As I’ve said for a very long time, the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case against Trump is the most-serious. It ranks alongside the January 6 insurrection.
This the latest new reporting from CNN that underscores evidence in that important case with this headline now open S/C
Smith to pursue (formatted for the blog):
“Federal judge found ‘strong evidence’ of crimes before Trump was
charged in classified documents”
CNN — Months before Trump was indicted for
mishandling classified documents, a federal judge said that investigators had
“strong evidence” that the former president “intended” to hide classified
documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort, according to newly released court
documents.
Judge Beryl Howell cited, among other things, the discovery of additional classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago months after the FBI’s search of the property in the summer of 2022.
The records included
a “mostly empty” folder marked as “Classified Evening Summary” that
was found in the former president’s bedroom, as well as four other documents
with classification markings found in his post-presidential office at the
resort.
Judge Howell wrote in March 2023: “Notably, no excuse is provided
as to how the former president could miss the classified-marked documents found
in his own bedroom at Mar-a-Lago.”
The ruling was among hundreds of pages of previously sealed filings that were publicly docketed in the criminal classified documents case against Trump.
Included were new images of Walt Nauta, Trump’s personal aide and valet, moving boxes around Mar-a-Lago rooms before the Trump attorney was to review the boxes for classified materials sought by a subpoena.
Prosecutors
say Nauta moved boxes around as part of an alleged conspiracy to conceal
classified material from federal investigators.
Nauta has been charged alongside Trump and Mar-a-Lago
property manager Carlos De Oliveira in the case, facing charges of mishandling
sensitive or classified materials and obstruction. All three have
pleaded not guilty.
There are photos of Nauta, which appear to be screenshots of
surveillance footage of him dated June 1, 2022 – shortly before the Trump attorney
was slated to canvass the storage room for any documents with classified
markings to be returned to the federal government.
Trump’s defense team is seeking to throw out parts of the prosecutor’s case – including all the evidence seized from Mar-a-Lago and obtained from his then former attorney Evan Corcoran, according to the filings in federal court in South Florida.
Trump’s team argues that the warrant for the search wasn’t valid because of the way an FBI agent described the agency’s thinking to a magistrate judge.
They are also contesting Howell’s 2023 ruling ordering Corcoran to provide testimony and produce documents that he had previously withheld from the grand jury investigating the matter.
Corcoran played a pivotal role in the investigation into the classified documents, as he was the attorney who was tasked with finding and producing documents with classified markings at Trump’s Florida resort.
In the
criminal case filed last year, prosecutors say there was conspiracy led by
Trump to move boxes of government records from the storage room before Corcoran
searched for it for classified materials.
Corcoran is also referred to as “Person 18” in Judge Howell’s ruling but can be identified based on what’s known about the case. Among the topics Judge Howell ordered Corcoran to testify about was a June 24, 2022, phone call he had with Trump – the same day investigators subpoenaed surveillance footage from Mar-a-Lago.
The Judge also
ordered the production of 88 documents that had been withheld under
attorney-client privilege and then she recounted Trump’s actions over the
course of several months while the federal government sought to retrieve the
sensitive documents taken from the White House as she wrote: “Trump deliberately
curtailed his staff’s efforts to comply with the National Archives (NARA) initial
efforts to retrieve the documents. The former president’s misdirection of NARA
was apparently a dress rehearsal for his actions in response to the May 11,
2022 subpoena.”
Twenty-one of the 32 national security documents Trump is
accused of criminally mishandling were in the former president’s possession
August 8, 2022, the date of the Mar-a-Lago FBI search. That means that Trump’s
team in this newly available motion to suppress is seeking to cut out from the
case those 21 documents and thus the related charges and the hundreds of other
classified records around them, plus the part of the case accusing Trump of
obstruction of justice that is built around Corcoran.
The document, called a law
enforcement operations order, explains what agents were permitted to bring with
them when they searched Trump’s estate and how they were allowed to operate as
part of the search.
That document also includes
boilerplate language from the DOJ’s Manual about use of force, including the limited
circumstances in which agents are authorized to use deadly force.
Though the language is standard and directly from the DOJ manual, Trump quickly took to social media to decry the document as having “authorized deadly force,” posting on his Truth Social page: “WOW! I just came out of the Biden Witch Hunt Trial in Manhattan, the ‘Icebox,’ and was shown Reports that Crooked Joe Biden’s DOJ, in their Illegal and Un-Constitutional Raid of Mar-a-Lago, AUTHORIZED THE FBI TO USE DEADLY (LETHAL) FORCE. NOW WE KNOW, FOR SURE, THAT JOE BIDEN IS A SERIOUS THREAT TO DEMOCRACY. HE IS MENTALLY UNFIT TO HOLD OFFICE — 25TH AMENDMENT!”
The FBI followed that
Trump rant with this official factual statement: “The FBI followed standard
protocol in this search as we do for all search warrants, which includes a
standard policy statement limiting the use of deadly force. No one ordered
additional steps to be taken and there was no departure from the norm in this
matter. Much of the plan includes traditional practices by the FBI when
executing a warrant – like (1) how agents are required to have their standard
issued weapon, (2) ammunition, and (3) credentials while on duty.
Other parts from that FBI manual, shows the lengths that the bureau went to accommodate the former president, including: “(1) Instructions for commanding agents to wear unmarked polo or collared shirts and (2) to keep their law enforcement equipment concealed, as well as (3) references to their efforts to coordinate with the Secret Service to create a smooth process for entering the Florida club to execute the search warrant.”
FYI: Overall, the Mar-a-Lago case against Trump is right now front of District
Judge Aileen Cannon in Fort Pierce, FL, who was appointed by Trump. She has delayed
a trial date at every turn as much as possible to appease Trump who hopes to
win, take office, and order his DOJ to toss all charges against him.
This CNN story has been updated as noted above.
My 2 Cents: As I have said a long time since this serious of events
was uncovered and as a person who has handled and worked with highly classified
documents and especially those marked Top Secret (SCI) over many years that this
Trump mishandling and arrogance about our national security is very disturbing.
He should have known better but obviously he did not take that duty very
seriously.
I also continue to ask: What
documents are missing; where are they; what are their contents; and most-importantly,
who has them?
As a side note, Judge
Cannon overseeing the case in FL through her actions or should I say because of
her inactions and utter arrogance of the case, has put the nation at risk as
well as possibly highly classified sources and methods that are harmful to our
national security.
She needs to be removed
from this critical case – she appears to be in way over her head vis-à-vis national
security and the nation’s safety all just to delay and help Trump run out the
clock as it were.
She has to go – it’s just that
simple.
Thanks for stopping by.
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