USA 2020 Elections: Thread

[grarpamp]

> https://donaldjtrump.com/
> https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump
> https://www.theepochtimes.com/t-donald-trump
>> While the secret documents content would bigly expose something,
>> the real story are the political frauds waged against Trump for years...


https://twitter.com/PhilipWegmann/status/1560352184956583940
https://www.newsweek.com/fbi-sought-documents-trump-hoarded-years-including-about-russiagate-1734280
https://www.theepochtimes.com/ex-fbi-official-nobody-in-federal-government-wants-to-unseal-trump-affidavit_4671758.html
https://www.theepochtimes.com/biden-administration-urges-court-to-keep-trump-search-affidavit-sealed_4666445.html
https://www.foxnews.com/media/alina-habba-believe-judge-reveal-affidavit
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-08-17/trump-warrant-judge-urged-to-release-most-of-fbi-affidavit

Trump Spox Calls For 'No Redactions' Of FBI Trump Raid Affidavit After
Judge Orders DOJ To Unseal 'Portions'

Update (1550ET): In response to Judge Reinhart ordering the DOJ to
release a redacted version of the Trump raid affidavit, Trump
spokesman Taylor Budowich called for no redactions," citing
"Democrats' penchant for using redactions to hide government
corruption."

    Trump spokesman @TayFromCA says again that affidavit should be
made public and calls for "no redactions," citing "Democrats' penchant
for using redactions to hide government corruption."
pic.twitter.com/9ZjMVx5AWS
    — Philip Melanchthon Wegmann (@PhilipWegmann) August 18, 2022

*  *  *

The Trump-hating judge who signed off on the FBI warrant to raid
Mar-a-Lago has ordered the DOJ to unseal portions of the underlying
affidavit, after several media outlets and activist groups made the
case that it was in the public interest to see it.

"I’m not prepared to find that the affidavit should be fully sealed,"
said Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart following a hearing in which a
top government lawyer argued that releasing the document could
"severely compromise" an ongoing investigation that's in its "early
stages," adding that a line-by-line redaction of the document was
unrealistic.

"On my initial careful review ... there are portions of it that can be
unsealed."

Reinhart said he would "give the government a full and fair
opportunity" to make redactions, according to Bloomberg, setting a
deadline of next Thursday - after which he will review it and release
it if he agrees with the redactions.

*  *  *

Several media organizations have urged a Florida judge to release most
of an FBI affidavit which was used to justify the DOJ's search warrant
for last week's raid on former President Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence.
A Palm Beach Police officer at the entrance of former US President
Donald Trump's house at Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, on Aug.
9.Photographer: Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg

According to a filing by the group, which includes the New York Times,
AP and CNN, the public has a "clear and powerful interest" in what led
to the unprecedented action by the DOJ against the sitting president's
top political opponent.

While the group says that the document should be released "with only
those redactions that are necessary to protect a compelling interest
articulated by the government," the Justice Department says that such
a redacted version of the affidavit would leave the document so devoid
of content that it wouldn't provide any insight.

    The government has given “little explanation as to how release
would harm the ongoing investigation” even though many details of the
probe are already public, the group said in the filing in federal
court in West Palm Beach, where US District Judge Bruce Reinhart will
hold a hearing on the matter Thursday.

    The affidavit provides the basis on which the judge authorized the
search of Trump’s estate. The dispute over its release is the latest
fallout from the Aug. 8 search, which culminated in FBI agents carting
away 11 sets of classified documents in about 20 boxes. Threats
against the FBI -- and the judge -- have jumped since then. -Bloomberg

"The secrecy surrounding the search warrant, and the affidavit that
led to its issuance, has caused the nation to convulse with intrigue
and harmful speculation that will only increase the longer the truth
is kept from the public," said Judicial Watch in a statement. "The
heat must be replaced with light, and soon."

Trump has also called for the document to be publicly released, though
he hasn't filed anything in court to back that up.

The request comes as Newsweek reports that the FBI raid was
specifically intended to recover Trump's personal "stash" of hidden
documents - which reportedly deal with a "variety of intelligence
matters of interest to the former president, the officials
suggest—including material that Trump apparently thought would
exonerate him of any claims of Russian collusion in 2016 or any other
election-related charges."

    When Trump left the White House in January 2021, many of the
normal processes of transition were not followed, especially because
the president would not admit that he had lost the election or that he
would be leaving office. As a result, we now know, some 42 boxes of
documents were shipped to Mar-a-Lago by mistake: officials papers
under U.S. law, which the National Archives is supposed to take
custody of and catalog.

    Over the past 18 months, the Trump camp and the Archives were
engaged in a back-and-forth which resulted in the return of 15 boxes
(and some additional documents). As late as June 3, when officials
from the FBI and Justice visited Mar-a-Lago to serve a Grand Jury
subpoena for specific documents, these negotiations were largely
cordial. -Newsweek

Meanwhile, as Jack Phillips of the Epoch Times notes, a lawyer
representing Trump, and a former FBI official, both expressed doubts
that the affidavit used to seek an FBI search warrant for last week’s
Mar-a-Lago raid will be unsealed by a judge on Thursday.

“I don’t think anybody wants to unseal this thing inside the
government,” Chris Swecker, a former assistant director of the FBI,
told Fox News on Wednesday, adding that he doubts “very seriously
you’re going to see this unsealed tomorrow.”

The former official was making reference to a hearing that was
scheduled by U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart for Thursday about
whether the affidavit should be unsealed. The Department of Justice on
Monday filed court papers arguing that it should not because releasing
it to the public will damage their investigation.

But former Trump and other Republicans argue it should be released
because it would show why the FBI took the unprecedented and
extraordinary step of raiding the home of a former president and
possible 2024 candidate.

Revealing the affidavit, they argue, would provide more insight into
what the Department of Justice is trying to investigate and lay out
reasons for why the raid was carried out. On Aug. 12, Reinhart issued
an order to unseal the FBI search warrant and property receipt.
Lawyer’s Response

A lawyer for Trump, Alina Habba, echoed Swecker’s assertion that it
appears unlikely the judge will unseal the affidavit on Thursday
during a recent Fox News interview.

“Judge Reinhart is the same magistrate judge that recused himself from
my Hillary [Clinton] case about a month ago. He is definitely not
going to be a friendly judge necessarily. I would say it was highly
unlikely,” Habba said, noting that the “DOJ is already saying that
they do not want us to see what was in the affidavit.”

“Usually, that’s to protect witnesses and other things that have been
cooperating with the justice system. So while I would love to see it
and understand why you would ask for a raid with a cooperating
president, do I believe that this judge is going to reveal it? No, I
do not,” she said.

The Justice Department and the FBI have remained mostly silent
regarding the raid, with Attorney General Merrick Garland issuing a
statement during a news conference on Aug. 11. Garland said he
personally authorized the warrant for the FBI raid but provided little
to no insight about why it was carried out or what was taken from
Trump’s home.

In statements posted on Truth Social, Trump wrote that FBI agents took
three of his passports and demanded their return. A spokesperson for
the former president confirmed on social media this week that the
travel documents were handed back.