By John Solomon
Like the Russia collusion FISA warrants before it, the FBI search warrant for Donald Trump’s Florida estate relied on multiple news media reports from outlets like Breitbart and CBS to justify its unprecedented request to raid a former president’s home.
For instance, the bureau relied on a local CBS report to establish that the former president had moved boxes suspected to contain documents from the White House to Mar-A-Lago in mid-January 2021, just before he left office, according to the partially redacted FBI affidavit made public by a court Friday .
“According to a CBS Miami article titled ”Moving Tucks Spotted At Mar-a-Lago,’ published Monday, January 18, 2021, at least two moving trucks were observed at the PREMISES on January 18, 2021,” the memo related.
Another citation referred to a Breitbart article from May in which former Trump adviser Kash Patel was quoted as saying he did not believe documents found at Mar-A-Lago and returned to the National Archives were classified. The citation refers to Trump as “FPOTUS,” meaning former president.
“I am aware of an article published in Breitbart on May 5, 2022, available at https://www.breitbart.comvoliticsi2022i05/05/documents-mar-a-lago-marked-classified-wereah-eadv-declassifi.ed-kash-patel-savs/, which states that Kash Patel, who is described as a former top FPOTUS administration official, characterized as ‘misleading’ reports in other news organizations that NARA had followed classified materials among records that FPOTUS provided to NARA from Mar-a-Lago. Patel alleged that such reports were misleading because FPOTUS had declassified the materials at issue,” an FBI agent wrote in the affidavit supporting the search.
The next few paragraphs are redacted so it is not readily apparent why that reference is relevant. The affidavit states that a total of 184 documents with classification markings had been found when Trump returned documents to the Archives in 15 boxes early in 2022 and that was among the reasons the FBI believed it had “probable cause” to search Trump’s home on Aug. 8.
Patel played a major role as chief investigative counsel for House Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes in discredited the bungled Russia collusion probe, including abuses in seeking the FISA warrant. The former federal prosecutor also was considered for a time by Trump to be named deputy director of the FBI, a move that was blocked by other aides.
The use of news articles to support a search warrant is allowed in some circumstances, but the FBI’s use of news stories in seeking the Russia FISA warrants against Trump adviser Carter Pages was sharply criticized by the internal watchdog of the Justice Department.
For instance, the DOJ inspector general noted the FBI used a Yahoo News article to support claims in the Christopher Steele dossier even though Steele was a source for the article and failed to reveal the circular reporting to the intelligence court that had approved the warrant and three renewals.
Same song, different verse. The Democrats want the theatrics of a raid and the excuse to pursue the entire compound to see if, THIS time, they can finally find something to pin on Trump.
Pathetically desperate and fascist.
No crimes were committed by President Trump. Another swing and a miss for the tyranny of the minority
Ultimately they were after the crossfire hurricane documents that implicate the FBI in an attempted coup de etat while President Trump was in office.
20 months after Trump was voted out of office by an unprecedented margin, and it’s still one damn thing after another.
08/26/22 – FBI: Trump mixed top secret docs with magazines, other items
@Greg
None of it was classified because Trump declassified it.
The FBI didn’t have a problem with where the documents were stored, just requested an extra lock. This was all going along nicely until the Democrats panicked about idiot Biden’s disastrous failures. Then they needed something to divert the public’s attention away from the stupid incompetence of idiot Biden. But, they really stepped on their dick… the cannot possibly turn this to their advantage; no matter what they do, support for Trump or his successor will explode.
Still waiting for them to reveal the planted “evidence” they’ve “found”. You leftists are the slimiest of the slimes, capable of anything and everything illegal.
Enough is enough. Indict and prosecute the scumbag Trump for Obstruction of Justice. Now.
Actually, we had an investigation, looking at the evidence, and Trump was CLEARED of any charges or suspicion.
Get over it.
Zero evidence of Trump Russia Collusion. 100% evidence the Traitor HRC and traitors in the FBI created it.
100%.
Enough is enough. Indict and prosecute the scumbag Trump for Obstruction of Justice. Now.
Uh, perhaps you need some actual evidence of that “obstruction” first, jerkoff.
Go see how Putin invents false crimes on his political opponents, and just do that…
Oh wait, you scumballs already are.
Can’t tolerate the truth,, can you?
@greg
Sure, but you won’t find it at NPR. You fell for Russian collusion, you never learn.
All evidence suggests Russian collusion was real. Trump simply obstructed the investigation while hiding behind his powers of office, which the DoJ was powerless to prosecute him for. Mueller publicly deferred to Congress, where Trump continued to obstruct with the nearly full backing of the ethically compromised GOP.
