by Sharon Rondeau
(Aug. 26, 2022) – The U.S. Justice Department on Friday released the 38-page probable-cause affidavit giving rise to the FBI’s raid on 45th President Donald J. Trump’s Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago, on the morning of August 8.
The affidavit is posted here: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flsd.617854/gov.uscourts.flsd.617854.102.1_1.pdf
Last week, the magistrate judge who signed the search warrant, Bruce E. Reinhart, ordered Justice to prepare a redacted version of the affidavit to protect sources and methods to be released in the interest of disclosing as much information as possible to the public.
Large parts of the affidavit are completely redacted, although the first eight pages are virtually unredacted.
On page 2, the affidavit states that the FBI opened an investigation into how sensitive documents came to be stored at Mar-a-Lago after the National Archives notified the Justice Department in February that 15 boxes the former president returned to the Archives earlier this year were found to contain classified documents.
“There is probable cause to believe that additional documents that contain classified NDI (National Defense Information) or that are Presidential records subject to record retention requirements currently remain at the PREMISES. There is also probable cause to believe that evidence of obstruction will be found at the PREMISES,” the affidavit states on page 2.
The “special agent” who signed the affidavit stated he or she works out of the Washington, DC Field Office, which, as Trump National Archives liaison Kash Patel told Maria Bartiromo nearly two weeks ago, ran the “Crossfire Hurricane” investigation into the 2016 Trump campaign alleging “collusion” between members of the campaign and the Russian government.
Those allegations were not substantiated after a 22-month, $40 million investigation conducted by Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller, III, a former FBI director.
Trump claims everything stored at Mar-a-Lago was already declassified.
The document concludes with a three-page letter from Evan Corcoran, an attorney representing Trump dated May 25, 2022 addressed to Jay I. Bratt, Chief, Counterintelligence & Export Control Section, who signed the search warrant before it was submitted to Reinhart on August 5.
The letter begins:
I write on behalf of President Donald J. Trump regarding the above-referenced matter.
Public trust in the government is low. At such times, adherence to the rules and long-standing policies is essential. President Donald J. Trump is a leader of the Republican Party. The Department of Justice (DOJ), as part of the Executive Branch, is under the control of a President from the opposite party. It is critical, given that dynamic, that every effort is made to ensure that actions by DOJ that may touch upon the former President, or his close associates, do not involve politics.
There have been public reports about an investigation by DOJ into Presidential Records purportedly marked as classified among materials that were once in the White House and unknowingly included among the boxes brought to Mar-a-Lago by the movers. It is important to emphasize that when a request was made for the documents by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), President Trump readily and voluntarily agreed to their transfer to NARA. The communications regarding the transfer of boxes to NARA were friendly, open, and straightforward. President Trump voluntarily ordered that the boxes be provided to NARA. No legal objection was asserted about the transfer. No concerns were raised about the contents of the boxes. It was a voluntary and open process.
On page 2, Corcoran states:
Any attempt to impose criminal liability on a President or former President that involves his actions with respect to documents marked classified would implicate grave constitutional separation-of-powers issues. Beyond that, the primary criminal statute that governs the unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents or material does not apply to the President. That statute provides, in pertinent part, as follows:
Whoever, being an officer, employee, contractor, or consultant of the United States, and, by virtue of his office, employment, position, or contract, becomes possessed of documents or materials containing classified information of the United States, knowingly removes such documents or materials without authority and with the intent to retain such documents or materials at an unauthorized location shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for not more than five years, or both.
According to Fox News during its coverage of the affidavit release, Bratt went to Mar-a-Lago and “met with” Trump’s attorneys on June 3, after which “negotiations” over the returning of documents appeared to have broken down.
Since the raid, Trump has written frequently on his TruthSocial website that he “did nothing wrong.”
What’s worse: Having some sensitive and/or classified government documents at ones residence (in this case, the residence of Joe Biden’s predecessor former President Donald Trump), or having and publicly displaying a FORGED birth certificate later deemed as evidence and used to convict former President Barack HUSSEIN Obama of ELECTION FRAUD (Citizens Jury, Atlah Ministeries, New York City, 2010, and Citizens Grand Jury, Ocala, Florida, 2013) for which he was sentenced (in the Ocala, FL, case) to ten years in prison. And, I might add Obama was no stranger to possessing or using other official documents for criminal purposes, including a tax return filed with the IRS while Obama was president having another person’s Social Security Number on it (a long-deceased person), numerous other SSN’s (how many do you have?), and a backdated/forged Selective Service Registration Form (military draft card) which, by law, prohibits the person possessing the fraudulent draft card from ever holding the office of commander-in-chief (i.e. president!). Finally, these are but a few of the criminal offenses involving possession or use of official government documents by a former president. HAS ANYONE RAIDED ANY OF OBAMA’S PROPERTIES OR HELD HIM ACCOUNTABLE FOR HIS VIOLATIONS OF THE LAW (I again note that two separate citizens juries did convict Obama of election fraud)? But, you say, what about our federal law enforcement agencies. WHERE WERE THEY? Are you kidding? THE CIA AND OTHERS FROM THE “DEEP STATE” PLANTED OBAMA IN THE WHITE HOUSE. THE FBI COVERED IT UP. SO, I ASK AGAIN WHAT’S WORSE: OBAMA’S CRIMES OR DONALD TRUMP’S DALLIANCES AND EFFORTS TO MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN? I should add once again that there is no statute of limitations for the crimes of TREASON committed by BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA. I also note that I am NOT a white supremacist, and I am NOT a racist. The only “threat” that I pose to anyone (government or otherwise) is the pen which I hold in my hand to write my 1st Amendment protected opinions (often to no avail, even though it is THE TRUTH).