Yeah I think this is about as bad as it gets.


Exclusive: CNN obtains the tape of Trump’s 2021 conversation about classified documents

By Jeremy Herb, CNN
Updated 8:15 PM EDT, Mon June 26, 2023








CNN has exclusively obtained the audio recording of the 2021 meeting in Bedminster, New Jersey, where former President Donald Trump discusses holding secret documents he did not declassify.

CNN has exclusively obtained the audio recording of the 2021 meeting in Bedminster, New Jersey, where former President Donald Trump discusses holding secret documents he did not declassify. Listen to the tape." data-



CNN —
CNN has exclusively obtained the audio recording of the 2021 meeting in Bedminster, New Jersey, where President Donald Trump discusses holding secret documents he did not declassify.

Hear the conversation

Listen to audio exclusively obtained by CNN of a July 2021 conversation during which former President Donald Trump acknowledges he held on to a classified Pentagon document about a potential attack on Iran.


The recording, which first aired on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360,” includes new details from the conversation that is a critical piece of evidence in special counsel Jack Smith’s indictment of Trump over the mishandling of classified information, including a moment when Trump seems to indicate he was holding a secret Pentagon document with plans to attack Iran.

“These are the papers,” Trump says in the audio recording, while he’s discussing the Pentagon attack plans, a quote that was not included in the indictment.




In the two-minute audio recording, Trump and his aides also joke about Hillary Clinton’s emails after the former president says that the document was “secret information.”

“Hillary would print that out all the time, you know. Her private emails,” Trump’s staffer said.

“No, she’d send it to Anthony Weiner,” Trump responded, referring to the former Democratic congressman, prompting laughter in the room.

Trump’s statements on the audio recording, saying “these are the papers” and referring to something he calls “highly confidential” and seems to be showing others in the room, could undercut the former president’s claims in an interview last week with Fox News’ Bret Baier that he did not have any documents with him.

“There was no document. That was a massive amount of papers and everything else talking about Iran and other things,” Trump said on Fox. “And it may have been held up or may not, but that was not a document. I didn’t have a document, per se. There was nothing to declassify. These were newspaper stories, magazine stories and articles.”

Trump pleaded not guilty earlier this month to 37 counts related to the alleged mishandling of classified documents kept at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.

The audio recording comes from a July 2021 interview Trump gave at his Bedminster resort for people working on the memoir of Mark Meadows, Trump’s former chief of staff. The special counsel’s indictment alleges that those in attendance – a writer, publisher and two of Trump’s staff members – were shown classified information about the plan of attack on Iran.




The episode is one of two referenced in the indictment where prosecutors allege that Trump showed classified information to others who did not have security clearances.

CNN has previously reported that Trump at the time was furious over a New Yorker article about Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley that said Milley argued against striking Iran and was concerned Trump would set in motion a full-scale conflict.

The special counsel’s office declined to comment. CNN has reached out to Trump’s attorneys for comment.


N
‘I have a big pile of papers, this thing just came up’
The recording obtained by CNN begins with Trump claiming “these are bad sick people,” while his staffer claims there had been a “coup” against Trump.

“Like when Milley is talking about, ‘Oh you’re going to try to do a coup.’ No, they were trying to do that before you even were sworn in,” the staffer says, according to the audio.

The next part of the conversation is mostly included in the indictment, though the audio makes clear there are papers shuffling as Trump tells those in attendance he has an example to show.

“He said that I wanted to attack Iran, Isn’t it amazing?” Trump says as the sound of papers shuffling can be heard. “I have a big pile of papers, this thing just came up. Look. This was him. They presented me this – this is off the record but – they presented me this. This was him. This was the Defense Department and him.”

The indictment includes ellipses where the recording obtained by CNN shows where Trump and his aide begin talking about Clinton’s emails and Weiner, whose laptop caused the FBI to briefly re-open its investigation into her handling of classified information in the days before the 2016 election she lost to Trump.

Trump then returns to the Iran document, according to the audio recording and indictment transcript.

“I was just thinking, because we were talking about it. And you know, he said, ‘He wanted to attack Iran, and what…,’ ” Trump says.

“These are the papers,” Trump continues, according to the audio file.



- Source: CNN "
“This was done by the military and given to me,” Trump continues, before noting that the document remained classified.