Now he’s out of office. He can’t obstruct without the same legal consequences that any other citizen would be subject to. He’s trying to discredit the courts, the DoJ, law enforcement, his own party, and the media to save his butt, and doesn’t care what damages result. His remaining power is that of money and the hypnosis-like influence he has over the minds of his followers.
I don’t know how it will end, but it won’t end well. We can either have people like Trump or the rule of law. We can’t have both, because the rule of law gets in the way of their effin’ ambitions.
@Greg
Really? Like what?
Really. Mueller himself, under oath, stated that Trump never “curtailed, stopped or hindered” the investigation. Have you totally run out of lies and have to revisit the old, debunked, disgraced and disproved lies?
Democrats have thrown everything INCLUDING the kitchen sink at Trump and he has prove to be totally pristinely honest, clean and lawful. Trump never lied under oath (Hillary, Comey, Brennan, Clapper, McCabe), never destroyed evidence (Hillary, Comey, McCabe, Strzok), never obstructed in any way (Hillary, Comey, McCabe, Wray, Schiff, Pelosi, Nadler).
The courts, DOJ and FBI have done all they can to discredit themselves. Democrats are trying to run roughshod over the law and Constitution. While they have the power (as with their impeachments) to do whatever suits them, but they do not have justice, due process or the rule of law on their side, just totalitarianism. But, you knock Trump out of the race and you will get DeSantis with ALL of Trump’s support in addition to those who didn’t support him. You think the Democrats have THAT much fraud?
So here is a question for mental midgets like you, Comrade Greggie;
who packed up those boxes? Do you really think that Donald Trump packed those boxes himself?
If you think any sane person trusts the corrupt (for decades) FBI, you are really pathetically stupid.
The irony that greg is calling a state-run propaganda outlet called NPR “the truth”(like it’s Soviet counterpart, Pravda….which means “the truth” as well) tells you all you need to know about the enemies we Americans are up against.
@retire05
Correction: FBI: Trump mixed DECLASSIFIED top secret docs with magazines, other items, so pfffffft.
Read the conclusions of both parts of the Mueller Report. Consider his orders to underlings to ignore congressional subpoenas. Consider McConnell’s statement that the conclusion of the Senate trial was predetermined before the trial even began.
Or don’t, because they’re gonna nail him in state and federal courtrooms on new charges, testimony, and evidence. The guy has left a trail of malfeasance behind him a mile wide.
“The guy has left a trail of malfeasance behind him a mile wide.”
When you find that, let us know. But understand if we catch you making shit up, you’re going to end up in prison…for real….for actual crimes.
The Mueller Report exonerates Trump, completely.
No collusion, no obstruction.
These people have NO authority to investigate Trump, and anything they suddenly invent will just be another hoax in a long line of anti-democratic behavior by a deep state grown too large and too corrupt to be allowed to continue.
woops, here comes the conclusions of the village idiot again! Even the Mueller report said if you look closely that Trump committed no crime. Then Duram found and published that the Russian collusion charge was fake and those who knowingly pushed it were criminal. Yes geggie, you are now getting desperate with you “truth” documents. They are only in your head with the small brain.
@Greg
Consider that Mueller himself said that Trump NEVER “curtailed, stopped or hindered” any part of the investigation. Consider THAT before you continue your stupidity. You are SOOOOOOOOOOO desperate that you revert back to pretending to believe in previously debunked and denounced, with widespread media coverage, false accusations.
If Mueller himself says Trump never obstructed anything, how is it you claim Trump was guilty of obstruction? For that matter, what was he obstructing by having those documents, whatever they were, in his possession?
And, most critically, WHERE WERE THE REFERENCES TO NUCLEAR SECRETS? Do you NEVER grow tired of being lied to?
If there is such a “trail of malfeasance behind him a mile wide”, a “mountain of evidence at their fingertips” if you will, why have they not already indicted, tried and convicted him? He’s not (officially) President any more, so what’s the hold up? Do you NEVER consider the logic of what you say? EVER?
@Greg
Mueller report created by a group of ANTI-Trump lawyers. Yet they still came up dry. On day one of their “investigation” they knew it was bogus. No charges were filed because in the end there is nothing to charge. In your mind Trump is guilty of something, anything. I’d bet you search daily for some website that has the goods, but are frustrated that you can’t quite find it. Plenty of twisted speculation but no smoking gun. Collusion isn’t a crime by the way.
Just how does one obstruct justice on something that never happened in the first place? It’s funny how you appear to give so much credit for Trump having immeasurable power to thwart the government into getting at the truth. Truth is you are a sucker and you’ve got nothing.
I found Levin’s take informative. Something you could use.
