The Department of Justice is fighting efforts to reveal the reasons they ordered the raid of former President Donald Trump’s home at the Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla. They expect us to trust them that the raid and retrieval of documents are all legit.
The affidavit contains the underlying documentation and rationale for raiding the former president’s home while investigating his treatment of documents and retention of allegedly classified documents. The affidavit is usually revealed when a suspect — Donald Trump, in this case — is indicted for a crime.
This breathtaking raid was a historical first.
Attorney General Merrick Garland stated on Friday afternoon that he was in full support of releasing the warrant and the lists that generally characterize the documents, photos, and other items taken from Trump’s home.
#ThisWeekatJustice Attorney General Merrick Garland Delivered Remarks Announcing Motion to Unseal Search Warrant; Member of Iran’s IRGC Charged with Plot to Murder Former National Security Advisor; and more pic.twitter.com/IjwhDf4MJq
— Justice Department (@TheJusticeDept) August 12, 2022
But the Washington Examiner reports Garland’s minions will fight efforts for the American public to see the underlying legal reasons for the intrusion.
“There remain compelling reasons, including to protect the integrity of an ongoing law enforcement investigation that implicates national security, that support keeping the affidavit sealed,” DOJ lawyers declared on Monday, also indicating, however, they would be open to releasing redacted portions of other related documents.
[…]“The government has carefully considered whether the affidavit can be released subject to redactions,” the DOJ said Monday. “The redactions necessary to mitigate harms to the integrity of the investigation would be so extensive as to render the remaining unsealed text devoid of meaningful content, and the release of such a redacted version would not serve any public interest.
If disclosed, the affidavit would serve as a roadmap to the government’s ongoing investigation, providing specific details about its direction and likely course, in a manner that is highly likely to compromise future investigative steps”
Forgive us if the term, “protect[ing] the in integrity” of the investigation triggers a laugh track in our heads.
The phrase “they would be open to releasing redacted portions of” sounds like the kind of selective leaking that Trump Russia collusion hoaxer Congressman Adam Schiff used when he promised there was evidence of Trump’s collusion with the Russians, when he knew it was a fraud on the American people.
Indeed, the lead investigator for the House Intelligence Committee’s Russiagate probe, Kash Patel, believes the raid is just a continuation of the Russiagate hoax.
He would know. He was Trump’s negotiator with the National Archives (NARA) and knows the documents NARA and the DOJ seek. He contends the FBI and DOJ want the Trump Russiagate documents that have not been made public yet, even though President Trump declassified them in 2020 and right before he left office.
That is not the case for the reason, rationale, and assertions made to a magistrate, who signed off on the search warrant. Magistrates take shifts on a rotating basis, but The Wall Street Journal reports that Judge Bruce Reinhart stepped in to handle the request, as is typical.
Related: Trump Ally Says He Knows What the FBI Was Looking for in Mar-a-Lago Raid
The Examiner explained that Trump is being investigated for breaking the law in three ways.
Trump is being investigated for a potential Espionage Act violation and possible obstruction of justice, according to the warrant unsealed Friday, which cited 18 U.S. Code 793 (part of the Espionage Act) related to “gathering, transmitting, or losing defense information. Despite its name, many of the law’s provisions don’t relate specifically to espionage.
The warrant also pointed to 18 U.S. Code 2071 on “concealment, removal, or mutilation generally” and 18 U.S. Code 1519 on “destruction, alteration, or falsification of records in Federal investigations and bankruptcy.” The latter relates to potential obstruction of justice.
The former head of the House Intelligence Committee, Devin Nunes, who now works for Trump’s media enterprise, including Truth Social, said on Fox Business’s Sunday Morning Futures that it would be highly interesting to see what evidence was presented to the grand jury being asked to indict the president.
Nunes looked incredulous as he said, “They convened a grand jury under the former president of the United States and they went into the grand jury looking at the president for treason?” He underscored the point that he believes they’ve gone to a grand jury with the same fake underlying documents as they did before to get spy warrants on Trump World. Nunes said, “They went to a grand jury with that, Maria, so once again, this is a continued investigation of Trump and the Republican Party. It’s basically an investigation in search of a crime. And then conveniently they brought back the Mueller witch hunt argument, that ‘Oh, my God, he’s obstructing justice!’ Obstructing justice on what, you jerks?!”
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