Trump now claiming he had a “standing order” to instantly declassify anything he brought to his residence. Unclear if anyone has seen or knows of the existence of such an order.

justthenews.com/politics-polic… Of course, if this were the case, all that stuff about “planted” evidence was …

NEW: Search warrant shows Trump facing investigation for potential violations of Espionage Act, obstruction of justice.

w/ @woodruffbets
@nicholaswu12
politico.com/news/2022/08/1… @woodruffbets @nicholaswu12 DOJ makes it official: Trump's lawyers have informed the government they do not oppose the release of the warrant. politico.com/news/2022/08/1…

Pretty muted so far from Reps. HPSCI Republicans Turner and Fitzpatrick. They basically say they want more details about the national security threat that preceded the FBI search and why the bureau chose the tactics it did to obtain the materials. Wenstrup going in-depth on Republicans' dispute with the FBI's classification of the baseball field shooting as a suicide by cop. We reported on this last year. He's making the case that Wray thoughtfully reviewed it and changed designation, so...

politico.com/news/2021/04/2…

BREAKING: DOJ has moved ot unseal limited portions of the Mar-a-Lago search warrant. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco… "The public’s clear and powerful interest in understanding what occurred under these circumstances weighs heavily in favor of unsealing."

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…

JUST IN: Judicial Watch motion to unseal the (possible) sealed search warrant for Mar-a-Lago has hit the docket.

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco… BREAKING: Magistrate Judge Reinhart is asking for DOJ to respond to Judicial Watch's unsealing request for (what I presume is) the Mar-a-Lago warrant by COB on Aug. 15.

This could be about Jan. 6 or presidential records. We know Perry and Meadows discussed matters via Signal. Unclear if those messages were retained.

https://twitter.com/foxnews/status/1557124189966016514

Here’s evidence on that point that the Jan. 6 committee released in April. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…

NEW: Experts say a wide range of factors — most of which we’re still in the dark about — will bear on Trump’s potential criminal culpability for handling of presidential records. But bar must have been extremely high to win judge’s signoff on search.

politico.com/news/2022/08/0… “The quantum and quality of the evidence…was likely so pulverizing in its force as to eviscerate any notion that the search warrant…is politically motivated,” former DOJ counterintel chief David Laufman said. politico.com/news/2022/08/0…

BREAKING: Trump confirms, the FBI has raided Mar-a-Lago. “They even broke into my safe,” Trump says. An extraordinary development, though still awaiting details on what probe this relates to.

NEWS: DOJ has forcefully rejected John Eastman’s effort to reclaim his seized cell phone, which the department says would cause “substantial detriment” to its ongoing criminal investigation.

Among other details in filing: Eastman had a concealed carry permit.

Story TK DOJ says Eastman’s complaint that the investigation originated w the department’s inspector general — who only has jurisdiction over DOJ employees — is meritless. Probes of conspiracies to harm DOJ, they note, can clearly reach outside the department.

Rudy GIULIANI has made an emergency motion to postpone his scheduled Fulton County deposition. A hearing on his motion is scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. UPDATE Giuliani's motion to delay his grand jury appearance seems to be medical -- he says a recent procedure has left him uncleared to fly. He says he is prepared to testify and even willing to appear virtually but DA has insisted he appear in person. documentcloud.org/documents/2212…

NEW: DOJ isn’t just prepared to fight any effort by Donald Trump to assert executive privilege re: Jan. 6 — it already did, and won. Why any exec privilege fight in DOJ’s grand jury probe is likely to be a short one.

w/ @joshgerstein @woodruffbets

politico.com/news/2022/08/0… DOJ represented the National Archives in the legal battle between Trump and the Jan. 6 committee. In that process, DOJ took extensive positions against Trump, a former president’s attempt to override the sitting president on executive privilege. politico.com/news/2022/08/0…

NEWS: The Jan. 6 committee is preparing to deliver *20* witness transcripts to DOJ — a significant step in their engagement with federal prosecutors.

It's unclear which transcipts are heading over.

politico.com/news/2022/07/2… The news confirms what Chairman Thompson told me earlier today — that the committee has developed a process for sharing info with DOJ. But it's still limited, far short of the blanket request DOJ made for all 1,000 transcripts in April and June.

politico.com/news/2022/07/2…

CONFIRMED: Marc Short, VP Pence's chief of staff testified last week to a grand jury investigating matters related to Jan. 6. according to a source familiar with the matter.

Details/specifics are unclear at the moment.

Confirming / @KFaulders
+ co.

Story TK SHORT appeared under subpoena. He has deep insight about Pence’s resistance to Trump pressure campaign re: false electors. He testified to Jan. 6 committee earlier this year. politico.com/news/2022/07/2…

HAPPENING SOON: Bannon returns to court just hours after the Jan. 6 select committee featured him prominently at the close of their hearing. The case is expected to go to the jury today but I’m anticipating some discussion about whether jurors may have watched. As expected, BANNON team raises his mention in last night's hearing as a potential problem for the jury. Here's a filing that just arrived:

HAPPENING NOW: The eighth hearing of the Jan. 6 select committee has begun. Chaimran Thompson says more hearings are coming in September.

"The dam has begun to break," says Vice Chair Liz Cheney. CHENEY begins by playing a clip of Senate GOP Leader McConnell in Feb. 2021 pinning the blame for the Jan. 6 violence squarely on Trump.

WE'RE BACK: Lawyers and Bannon are in the courtroom for defense case. Initial discussion is about DOJ concerns that Bannon's team raised, in front of the jury, their intent to file a motion to dismiss the case. Now Bannon's team is making that motion for acquittal and arguing before judge. It's a relatively standard part of the process and one exceedingly unlikely to be granted.

HAPPENING NOW: The Bannon trial has resumed with DOJ arguing that Bannon is improperly injecting politics into the jury's mind. DOJ wants to limit the questions his lawyers can ask on that, and Judge Nichols agrees. So far DOJ has not raised Bannon's diatribe at the foot of the courthouse loudly disparaging the select committee and Chairman Bennie Thompson, which conceivably could have been heard by a juror.

JUST IN: Eleven of the false electors in Georgia say they've been told they're now "targets" of the grand jury investigation in Fulton County. politico.com/f/?id=00000182… In a court filing, a lawyer for the false electors says they invoked their Fifth Amendment rights "reluctantly," calling the change in designation a "publicity stunt."
politico.com/f/?id=00000182…

STARTING SOON: Opening arguments in the BANNON trial will begin shortly, after the parties narrow down the 22-juror pool to 14. It's possible the prosecution puts on its entire case today. The only expected witnesses are an FBI agent and Kristin Amerling, the chief counsel for the Jan. 6 select committee (and Waxman veteran). Sean Tonolli, a committee investigator (former DOJ) is also a potential witness.

NEW: The Jan. 6 committee isn’t close to done — and the midterm elections are not a deadline. The panel, awash in new evidence and taking in more, are planning a full sprint to the end of this Congress, sources tell me and @nicholaswu12

politico.com/news/2022/07/1… We’re still likely to see a report issued this fall, in September or October. But Chairman Thompson recently floated the notion of an “addendum” that could supplement whatever comes out before the panel is done working. politico.com/news/2022/07/1…

HAPPENING NOW: 14 potential jurors have been qualified in Steve Bannon trial. The magic number is 22 and it seems achievable today given the current pace. UPDATE: There are now 17 qualified jurors. Judge Nichols says it seems possible to get the other five today.