The hole for Trump just keeps getting deeper and deeper, in spite of what is being reported on Fox News and other conservative media outlets. Their programming would have you believe that the search warrant at Mar a Lago was just some ‘fly-by-night operation cooked up by the FBI and the Democrats. As is typical in ‘Trump-land’, facts are just ignored. The conservative media and many Republican politicians are fanning the flames of ‘the base’ and the threats of violence against the FBI and other government institutions have increased dramatically. This is beyond irresponsible.
Earlier this year, the National Archives, whose job it is to archive ALL presidential material requested that information that Trump had taken to Mar a Lago be returned. Trump sent a tranche of documents back. The government had information that more documents remained at Mar a Lago so they issued a subpoena in June of this year. Mar a Lago was visited by a small group of FBI agents and more documents were found and taken. It is being reported that a Trump lawyer certified, in writing, at that time that ALL documents requested in the subpoena had been returned.
We now know that was not true. I have a feeling the attorney who signed that certification may be joining the growing group of people who are looking at the underside of the Trump bus. Presumably, if it can be proved that he/she knowingly lied when he/she signed that certification, criminal charges may be a possibility, along with the possibility of disbarment. You can bet that Trump certainly won’t go out on a limb to defend that person.
Trump had multiple chances to return the documents that he illegally had in his possession and yet, he failed to comply with the initial request and the subsequent subpoena. So, any reporting that this search warrant on Trump’s residence was some random, rogue activity meant to harass the former president is pure bullshit. He committed a crime by removing the documents in the first place. He committed another crime by failing to comply with a legally issued subpoena. Then are the crimes associated with the illegal possession and handling of extremely sensitive classified documents.
It is highly unlikely that anyone at Mar a Lago has the appropriate clearances to be anywhere close to the documents that were seized. As I stated yesterday, Trump’s security clearance was revoked by Biden when he took office. Past presidents are sometimes extended clearances as a courtesy after they leave office, but it is completely at the discretion of the new president. After the January 6th coup attempt, Biden really had no choice but to revoke Trump’s clearance. You certainly don’t want a guy who essentially tried to overthrow a duly elected government holding any kind of security clearance. I would assume that clearances for Jared Kushner and Ivanka were also revoked. Normally, when you now longer have a need to access classified information, you are debriefed, and your clearance revoked. Like I said, it is highly unlikely that anyone at Mar a Lago had the appropriate clearances to deal with these documents. Crime upon crime upon crime!!
I personally believe, the FBI knows more than they are letting on and the search warrant was just trying to get information to corroborate what they already suspect or perhaps already know to be true. I believe they are concerned that classified information was passed on to unauthorized persons and quite possibly foreigners which is why the counter espionage folks were involved.
It is no secret that Trump was pushing to give nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia, possibly even nuclear weapons to counter the nuclear threat from Iran. Magically, after Trump left office and his close advisors, Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, stepped down as well, the Saudis dumped $2 Billion into Kushner’s fledgling investment firm within 6 months of their departure from the Whitehouse. Coincidence? – Maybe. Maybe not. Given that Kushner, like his father-in-law is not known as a particularly astute investor and businessman, it does seem strange.
The point is, highly classified information was found at Mar a Lago that should not have been there under any circumstances. It could not have gotten there by accident as I have explained previously. All of the people involved in this had to know they were breaking the law. So, it begs the question, why? This investigation is not about some stray documents missing from the National Archives. This investigation is about answering the question “why?”
Why was this done and who was meant to see this information? I suspect that it will take a while to get the answers to these questions. I am sure, however, if and when these questions are answered, it will send shock waves through the country and possibly the world. I know that sounds very sensationalistic and I could be completely off base. But given that Trump already tried to instigate a coup, would anyone really be surprised if he passed highly sensitive, highly classified information off to someone who shouldn’t have it? It sure as hell wouldn’t shock me! People often compare Trump to Putin, Hitler, or Viktor Orban. It might turn out that the more appropriate comparison would be Benedict Arnold! Time will tell.