Mar-a-Lago Affidavit Released; There Are Some Missing Key Details in the DOJ’s Trump Raid Affidavit
By Townhall. After days of waiting and a flurry of motions from the Department of Justice attempting to keep the affidavit used in the FBI’s raid of Mar-a-Lago sealed indefinitely, a redacted affidavit was finally released on Friday afternoon just before the 12:00 p.m. ET deadline set by federal Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart. There was such a rush to view the affidavit, however, that the government’s website where federal court records are posted completely crashed for nearly 30 minutes.
Once the site recovered, the affidavit was revealed to be a 38-page document that is heavily redacted — despite Judge Reinhart saying that the FBI’s redactions are “narrowly tailored” — leaving even more questions still unanswered. In all, 20+ pages are entirely or significantly redacted.
What remains un-redacted is a narrative of what most already knew: the government is conducting a criminal investigation concerning the improper removal and storage of classified information in unauthorized spaces, as well as the unlawful concealment or removal of government records that began after the National Archives and Records Administration referred the matter to the Justice Department on February 9, 2022. (Read more from “Mar-a-Lago Affidavit Released” HERE)
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There Are Some Missing Key Details in the DOJ’s Trump Raid Affidavit
By Townhall. 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
(Read more from “There Are Some Missing Key Details in the DOJ’s Trump Raid Affidavit” HERE)
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