On August 8, 2022, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) executed a search warrant at former Republican President Donald Trump's home turned paid membership resort Mar-a-Lago.
Since then, Trump and his acolytes in the GOP and his MAGA minions have attacked the FBI and the federal entity that filed the request for a warrant, the Department of Justice (DoJ). Seemingly escaping their ire—or perhaps not as vulnerable to the conspiracy theories and false rhetoric aimed at the DoJ and FBI—is the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).
Most individuals at the center of a federal investigation would go a no comment route for fear of incriminating themselves further, but not Donald Trump.
Seemingly unable to censor himself, Trump and his various mouthpieces made numerous public statements about the warrant used to search Mar-a-Lago while never sharing their copy of the warrant.
In response, the DoJ released the warrant.
Trump's camp moved on to making claims about the affidavit that supported the warrant.
In response, the DoJ released a redacted copy of the affidavit.
The Trump team denied the existence of then downplayed the items found during the search.
Now the DoJ has shared a photograph showing just some of the classified, sensitive classified and top secret documents Trump took with him when he vacated the White House.
Still not learning anything, Trump issued a reply to the photographic evidence that is being called both petty and petulant on his struggling Truth Social platform.
Trump tried to claim the evidentiary photo—a variety of documents spread out on a flat surface to make a clear photo possible—was proof the FBI threw things during their search. Trump was not at Mar-a-Lago when the search occurred.
He posted:
"Terrible the way the FBI, during the Raid of Mar-a-Lago, threw documents haphazardly all over the floor (perhaps pretending it was me who did it!), and then started taking photos for the public to see."
Despite all sensitive information being obscured in the photo, Trump tried to claim the documents he improperly stored at Mar-a-Lago were somehow compromised by the photo.
"Thought they wanted them kept Secret?"
He then reiterated his false claim he had the ability to automatically declassify anything he wanted to under an alleged standing order.
"Lucky I Declassified!"
Members of Trump's own administration refuted his claims of an implied or explicitly stated standing order to declassify anything Trump removed from the Oval Office.
Longtime Trump adversary, conservative lawyer George Conway shared Trump’s rant on Twitter with the caption:
"Not a parody."
"Evidence of guilt, and of a highly disordered personality."
People noted Trump's many stories are contradictory.
Self-described "Attorney, Marine, Triathlete, Historian" and "Former Federal Prosecutor & Republican; now Defense Attorney & Democrat" who "Track[s] & Report[s] on the Right-Wing," Ron Filipkowski stated the above screenshot was just the tip of the iceberg.
Tuesday morning he tweeted:
"I don’t know if he’s been hacked or just completely lost his mind, but by my count Trump has posted or reposted over SIXTY things so far this morning, most of which are rando accounts with almost no followers or straight QAnon people."
The more Trump and his supporters try to discredit the investigation, the more credible it looks thanks to strategic filings from the DoJ.
In January 2021 as Democratic President Joe Biden took office, Trump was required by the Presidential Records Act of 1978 as well as other statutes to turn over all documents related to his presidency to NARA.
When Trump failed to do so, NARA contacted the former President with repeated requests.
After getting Trump to return only a portion of the documents—which included classified and top secret material—being stored in an unsecured location at Mar-a-Lago, NARA alerted the DoJ to Trump’s failure to follow the law.
Late Tuesdat night the Justice Department reported in a new legal filing—in response to Trump’s request to appoint a special master to review documents—it seized more than 100 unique classified documents during the FBI search.
The DoJ also alleged it has evidence “records were likely concealed and removed from the Storage Room and that efforts were likely taken to obstruct the government’s investigation.” prior to the FBI search.
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