Category: Mar-a-Lago

New Poll Shows GOP Still Behind Trump In 2024, Even If He’s ‘Charged With A Crime’

Posted on by Becky Noble

It seems that no matter what Democrats, the media, the deep state, whatever you want to call it, throws at former President Donald Trump, it just doesn’t work. And the FBI raid on Trump’s Mar-A-Lago estate is no exception. The results of a new poll should make even more steam emerge from the top of Democrat heads, and just make them try even harder to “get Trump.” 

RELATED: Pentagon Halts Deliveries Of Newest F-35 Fighter Jet Because They Used Parts From China

The Latest Poll

According to a new NPR/PBS News Hour/Marist National poll, among Republicans, 61% say Trump should make another run for the White House. However, “90% of Democrats, 26% of Republicans, and 67% of independents – do not want Trump to run for president in 2024.”

If Trump is charged with a crime, 65% of those polled do not want him to run.

The poll also addressed the FBI Mar-A-Lago raid, and what Americans might think about whether Trump engaged in any illegal activities. Of those polled, 44% believe that Trump did something illegal by possessing the documents in question found at Mar-A-Lago.

Another 17% believe that Trump’s actions may have been unethical but not illegal. One in four Republicans believe he committed acts that were either illegal at 5%, or unethical at 20%.

Of those Americans polled, 29%, including 63% of Republicans don not believe Donald Trump did anything wrong.

RELATED: Media Running New ‘Leaked Info’ From Anonymous Sources That Trump Had Files On Foreign Nation’s Nuclear Capabilities

Anti-Trump Brigade May Have Had Their ‘Jump The Shark’ Moment

The other thing that the powers that be don’t quite seem to understand, is that everything they throw at Trump just seems to energize his base even more. And they may have done themselves in with the Mar-A-Lago raid.

Immediately following the raid, Trump met with members of the House Study Committee in New Jersey. One of those members in attendance was Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN). Banks told Fox News, “He didn’t seem defeated in the least bit—he was very fired up, very upbeat.”

Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY) tweeted out, “Thrilled to report he’s feeling better than ever despite the Democrats’ endless smears against him. Trump 2024!”

Tenney also stated in an interview with Real America’s Voice that the actions of the FBI and DOJ amounted to a “fourth impeachment,” and that, “They’re going to try to attempt to stop him from running for president. And that’s really what it’s about. Because they’re afraid he will get out there and he will run and he will win.”

RELATED: MSNBC Guest Roland Martin Says Trump Voters Are ‘Evil’: ‘We Are At War With These People’

Latest Developments

On Monday, the Trump legal team won a request for a special master to review seized documents, being concerned that federal officials would, “impugn, leak, and publicize select aspects of their investigation.”

The media of course wasted no time in pointing out that Judge Aileen Cannon was a Trump-appointed judge.

One day later, an outrageous leak from the Department of Justice stated that several of the documents taken contained information about a foreign nation’s military and nuclear capabilities.

At a recent rally in Pennsylvania, Trump stated that FBI agents not only rummaged through former First Lady Melania Trump’s closet, but also went through 16-year-old Barron Trump’s bedroom.

It is actions like that that will keep a large swath of Republicans rooting for Donald Trump.

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Media Running New ‘Leaked Info’ From Anonymous Sources That Trump Had Files On Foreign Nation’s Nuclear Capabilities

Posted on by Rusty Weiss

Documents seized during the FBI raid on former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home contained information regarding a foreign nation’s nuclear capabilities, the Washington Post reports.

The details were provided only by sources described by the Post as “people familiar with the matter” and come just days after a federal judge approved Trump’s request to appoint a special master to independently review records obtained during the raid, due in part to concerns over media leaks.

The outlet notes that some documents were so top-secret that only a handful of people were granted access to view them. So top-secret that this information was immediately passed on to one of the largest newspapers in the world.

Among the files seized during the raid, according to the anonymous sources, were those which held “information about a foreign government’s nuclear-defense readiness.”

But, the Washington Post adds: “These people did not identify the foreign government in question, say where at Mar-a-Lago the document was found, or offer additional details about one of the Justice Department’s most sensitive national security investigations.”

RELATED: Federal Judge Grants Trump’s Request to Have Special Master Independently Review Documents Seized by FBI

Trump Raid Allegedly Yields Document on Foreign Nuclear Capabilities

Does anyone else pine for the days when sources were named and multiple people were contacted by the media to corroborate a source’s story prior to print?

The bombshell report comes just days after Judge Aileen Cannon delivered a significant victory to Trump and his legal team by granting a special master, allowing an independent party to review the documents and assess any attorney/client or executive privilege that may exist.

Part of her reasoning was prescient in light of the Washington Post report.

One of the reasons for Cannon’s ruling involved “the interest in ensuring the integrity of an orderly process amidst swirling allegations of bias and media leaks.”

