By Ken Zino
The 38-page redacted document* released last Friday to comply with a Southern District Court of Florida judge’s order to unseal the affidavit giving probable cause that crimes were committed at ex-President Trump’s Mar-a-Largo home seems complex. But the steps leading up to this legal search are simple to comprehend. It was prompted by 184 returned documents that Trump took from the White House including 25 marked “Top Secret” and 92 marked “Secret” that deal with, well, spying.
This is really a simple matter in my view, requiring only the simplest explanation of what is going on.
First, remember that Trump, aka FPOTUS [Former President Of The United States in the filing] publicly demanded that the affidavit justifying the search be released but then took no legal actions whatsoever to compel the court to do so. The crux of the matter is on page 31 subhead 78, “Subject Offenses” and 31 subhead 79 that probable cause exists to believe that evidence, contraband, fruits of crime or other items in violation of USC [United States Code]… will be found at the premises.” Premises, in this case, means multiple, unsecured places at the complex – all of them unsecured with relatively easy access to whomever was poking about.
Remember that classified documents were found previously, which goes back to when Trump left the White House and then later when the National Archives got some documents that should never have left the White House. The first contact with Trump on this matter was May 6, 2021. Government officials were trying to get the documents returned. So the search was hardly a surprise, let alone a misuse of power. Rather it was an attempt to recover loose documents containing state secrets.
As this unfolds Trump and others potentially face a trial in a U.S. Court of law, not Trump’s bully insurrectionist court of fraudulent opinion. There are some serious charges here ranging from the mishandling of classified documents, and/or possible violations of the Espionage Act and obstruction of justice statutes. [from heading 14 in the release “Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act” (FISA) is a dissemination control designed to protect intelligence derived from the collection of information authorized under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, or “FISC.”
Simply put: FPOTUS maliciously kept national security records that he was required to turn over to the National Archives. There is a DOJ ongoing investigation and a grand jury looking into violations of a series of grave National Security matters that are discussed under the redactions.
In time, I think some of these serious legal matters will become better known -- likely in only the vaguest of outlines given how sensitive and life-threatening they are to our National Interests and the people who look at for them -- in subsequent legal proceedings.
*Case 9:22-mj-08332-BER Document 102-1 Entered on FLSD Docket 08/26/20
From the first page:
“1. The government is conducting a criminal investigation concerning the improper removal and storage of classified information in unauthorized spaces, as well as the unlawful concealment or removal of government records. The investigation began as a result of a referral the United States National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) sent to the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) on February 9, 2022, hereinafter, “NARA Referral.” The NARA Referral stated that on January 18, 2022, in accordance with the Presidential Records Act (PRA), NARA received from the office of former President DONALD J. TRUMP, hereinafter “FPOTUS,” via representatives, fifteen (15) boxes of records, hereinafter, the “FIFTEEN BOXES.” The FIFTEEN BOXES, which had been transported from the FPOTUS property at 1100 S Ocean Blvd, Palm Beach, FL 33480, hereinafter, the “PREMISES,” a residence and club known as “Mar-a-Lago,” further described in Attachment A, were reported by NARA to contain, among other things, highly classified documents intermingled with other records.
2. After an initial review of the NARA Referral, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) opened a criminal investigation to, among other things, determine how the documents with classification markings and records were removed from the White House (or any other authorized location(s) for the storage of classified materials) and came to be stored at the PREMISES; determine whether the storage location(s) at the PREMISES were authorized locations for the storage of classified information; determine whether any additional classified documents or records may have been stored in an unauthorized location at the PREMISES or another unknown location, and whether they remain at any such location; and identify any person(s) who may have removed or retained classified information without authorization and/or in an unauthorized space.
3. The FBI’s investigation has established that documents bearing classification markings, which appear to contain National Defense Information (NDI), were among the materials contained in the FIFTEEN BOXES and were stored at the PREMISES in an unauthorized location.