Doing so would have been such a blatant abuse of Trump’s powers of office that half of the republicans in the US Senate would have joined Democrats to convict him.
Mueller simply gave an honest answer to a deceptive question. Trump didn’t actually “shoot a man on Fifth Avenue,” either. They might as well have asked Mueller about that, and then waved around Mueller’s answer to emphasize how impeccably lawful Trump’s conduct has been.
How many dedicated, worthy public servants like Robert Mueller have been damaged or destroyed to defend Trump? Any one of them is worth more than a hundred of him. He attracts other grifters like a magnet.
@Greg
Mueller was dedicated to the deep state effort of destroying a duly elected President of the United States for the “crime” of legitimately winning an election (the last time that has happened in this country).
What was deceptive? Using the very definition of “obstruction”, Mueller was asked if Trump obstructed anything, something he was accused of despite there being NO evidence of it. Mueller, cornered, had to answer honestly because any other answer would bring a follow up of WHAT exactly did Trump obstruct. So, the question of obstruction is answered, dead and gone; NO obstruction.
I’m surprised the lying leftists didn’t impeach Trump for shooting someone on 5th Avenue. Why not? They had as much evidence of that as they did any of their other accusations.
Nathan Blue, read the damn affidavit. Authorities tried for months to get ALL the documents back from Trump. They asked. They didn’t get them. Convened a grand jury, still couldn’t get them. Finally, a search warrant and a team of agents got the job done. This scumbag Trump had top secret documents that didn’t belong to him. He will be indicted, as he should be.
@Charlie Piper
Uh huh. After the 100th hoax, you got to wonder what kind of idiot believes this stuff?
Apparently an idiot like you.
The “story” changes by the day.
He will NEVER be indicted. To do so is to commit an act of domestic war within the United States of America.
Tread lightly, coward. Only totalitarian states make up charges on those political candidates and parties they can’t beat in a free and fair election.
The FBI/Clinton/Deep State fabricated documents and illegally investigated Trump and his team by hiding behind the usual “plausible deniability” schtick.
They should be in jail.
No one in their right mind would give a DAMN about some cooked “affidavit.”
The FBI is covering up their crimes in the Russia Hoax.
Trump is innocent. He’s not part of the establishment, and they got sloppy, letting democracy actually pick our President in 2016, instead of being selected by banks, globalists, and the deep state.
For that Covid was released, an election was rigged, a false-flag conducted on J6th, and now this: an attack on our freedom at large.
Trump legally had the documents. Period.
Charlie, are you a relative of greggie?
@Charlie Piper
So, obviously YOU’VE read the affidavit. What crime had Trump committed? What is the confirmed evidence of a crime you’ve discovered? Please share with us the basis for your assessment.
@Randy
They are related through being in the same political cell with the same handler. Comrades.
@Piper
What law school did your graduate from? What year did you pass the bar?
Or are you just another frustrated barista?
Charlie Piper, please give me a list of documents that were TS/SCI that Trump was not authorized to have. The issue with the “authorities” was what was Trumps and what needed to go to the archives. That is not a criminal offence. This type of give and take happens with every president when he leaves office. Now did you see how many pairs of under wear from Trump’s wife’s closet were taken by the FBI? Do you know how many of Trump’s papers that were protected by attorney client privilege? The FBI had looked over the papers p30 days prior to their armed raid and their only recommendation was that Trump should put another lock on the storage area that was guarded by the Secret Service and fully alarmed. This was a major over reach by Biden and his administration to prevent Trump to run in the 2024 election. Are you too ignorant to see this after reading all of the information that has been published or are you just biased and stupid?
I can see why the FBI would rely on media reports from sources like CBS to trigger an unprecedented raid on the home of a former President. I mean, when has the media ever gotten a story wrong or, especially regarding Trump, promoted something totally false and concocted just because it looked bad for Trump?
Pretty reliable source, I suppose.
greggie still fails to understand that neither the Supreme Court not Trump out lawed abortion. The Supreme court ruled on whether there was a right to abortion in the US constitution. There was not and they ruled that way. The Supreme didn’t make abortion illegal, just that the Constitution didn’t support abortion. Trump made no law that prevented abortion. If the country wanted the right to abort a child then congress needed to make a bill and the president needed to sign it into law. The issue before the Supreme court was that a prior court legislated law from the bench instead of the legislative branch. If you had any knowledge of how the Constitution and federal law works, you would know that if the Constitution does not give a power to the Federal government, then that decision is relegated to the state and that is what is happening. If you recall, Trump was never president nor governor of any state, so he can not be help responsibility for preventing someone from having an abortion. Only the village idiot would think Trump or the Supreme court is preventing anyone from having an abortion.