Last month, leaks to the same newspaper led to reports from “people familiar with the investigation” who alleged that the raid on Trump’s home was an attempt to retrieve documents pertaining to “nuclear weapons.” 

The implication, of course, is that Trump was putting America in danger.

Trump at that time railed against the reporting.

“Nuclear weapons issue is a Hoax, just like Russia, Russia, Russia was a Hoax, two Impeachments were a Hoax, the Mueller investigation was a Hoax, and much more,” he wrote on his Truth Social media platform. “Same sleazy people involved.”

RELATED: Trump Demands Immediate Release Of Search Warrant, Denies Reports That FBI Raid Was Over Nuclear Weapons Documents

Media Running Wild With Irresponsible Speculation

The Political Insider reported just last week that the DOJ’s so-called guideline holding off on any possible charges against Trump until after the midterm elections would only allow the media to run wild with speculation.

“Trump and his supporters can instead brace themselves for 2+ months of selective leaking to the media, loads of reports citing ‘people who asked to remain anonymous,’ and lots of speculative reporting from the left-wing media,” we wrote.

And here we have yet another example.

And the usual suspects jumped on this latest information to help spread the unverified reports.

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Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA), once blasted by former congressman Trey Gowdy for selectively leaking information about the Trump/Russia collusion hoax “like a sieve,” was up to his old tricks.

“New reporting that Trump had highly classified information, including on foreign nuclear programs,” Schiff tweeted. “If true, it raises yet more questions.”

If true.

Schiff, Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, despite testimony from officials time and again admitting they had no evidence of Russian collusion with the campaign of President Trump in 2016, repeatedly told friendly media outlets that there was “direct evidence.”

He never provided any. Nor could Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Or any other Democrat for that matter.

Others are also pushing the Trump nuclear capabilities story without any actual evidence at this stage of the game.

Legendary director Rob Reiner called for Trump to be arrested following the report.

“Donald Trump stole Top Secret Highly Classified Nuclear Documents. He has put our Nation in danger. No more deference. No more political considerations. No man is above the law,” Reiner tweeted. “Time to make an arrest.”

And it wasn’t just the far-left, either.

Fox News host Eric Shawn, following previous reporting on the nuclear documents, made the laughable suggestion that Trump was looking to sell the foreign nation’s nuclear secrets to Russia or Saudi Arabia.

“And more questions are being raised this morning. Did former President Trump try to sell or share the highly classified material to the Russians or to the Saudis or others?” he asked.

“Or were the documents innocently mishandled and stored because he thought he had a legal right to have them?”

Yes, because a man who made billions over his lifetime would choose ‘selling nuclear secrets’ from a foreign country to a hostile regime as his next lucrative side project.

Trump attorney Christopher Kise slammed the leaks coming out about the FBI raid, lamenting they “continue with no respect for the process nor any regard for the real truth.”

Kise said a “responsible course of action here would be for someone — anyone — in the government to exercise leadership and control.”

Good luck waiting for that. You can expect the corrupt media to run with any and all leaks – factual or otherwise – from now right up until November.

In reality, the reports may very well be true. But the media has not earned the benefit of the doubt after years of bombshell stories that ultimately fizzled out into nothingness.

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Such an abuse’: Bill Barr delivers obvious facts to Fox News about Mar-a-Lago stash of documents

Posted on (Updated by Walter Einenkel

By now, you’ve probably heard that the disgraced former president, Donald Trump, seems to be something of a criminal. No, I’m not talking about his racist landlord violations from the 1970s. No, not his dubious interactions with contractors throughout the 1980s and 1990s. No, not his shady personal bankruptcies of the 1990s and 2000s. No, not even his two impeachments and the fact that there are numerous campaign violations that many believe need more criminal investigations. Trump seems to have broken a slew of laws surrounding the handling, hoarding, and possible treason of taking classified documents to keep at his private golf club and residence at Mar-a-Lago.

The Republican Party, sans a few neocons, is struggling to regain primacy in the toilet bowl that is the Republican Party circling the sewer of fascism. On Friday, former Trump attorney general Bill Barr went on Fox News and took a ginormous rain on the right wing’s parade by making the case—not once, but twice in a two-minute span—that Donald Trump had earned and deserved the search and seizure of government documents from Mar-a-Lago.

Yes, the guy who just a few months ago said he would still vote for Donald Trump were he to run in 2024, the guy who allowed Donald Trump to skate past clear recommendations from Special Counsel Robert Mueller that he should be investigated more thoroughly for breaking federal laws. That Bill Barr. And yes, that Fox News.

RELATED STORY: All you need to read from the memo Barr claimed cleared Trump on obstruction is a single footnote

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Let me premise this by saying that I personally believe Fox News is hedging its bets here. Murdoch and the brain trust at Fox News have already lost favor with Trump after being the news outlet to call Arizona for Biden in 2020. They have had to walk back their full-on dismissal of Trump, as the current GOP leadership didn’t have the backbone to stand up to Trump and offer their base a worthwhile alternative.* Letting Bill Barr come on and slam Trump while vapid hosts made faces and threw softball defenses up is a way for Fox News to have clips if and when Donald Trump ends up in an orange jumpsuit.

