-five boxes that they observed."
via DOJ filing
8. Exhibit seven
Trump's cooperating with Archives, FBI broke down after Tom Fitton began advising he was wrong to return documents in January and should not give up any additional records.
Trump's self-incriminating admissions on Truth Social
Several of them.👇
10. Exhibit nine
"What we are talking about here, in the main, are Presidential records in the hands of the 45th President."
via Trump attorney Christopher Kise*
*Yes, those are the words of Trump's own lawyer before a federal court.
11. Exhibit ten
Enormous quantity, explosive content (e.g., intel on foreign country's military nuclear program), location of documents with classified markings (including intermingled with personal belongings).
National Archives, Department of Justice Chief of Counterintelligence, and Congress repeatedly place Trump on notice of illegality in retaining the documents.
After outrageous letter by Blanche and Bondi, Judge Novak (Trump appointee) wrote:
“The Court finds it inconceivable that the Department of Justice, which holds a duty to faithfully execute the laws of the United States — even those with which it may have disagreement — would repeatedly ignore court orders, while simultaneously prosecuting citizens for breaking the law."
3/ After Blanche's chief of staff violated a court order in Mangioni case, federal judge wrote:
“The Government is also directed to advise the Deputy Attorney General, for dissemination within the Department as appropriate, that future violations may result in sanctions, which could include personal financial penalties, contempt of court findings, or relief specific to the prosecution.”
DOJ admits repeatedly made "material mistaken" representations to judge. ICE never had authority (under 2025 Guidance) to conduct arrests at immigration courthouses!
"This error, however, is not caused by a lack of diligence and care by the undersigned attorneys. The undersigned were specifically informed by ICE that the 2025 ICE Guidance applied to immigration courthouse arrests."
"... agency attorney error ..."
3/ You can be assured that we'll add this to 5th edition of Presumption of Regularity study.
Currently tracks 90+ cases in which either court determined the Trump administration submitted false information or the administration admitted it.
If Hegseth et al got this wrong, think what else is happening with the drug boat strikes and much more.
The U.S. Said It Helped Bomb a Drug Camp. It Was a Dairy Farm.
Gets worse as you read it.
1/
2/ "Workers on the farm told The Times that Ecuadorean soldiers .. doused several shelters and sheds with gasoline and ignited them after interrogating workers and beating four of them with the butts of their guns ... later choked and subjected them to electrical shocks."
3/ "The Ecuadorean government said in the news release that it had relied on U.S. 'intelligence and support' to target the farm, which it said was a camp used to train 'about 50 drug traffickers.'”
"Plaintiffs have made a clear showing that Defendants have adopted a POLICY authorizing federal immigration officers to conduct investigatory stops based on ethnicity or race without reasonable suspicion." 1/
2/ With a team, I had provided a graphic representation of some of the key declarants in the plaintiffs' case here:
"These witnesses’ accounts and related evidence show these witnesses were detained by DHS officers and questioned about their immigration status based solely on their race or ethnicity."
NYT adds important context for reporting on Kash Patel and Susie Wiles (plus oddity of Patel being Reuters' source for his own grievance).
[1] "Requests for phone records are common in complex criminal investigations to establish timelines and provide proof of communication."
[2] "It has been known for years that Mr. Patel was closely scrutinized by investigators under the special counsel Jack Smith and was compelled to testify in front of a grand jury."
My add/reminder: Kash invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
[3] "The fact that investigators obtained some of Ms. Wiles’s phone records was made public during the inquiry into Mr. Trump’s mishandling of classified documents."
Five days after Jeffrey Epstein’s arrest, federal authorities “directed” NY law enforcement authorities to “stand down” their investigations related to Epstein, new documents released by DOJ show.
Part of new Timeline on NY and Epstein.
2/ source
FBI’s “Stand Down” Directive to NYPD on Jeffrey Epstein Investigations, and More
A Timeline of NY Law Enforcement and Epstein Investigations