As RedState reported, the affidavit for the search warrant that led to an unprecedented FBI raid on Donald Trump’s home has been released in heavily redacted form. It was almost true to the stereotype that the affidavit is a big blob o’ black ink.
The document is full of redacted sections, to the point of absurdity, representing a giant middle finger to transparency by a federal bureaucracy that simply doesn’t care.
This was meant to be a meme, but the meme became real. https://t.co/2S54fOQ1Dr
— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) August 26, 2022
So what’s in the affidavit? While the redactions cover most of that up, there is enough revealed that exposes just how blatantly political the FBI’s move was. One example is that the CBS News article was partially responsible for part of the chase, which did not come from hard evidence.
Biden’s DOJ stated to a federal judge that Trump’s home was raided by the FBI because of a CBS article which showed vehicles at Mar-a-Lago in Trump’s time as president. pic.twitter.com/mROEJAhBz2
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) August 26, 2022
It was hard to believe that moving trucks would appear at Mar-a-Lago as Trump was moving the White House from Mar-a-Lago. It was amazing stuff. But it seemed enough to allow the FBI and National Archives to work together to make a precedent in the pursuit of a former President.
Another part of the search warrant is based on documents that have been returned to NARA. You heard it right. Trump’s documents were part of the basis of the search warrant. ReTurned All boxes requested. NARA identified certain documents that were returned as having classified markings, and then used this as an excuse to pursue any other Mar-a-Lago items.
The boxes, as we’ve reported before, were a mishmash of items – a raincoat, golf balls, a razor – and also, per the DOJ filing, other random papers jumbled in with 184 individual documents with unchanged classified markings.
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) August 26, 2022
Maggie Haberman referred to these boxes in her January 20, 2022 letter. This was after the normal negotiation that takes place between ex-presidents and National Archives. Also of note is that Haberman is very careful to use the phrase “unchanged classified markings” instead of “classified documents.” That’s a nod to the fact that they were declassified before being copied and taken.
This notion is supported by the fact the affidavit clearly states that the Espionage Act does not concern the classification of documents. This fishing expedition was extremely expansive and lacked any legitimate probable cause.
This is what you should read. https://t.co/oiELgeM65s
— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) August 26, 2022
The NARA received the documents and sent it to the FBI. Despite the open communication that had been fruitful. In response to the severity of the situation, the FBI opened an immediate criminal investigation.
Take care. Only a NARA referral was made (in Feb), and they opened a CRIMINAL Investigation. pic.twitter.com/f2KzaqIfAL
— Mccabe’s Porsche on Blocks (@Larry_Beech) August 26, 2022
The affidavit also contained a media story. Many claimed Trump retroactively invented the story about declassifying documents to hide the truth. Nope. No. The fact that Trump had declassified these documents prior to taking them under his presidency’s authority seems to have been ignored by the officials. If there is an explanation given for that in the affidavit, it’s redacted.
In the affidavit, the Justice Department acknowledged that Trump’s lawyers and former officials pointed to his “absolute authority to declassify documents” as president.
If they explain their reasoning, the DOJ will be completely redacted. pic.twitter.com/5sqyNVMioD
— Vince Coglianese (@VinceCoglianese) August 26, 2022
What’s this come down to? If you believe the affidavit’s justification, it’s not really about the possession of classified materials, and there’s no real indication that there will be criminal charges coming. Instead, it appears the grand disagreement was over what constituted a “secure” location at Mar-a-Lago. Yes, they raided a former president’s home because they felt having two locks on the storage room wasn’t enough, even as Trump had offered to accommodate their demands.
Lol, they invaded his house to get rid of National Archives’ paper pushers who were sloppy about document storage. https://t.co/EPwqti4GQi
— Rachel Bovard (@rachelbovard) August 26, 2022
Today’s affidavit reveals a clear abuse of power by an inept federal bureaucracy. It is attacking Trump solely on political grounds. Barack Obama was never treated like that by the NARA, despite his taking many millions of sensitive documents and failing to follow through with his promise to scan them and upload them. Trump’s cooperation in a seemingly minor matter only made things worse.
A democrat hack runs the NARA and the partisan FBI have been working to find the poor orange man since Trump’s first run for the presidency. The raid and the coordinated leaks were used by both institutions to create negative headlines about Trump. They knew full well that this was not a criminal case. It’s more evidence on top of the already existing mountain that the bureaucracy must be torn down brick by brick. Any Republican still arguing for the “rank-and-file” doesn’t know what time it is.
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