On Friday, Barr spoke to two vacuous Fox News mouthpieces and began by pointing out that the idea that Trump could or would make a blanket declassification was ridiculous, and that even if he did, it wouldn’t be much of a defense against any real legal challenges. Barr said he was “skeptical” of that claim in the first place, “because frankly, I think it’s highly improbable; and second, if in fact he sort of stood over scores of boxes, not really knowing what was in them, and said ‘I hereby declassify everything in here,’ that would be such an abuse, show such recklessness, that it is almost worse than taking the documents.”

One Fox deplorable decided the best tactic here was to ask Barr about how the FBI went to Donald Trump’s private residence to get said folders and files. You know, the old GOP chestnut: How could a rich, conservative white guy possibly break the law? Barr did a good job of pointing out that it seemed pretty clear the FBI had a very good idea that there were a lot of very serious documents in a very not-secure location, and Trump wasn’t willingly giving them back.

He then gave a very simple answer that maybe some of the people watching from their MyPillow recliners could maybe understand:

"People say the search was unprecedented. Well, it’s also unprecedented for a president to take classified information and put them in a county club. How long is the government going to try to get that back, you know? They jawbone for a year. They were deceived on the voluntary actions taken. They then went and got a subpoena. They were deceived on that—they feel. And the records are starting to show that they were being jerked around."

"People say this was unprecedented. Well, it's also unprecedented for a POTUS to take all this classified information & put 'em in a country club, ok? And how long is the govt going to try to get that back?" -- Bill Barr bodies Trump on Fox News even as anchors try to defend him pic.twitter.com/7HqOvf9xvp

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 2, 2022

*In the GOP leadership’s defense, they have no meaningful alternative to Trump. Trump is worth 1,000 Ted Cruzes or Josh Hawleys because Trump will unashamedly lie about giving conservative voters everything they want (lower health insurance costs, more and better jobs, all the oil they can guzzle). Most Republicans have spent the last few decades attempting to pretend they had policies that might do that in the face of failure after failure.

RELATED STORY: The classified documents in that DOJ photo were all found in Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago office

Intelligence agencies fear that Trump has been leaking information on U.S. spies overseas

Posted on (Updated by Mark Sumner

In what may be the most shocking story to emerge from the entire Mar-a-Lago document scandal, The New York Times is reporting that officials at intelligence agencies fear that among the classified information Donald Trump stole was details on U.S. assets embedded in foreign countries. The names, locations, and even the existence of such assets is among the most guarded secrets of the nation. But something mysterious has been happening over the last few years, with an unusual number of foreign sources being killed or arrested.

In the past, officials have worried that documents leaked by outlets like WikiLeaks might, either purposely or intentionally, reveal the identity of U.S. sources, putting their lives at risk. But now, intelligence agencies have a greater concern: A man who has a horde of stolen documents, connections to numerous hostile governments, and a frequently expressed disdain for both sources and the intelligence community. Put it all together, and you get one of the most amazing front pages in recent years.

New York Times, Saturday Late Edition, Aug. 27, 2022
Saturday, Aug 27, 2022 · 6:11:20 PM +00:00 · Mark Sumner

Known Timeline: 1. 7/31/2019: Trump spoke with Putin (NYT) 2. 8/3/2019: Trump issued a request for a list of top US spies (The Daily Beast) 3. 10/5/2021: "CIA Admits to Losing Dozens of Informants". (NYT) 4. 8/26/2022: Documents at MAL Could Compromise Human Intel (NYT) 1/5 pic.twitter.com/rqNqRZUQL2

— The Intellectualist (@highbrow_nobrow) August 27, 2022

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In the days leading up to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, one fact stood out: The United States had uncannily accurate information about Russia’s plans. It was crystal clear that, not only did the U.S. have a fleet of high resolution satellites and other resources observing Russian movements on the ground, they also had sources inside the Kremlin that were giving the White House a direct pipeline into Vladimir Putin’s every thought.

It’s hard to put a value on that kind of intelligence. In this one case, it’s even possible that Ukraine would not have survived, had it not received early, accurate warnings of both Russian troop build-ups and Putin’s intentions. Thanks to U.S. intelligence sources.

It can take years to establish a reliable source. It can take moments for that point of light to go dark.

Even before he took up residence in the White House, Trump frequently expressed disdain for the intelligence services. Just as he bragged that he was “smarter than all the generals” and declared that his natural instincts allowed him to declare the climate crisis a fraud, Trump has celebrated his “gut” over the combined efforts of agents and analysts. Stories of Trump’s refusal to engage with intelligence briefings have been all too common over the last five years. Trump sneered that his own intelligence chiefs were “naïve” in their assessments of international events, mocked their findings, and insisted they should “go back to school.”

Even more than intelligence agencies, Trump hates whistleblowers. At every instance, he had ridiculed the idea of an anonymous source, insisted that whistleblowers be revealed, then attacked and endangered them once they were known. In his first impeachment, Trump constantly attacked the whistleblower who revealed his attempt to extort Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He didn’t just ridicule the whistleblower continuously, but insisted that the whistleblower testify in public—Republicans in Congress took up that call.

Most tellingly, when Trump learned an alleged name for the whistleblower, he tweeted it over and over.

Pair Trump’s attitude toward the intelligence services, whistleblowers, and witnesses of all kinds, with his incredible disdain for protecting classified information, and it’s a recipe for utter catastrophe. The revelation of a “NOC list,” giving away dozens of undercover operatives in vital roles, may be the subject of adventure fiction, but it seems like an all-too-real possibility for Trump.

And if the nation needed another reminder of just how lax Trump’s actual security at Mar-a-Lago really is, there was the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette story this week in which a 33-year-old Russian-speaking Ukrainian immigrant convinced Trump that she was actually an heiress of the Rothschild banking family. 

In addition to the FBI, law enforcement agents in Canada have confirmed that she has been the subject of a major crimes unit investigation in Quebec since February.

But there she was at Mar-a-Lago, playing golf with Trump and Lindsay Graham. She was there. So  were all those documents suspected to hold key information about U.S. sources in some of the most sensitive areas of the world. 

Even the hint that one of these sources might have been revealed can result in an immediate, emergency exfiltration to bring them to safety in the U.S. That means that it doesn’t even take the death or arrest of a U.S. source to cripple intelligence gathering. All it takes is concern that a source might have been compromised.

Donald Trump has provided plenty of cause for concern.

Rudy says Trump didn’t actually steal top secret docs, he was simply ‘preserving’ them

Posted on (Updated by Aldous J Pennyfarthing

So if you or I had worked for the government and, upon leaving, squirreled away a few top secret nuclear documents in a Six Million Dollar Man lunchbox that we kept under a basement foosball table, we’d be sitting in brightly lit rooms asking if we could please get some unscented udder cream for our serially brutalized nipples. It’s unlikely we’d be able to trot out numerous contradictory excuses for our crimes and have roughly a third of the nation believe them. But Donald Trump is special.

And since his followers are 100% convinced he’s the bestest prezident since George Jefferson, anything he does must be holy, pure, and in the interest of all Americans. And when you have a stable of reliable sycophants like Tickle Me Nosferatu (the bullshit artist formerly known as Rudy Giuliani) at your beck and call, “creative” (read: terrible) rationalizations will flow like black-tar brain effluent down the withering cheeks of a weary nation.

So, yeah—this is the kind of excuse you come up with when you’re completely out of excuses:

Rudy Giuliani tells Newsmax that Trump was just trying to preserve documents by putting them in a safe place. pic.twitter.com/tDJag4loW4

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 19, 2022

GIULIANI: “And now they want to make him responsible for having taken classified documents and preserved them. Really, if you look at the Espionage Act, it’s not really about taking the documents, it’s about destroying them, or hiding them, or giving them to the enemy. It’s not about taking them and putting them in a place that’s roughly as safe as they were in in the first place.”

Yup, securing top secret nuclear documents in restricted, heavily guarded government facilities is exactly the same as leaving them in the hands of a guy well known for blurting out highly classified secrets in front of the Russian foreign minister, making calls on an unsecured cell phone, and tweeting sensitive satellite photos against the advice of every member of the intelligence community. Just like most of us prefer to store our life savings in a Folgers can instead of depositing it in a bank. Makes total sense.

Okay, so clearly, we’re not on the same page as Rudy. For one thing, we don’t hang out with pages. They’re minors, Rudy, and the musky melange of English Leather and Sanka breath is not the aphrodisiac you think it is. But—surprise!—what Rudy is blabbering here is simply not what the Espionage Act says. 

As Vox explained in the wake of this kerfuffle, “The Espionage Act is actually a series of statutes under 18 U.S. Code Chapter 37 related to the collection, retention, or dissemination of national defense or classified information. The Mar-a-Lago search warrant referred to Section 793—‘Gathering, transmitting or losing defense information,’ which doesn’t just cover ‘spying’ in the sense that many think of when they hear the term. Section 793 specifically states that people legally granted access to national defense documents—people like the former president—are subject to punishment should they improperly retain that information.”

Trump “retained” this information and refused to give it back, and in June, his lawyers told the government that he no longer held any classified documents at Mar-a-Lago—even though he clearly did. 

So how many excuses does this make now? At first, Trump wanted us to believe the FBI planted these documents. Then he claimed he’d declassified them—which only makes sense if he knew which documents the FBI had decided to plant. For a hot minute, Trump also tried to claim some of the documents fell under attorney-client privilege, and like the feckless fucknut he is, he demanded their return. 

Then there was the “standing order” excuse, wherein Trump tried to claim that anything he took home with him automatically alchemized from a closely held government secret into a public domain document every American has a right to see—unlike, say, the former pr*sident’s tax returns.

CNN made short work of that one:

YouTube Video

And now—according to Rudy—it’s all good since Trump didn’t destroy the documents or, as far as we know, give them to Russia or Saudi Arabia. Though I assume if we find out he did give them to Saudi Arabia, they’ll move the goalposts again—most likely next to a Krispy Kreme for our ex-POTUS’ convenience.

Of course, if all of this weren’t so horrifying, it would be endlessly amusing. But this is the safety and security of our planet we’re talking about now.

We are not amused.

Check out Aldous J. Pennyfarthing’s four-volume Trump-trashing compendium, including the finale, Goodbye, Asshat: 101 Farewell Letters to Donald Trump, at this link. Or, if you prefer a test drive, you can download the epilogue to Goodbye, Asshat for the low, low price of FREE. 

House Republicans Demand DOJ, FBI Preserve Documents In Relation To FBI Raid On Trump

Posted on by Rusty Weiss

House Republicans on Monday sent letters to top officials in the Biden administration demanding they preserve and hand over documents related to the FBI raid on former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home.

Eighteen Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee sent the letters to Attorney General Merrick Garland, FBI Director Christopher Wray, and White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain.

“The FBI’s unprecedented raid of President Trump’s residence is a shocking escalation of the Biden Administration’s weaponization of law-enforcement resources against its political opponents,” each letter begins.

“The American people deserve transparency and accountability from our most senior law-enforcement officials in the executive branch,” it continues. “We will settle for nothing but your complete cooperation with our inquiry.”

The correspondence demands that each department preserve “all documents and communications” related to the raid and produce them to the committee “no later than 5:00 p.m. on August 29, 2022.”

RELATED: Republicans Demand Garland Brief Homeland Security On Trump FBI Raid, Slam ‘Politically Motivated Witch Hunt’

Republicans Demand FBI, DOJ Preserve and Release Documents

The letters from House Republicans to Biden administration officials demanding they preserve and release documents related to the unprecedented raid on the President’s main political opponent are more symbolic for the time being.

The GOP does not have subpoena power as the minority in the House of Representatives.

Still, the move signals an intensification of possible probes into the matter should the GOP win back the House following the midterms.

The letters come just days after Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) vowed that the Senate would investigate the raid should Republicans wrestle back control in November.

“If I’m in the majority, and I’m Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, again, I intend to pursue all of these things until we get to the bottom of it,” Grassley told Breitbart News over the weekend.

RELATED: ‘Preserve Your Documents’: McCarthy Threatens AG Merrick Garland With Investigation After FBI Raid Of Trump’s Home

Demand a Briefing From DHS

Republican lawmakers late last week demanded a Homeland Security briefing by the FBI, Department of Justice, and National Archives following news that Garland gave a personal greenlight to the raid on Trump’s home.

But, as Fox News host Jesse Waters pointed out to Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) – Republicans like to talk a lot about what they’re going to do regarding the unprecedented harassment directed at Trump, but will they actually take action?

Democrats certainly would. They threatened impeachment for months upon months then acted when they found the first opening. Then they did it again.

And quite obviously, the harassment has never ended.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy was one of the first to call for a probe into Garland’s actions, saying on the very day of the raid that he had “seen enough.”

“Attorney General Garland, preserve your documents and clear your calendar,” he wrote.

Democrats have countered the GOP’s efforts with Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Oversight Committee Chair Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) sending their own letter to Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines.

That letter seeks a national security damage assessment on the documents seized from Mar-a-Lago.

Trump has claimed all documents in his Mar-a-Lago home were “declassified” and insisted officials “didn’t need to ‘seize’ anything. They could have had it at any time.”

The FBI under the direction of Garland fetched the documents – including ancillary material such as Trump’s passports that they have since returned – and now the Democrats are going to use them to investigate the former President yet again.

Do Republicans understand they need to be equally as relentless in order to stop this level of corruption?

POLL: Do you think Republicans will actually do anything about the FBI raid of Trump's home?

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Trump Demands Immediate Release Of Search Warrant, Denies Reports That FBI Raid Was Over Nuclear Weapons Documents

Posted on by Rusty Weiss

Former President Donald Trump is demanding the immediate release of the search warrant for the FBI raid on his Mar-a-Lago home, and denied that the raid was an attempt to retrieve classified documents about nuclear weapons.

Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday said he would petition for the document to be unsealed.

Trump offered his thoughts on his Truth Social media platform, indicating he would not challenge the release.

“Not only will I not oppose the release of documents related to the unAmerican, unwarranted, and unnecessary raid and break-in of my home in Palm Beach, Florida, Mar-a-Lago, I am going a step further by ENCOURAGING the immediate release of those documents,” he said.

Trump accused the search warrant documents of having “been drawn up by radical left Democrats and possible future political opponents, who have a strong and powerful vested interest in attacking me, much as they have done for the last 6 years.”

Garland admitted earlier in the day that he personally signed off on the warrant to search Trump’s home. His actions mark an unprecedented legal effort by a sitting Attorney General against the likely opponent of the President that nominated him to the post.

A ruling on the motion could come before the weekend.

RELATED: Report: Informant In Trump’s Circle Tipped Off FBI, Led Agents To Location Of Documents

Reports Claim FBI Raid Was Seeking Documents About Nuclear Weapons at Trump’s Home

Also on Thursday, the Washington Post published a sensational report stemming from “people familiar with the investigation” who allege that the raid on Trump’s home was an attempt to retrieve documents pertaining to “nuclear weapons.”

“Classified documents relating to nuclear weapons were among the items FBI agents sought in a search of former president Donald Trump’s Florida residence on Monday,” they wrote.

The sources declined to offer additional details and refused to say if any such documents had been found.

CNN piggybacked off the Washington Post report to allege it “could explain the urgency of the unprecedented operation” and “takes his showdown with the Justice Department to a grave new level.”

It doesn’t of course. There was no ‘urgency.’ What it does is raise other questions.

RELATED: Republican Lawmakers Say Trump Is ‘Fired Up,’ And Made Up His Mind About 2024 Following FBI Raid

Trump Says It’s a Hoax

Right-leaning pundits expressed immediate skepticism of the reports that Trump’s home was raided because the FBI was searching for nuclear weapons documents.

If President Trump had been hiding away such documents, why did he cooperate with the FBI for months in turning over documents that they had requested?

And if they were of such a highly classified nature, concerning nuclear weapons, why did they negotiate at all rather than just conducting the raid from the onset?

Former assistant secretary of the Treasury Monica Crowley openly wondered about this very fact.

“So now they’re saying Trump may have had our nation’s most sensitive nuclear secrets – but they waited a year and half to go get them?” she tweeted.

Conservative political commentator Liz Wheeler suggested the DOJ was overcompensating its concerns by citing nuclear weapons when they had a more basic but politically motivated intent.

“Don’t believe for a second the FBI was searching for nuclear weapons documents at Mar-a-Lago,” she tweeted. “DOJ overshot.”

“They thought they could Marc Elias this – claim a classified doc was mishandled & charge Trump & forbid him from serving in public office again.”

But the biggest skeptic out there was Trump himself.

“Nuclear weapons issue is a Hoax, just like Russia, Russia, Russia was a Hoax, two Impeachments were a Hoax, the Mueller investigation was a Hoax, and much more,” he wrote on Truth Social early this morning. “Same sleazy people involved.”

Trump questioned why the FBI wouldn’t allow his lawyers to oversee the inspection and instead “made them wait outside in the heat.”

The former President contested the agents’ motives as well.

“Planting information anyone? Reminds me of a Christofer (sic) Steele Dossier!”

Perhaps the warrant being unsealed would clarify or confirm what the sources told the Washington Post about nuclear weapons. Or perhaps it won’t – the FBI certainly hasn’t done anything untoward in obtaining search warrants in the past, have they?

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Report: A secret grand jury subpoena was served to Trump before Mar-a-Lago search

Posted on (Updated by Brandi Buchman

The search of former President Donald Trump’s Florida home this week was precipitated by a secret grand jury subpoena for classified documents served to him this June, according to new reports out Thursday. 

This was first reported by John Solomon at Just the News and quickly picked up by outlets like CNN and MSNBC.

Thursday, Aug 11, 2022 · 7:40:00 PM +00:00 · Brandi Buchman

BREAKING: Attorney General Merrick Garland announces that he authorized the search warrant at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property and has filed a motion requesting that the warrant be unsealed along with two attachments plus an inventory of the items seized. 

Precisely what the attachments are is not clear at this time, but it is suspected that at least one of the attachments will explain what statutes were used to authorize the search.

NOW: "I personally approved to seek a search warrant in this matter," AG Garland says of the warrant at Trump's Mar-a-Lago property issued this week

— Brandi Buchman (@Brandi_Buchman) August 11, 2022

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On June 3, a prosecutor and a trio of FBI agents showed up at Mar-a-Lago for a meeting. The subject of that meeting was boxes with White House records housed in a storage room at Trump’s Palm Beach property. According to Just the News, an anonymous source said the meeting was specifically related to documents sought in relation to the grand jury subpoena. 

That subpoena requested that Trump produce any and all documents that had classification labels, including any “mementos” or other notes and pictures he may have kept from his impeachment-marred single term in the White House.

Trump, who was not expected at the June 3 meeting, abruptly appeared and told the prosecutor and trio of agents he would comply. 

Per Just the News, two eyewitnesses recall Trump telling the law enforcement group: “Look, whatever you need, let us know.” The agents then asked to look at the storage locker in the basement at Mar-a-Lago. Trump and his lawyers allowed the search. 

According to Trump’s campaign attorney, Christina Bobb, a few days after that meeting, the FBI’s chief of counterintelligence and export control, Jay Bratt, contacted Trump’s legal team and asked that a padlock be installed on the door where the sensitive documents were kept. 

What then followed was the disclosure of key information to investigators.

There were more boxes with classified information on the property. This was in addition to the 15 boxes the National Archives had retrieved earlier after much back-and-forth with Trump. The contents of those boxes, according to the National Archives, included classified or otherwise sensitive information. 

This sparked the FBI to show up with a warrant, something agents only obtained after they were able to convince a magistrate judge that there was likely evidence of a crime that had been committed. 

Publicly, Trump has continued attacks on virtually every institution, from the FBI to the Department of Justice to Congress and the White House, saying the various probes into his affairs and conduct are part of a larger “witch hunt” against him. His reaction to the search of his home has sparked a wave of threats of violence to lawmakers anew and has generated an intense new round of conspiracy theories about the “deep state” attempt to take down Donald Trump. 

RELATED STORY: Team Trump continues to fuel conspiracy theories about FBI search of Mar-a-Lago

But Trump’s attorneys, at least when it comes to the records search at Mar-a-Lago, have been cooperative.

According to reports from The Wall Street Journal and CNN alike, Trump’s attorney Evan Corcoran complied not just with the request to padlock the door but also provided surveillance footage from Mar-a-Lago to authorities when it was requested under a separate subpoena issued to the Trump Organization. 

The warrant for the Aug. 8 search of Mar-a-Lago contains mention of a possible violation of the Presidential Records Act, Trump’s attorney Christina Bobb, has said.

Trump, at any time, could publish the itemized warrant to potentially end the miasma of questions and misinformation swirling around the search, but he has not and is not expected to. The Department of Justice, as a rule, does not release warrant applications to the public, so it is up to the former president to offer this transparency for the moment.

Trump has dubbed the search a “siege” of his home by FBI agents, but those officers who showed up for the search did so quietly and discretely in plain clothes instead of their typical unmistakable blue jackets or with guns drawn, lights blazing. The meeting in June and the search on Monday have been described repeatedly by sources as “cordial.” 

Three rooms were searched on Aug. 8. Agents took 10 boxes, according to the Wall Street Journal. The items taken are now believed to be held in Miami. 

FBI agents are required under law to leave behind a copy of their search warrant when they conduct a raid. The warrant would also include an inventory of what items were taken, but even those descriptors could be vague. 

The warrant would also typically itemize what possible crimes were committed. 

It is the affidavit bearing details of probable cause that is key. This is the record necessary for a judge to approve a warrant, but it will remain sealed for now. It is only made public if charges are filed.

Republican Lawmakers Say Trump Is ‘Fired Up,’ And Made Up His Mind About 2024 Following FBI Raid

Posted on by Rusty Weiss

All signs are pointing to former President Trump being even more “fired up” about running in 2024 following the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago earlier this week.

Representatives Jim Banks (R-IN) and Claudia Tenney (R-NY) were two of nearly a dozen members of the House Republican Study Committee who huddled with Trump at a New Jersey retreat earlier in the week. Both left with impressions on the 2024 presidential election.

Banks indicated that the FBI raid hadn’t dampened Trump’s spirits. 

“He didn’t seem defeated in the least bit—he was very fired up, very upbeat,” he told Fox News.

Banks added that the incident seems to have accelerated the former President’s desire to announce a decision on a 2024 campaign and that “we are going to like his decision.”

RELATED: Trump Speaks: Angrily Condemns ‘Political Persecution’ As FBI Raids Mar-a-Lago

FBI Raid May Have Motivated Trump to Run in 2024 Even More

Rep. Claudia Tenney also seemed to indicate Trump’s spirits were alive and well following the FBI raid.

Tenney thanked the likely Republican nominee for his continued support and endorsement in her congressional district following her visit to Trump National Golf Club at Bedminster.

And if you thought he was down following the raid, she says best think again.

“Thrilled to report he’s feeling better than ever despite the Democrats’ endless smears against him,” she wrote. “Trump 2024!”

Tenney, in an interview on Real America’s Voice, said the actions taken by the FBI and DOJ amounted to the “fourth impeachment” of President Trump.

“They’re going to try to attempt to stop him from running for president,” Tenney said. “And that’s really what it’s about. Because they’re afraid he will get out there and he will run and he will win.”

RELATED: After FBI Raid, Trump Fires Back With Epic New Video Promising ‘The Best Is Yet To Come’

When Will He Announce?

In a statement following the FBI raid, Trump himself concurred that the weaponization of the Justice Department was an attempt to stop him in 2024.

“It is prosecutorial misconduct, the weaponization of the Justice System, and an attack by Radical Left Democrats who desperately don’t want me to run for President in 2024 …” he said.

Trump, as The Political Insider reported, had made up his “own mind” about running last month, though the timing of an official announcement was still up in the air.

Some had suggested committing to a run prior to the midterms might negatively affect races by stirring up Democrat turnout.

Banks, however, suggested Trump “enjoyed encouragement” from the House Republican Study Committee to “get the decision out sooner rather than later.”

“He only helps us win back more seats in November,” Banks insisted. “The Republican Party is bigger and stronger than ever before because of Donald Trump’s leadership.” 

The former President does seem further motivated by the FBI raid, as do his supporters.

As is characteristic of his personality, Trump came out swinging immediately following this week’s events with an ad posted to his Truth Social media account.

“We are a nation that in many ways has become a joke,” Trump said in the ad. “But soon we will have greatness again.”

In it, he predicts that “the best is yet to come.”

Becky Noble of The Political Insider notes that the FBI raid may have backfired on Democrats for 2024.

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“If his enemies thought he was defeated,” she wrote, “they were wrong.”

Added Banks, “What happened at Mar-a-Lago unifies Republicans in our outrage … and we stand with President Trump.”

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Team Trump continues to fuel conspiracy theories about FBI search of Mar-a-Lago

Posted on by Laura Clawson

According to a Fox Business correspondent’s “scoop” Wednesday afternoon, “Donald Trump and his legal team will likely seek a court order to force the @FBI and @TheJusticeDept to turn over a physical copy of the search warrant, the affidavit, and a complete inventory of what was taken in the Mar-a-Lago raid.” That news, however, came well after one of Trump’s attorneys told Dinesh D’Souza that the FBI had already given her a copy of the warrant, with an attachment detailing what they were looking for. Trump has the warrant. The fact that he hasn’t shown it to the public is his decision, and it’s probably in equal measures to hide what it reveals about him and to feed conspiracy theories. 

And those conspiracy theories continue to flourish, fueled in large part by Trump, his lawyers, and others in his inner circle. Trump is aggressively fundraising off the search of his property, which is no surprise since Trump aggressively fundraises off of everything that happens in his general vicinity. In this case, though, it’s not just about the money. It’s about spreading the message that he wants out there: This legal search approved by a federal judge was in fact a nefarious attack on freedom. And as usual, Trump has the entire Republican Party on board with his desired message.

RELATED STORY: Trump’s fanatical supporters ready to ‘lock and load’ for ‘civil war’ after Mar-a-Lago searched

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Appearing on CNN, Republican Sen. Tim Scott responded to questions about threats to the federal judge who signed the search warrant by “asking my friends on the other side, wait, don’t rush to judgment. This is, without question, a very daring and dangerous move on the Department of Justice’s side.” When CNN’s Dana Bash pressed him again on the threats coming from Republicans, Scott again blamed the Justice Department, saying, “every single member of our family, the American family, should be very concerned when you feel like there is a weaponization of the Department of Justice against any individual, much less the former president.”

There’s no acknowledgement here that there was a lawful process in which Trump was treated better than most people on whom search warrants are executed.

And Scott is more careful than many Republicans. His use of “weaponization,” though, was definitely use of an approved party talking point. Rep. Elise Stefanik, the third-ranking House Republican, similarly went with “weaponization” in a statement calling the search “a dark day in American history,” and calling for “an immediate investigation and accountability into Joe Biden and his Administration’s weaponizing this department against their political opponents—the likely 2024 Republican candidate for President of the United States.” As usual, Republicans accuse their opponents of what they’re already doing. Remember that Trump’s first impeachment was for attempting to use the power of the presidency to strong-arm Ukraine into smearing Joe Biden because Trump (correctly) saw him as a formidable challenger in 2020. Turning around and accusing Biden of mimicking Trump is to be expected, even though it was not Biden on a private phone call asking a world leader to “do us a favor” and withholding military aid to get that “favor.”

Like Stefanik, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is threatening an investigation—threats that Attorney General Merrick Garland, the entire Justice Department and FBI, and the judge who signed off on the warrant would absolutely have known were coming. 

Other Republicans have gone further.

“I’m concerned that they may have planted something,” Alina Habba, one of Trump’s attorneys, said on Fox News on Tuesday. “At this point, who knows? I don’t trust the government, and that’s a very frightening thing as an American. This is third world stuff. This is Cuba. This is not our country.”

No, this is you thinking the Biden administration operates the way Trump would like to.

Then there are the conspiracy theories about the date of the search—Aug. 8, the anniversary of Richard Nixon’s resignation. “There are no coincidences when it comes to the Deep State. They could have done this raid a couple of days before or tomorrow, but they chose August 8 for a reason,” former Trump Treasury Department official Monica Crowley said on the War Room podcast.

Trump could clear some of this up by releasing the warrant, which he has. (The affidavit, which would have more detail, is under seal and, according to former federal prosecutor Elie Honig, Trump wouldn’t get it “unless and until there's a charge.”) But Trump does not want to clear this up. He wants his party once again united around defending him, and his supporters buzzing with conspiracy theories and rage. It’s better for him that way, and it doesn’t matter to him that it’s worse for the concept of equal justice under the law.

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