“See as president I could have declassified it,” Trump says. “Now I can’t, you know, but this is still a secret.”

“Now we have a problem,” his staffer responds.

“Isn’t that interesting,” Trump says.




While that’s the last line included in the indictment, the audio recording obtained by CNN includes several additional lines from the conversation:

Trump: “It’s so cool. I mean, it’s so, look, her and I, and you probably almost didn’t believe me, but now you believe me.”

Writer: “No, I believed you.”

Trump: “It’s incredible, right?”

Writer: “No, they never met a war they didn’t want.”

Trump: “Hey, bring some, uh, bring some Cokes in please.”


https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/26/politics/trump-classified-documents-audio/index.html

 

'Devastating': Legal expert says Trump tape is 'gold' for Jack Smith

Matthew Chapman
June 26, 2023, 9:47 PM ET



Donald Trump (Photo by Saul Loeb for AFP)


Following CNN's release of audio footage of former President Donald Trump bragging about holding highly classified military intelligence about Iran attack plans to staffers and patrons of his Bedminster golf club in New Jersey, former federal prosecutor Elie Honig discussed the key implications on CNN on Monday.

This, he argued, is close to the best kind of evidence special counsel Jack Smith could possibly have for the Espionage Act charges against the former president.

"It is stunning to actually hear it," said anchor Kaitlan Collins. "We knew what he said, but to hear the audio, to hear the tone, to hear the conversation, the laughter in there — I mean, I'm not a prosecutor. I imagine this is a prosecutor's dream."

"Exactly right," agreed Honig. "This is a devastating tape. This is why prosecutors love tapes so much. This is why tapes are gold to prosecutors. I used to have cases where the first question was, do you have tapes? If you do, that changes everything."

Last week, Trump sat for an interview with Fox News' Bret Baier, in which he claimed that most of the documents he was being charged for were in fact innocent magazine and newspaper clippings — a claim very much at odds with what he stated on the tape.

"We can see the difference between the black and white transcript, where the words are fairly incriminating," added Honig. "How it comes to life, though. You hear the tone. You hear who's in the room. You hear that he means it. You hear that he's actually shuffling papers. And this, to me, is the most important piece of evidence that we know of in this case."

Watch the segment below or at this link.


https://www.rawstory.com/iran-trump-tape/

 

You'd think these politicians would have learned that in this day and age cell phones, laptops, and e mail are not the best medium when you've turned off the filters and are saying or doing shit.

They also should have learned by now that the coverup always carries bigger blowback than the original sin.

 

Let's just take a look at what you are saying here.

First Trump stealing some of the most highly classified documents we have and showing them to other people isn't the problem? Neither is Trump caught on tape saying he knows they are classified and he can't declassify them because he is no longer president isn't the problem either? The problem is he got caught.

Then nothing you said here applies. Trump is famous for not putting anything in writing using emails or texts. And he was not caught on the phone this time. He was being interviewed by people writing a book with a room full ow witnesses

But now let's talk about your "You'd think these politicians would have learned."

Well yes you'd think they would but this is the third Trump has been caught on tape committing illegal acts. So what do you think? Trump is just a slow learner or is he stupid ignorant and mentally ill and believes he can get away with it because he believes no laws apply to him?

 

'Illegal and dangerous': Trump's former defense sec says he's not telling truth about Iran docs on tape

Matthew Chapman
June 27, 2023, 5:40 AM ET



President Donald Trump watches as Secretary of Defense Mark Esper delivers remarks in the Oval Office of the White House. (Official White House Photo by Joyce N. Boghosian)


Former President Donald Trump's purported audio tape on which he bragged about improperly possessing high-level defense information to Bedminster patrons in 2021 was revealed by CNN on Monday evening — revealing damning new details that special counsel Jack Smith had not made public previously.

Speaking to CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins, Trump's former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper outlined how serious a breach of national security Trump's behavior was — and beyond that, how dishonestly he was framing the documents he shared, like his claims that former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Mark Milley was the driving force behind a plan to invade Iran.

"Secretary Esper ... given this breaking news and the stunning audio, I wonder what it's like for you to hear your former boss, former commander-in-chief, talking about what we are told are sensitive military documents in this matter?" asked Collins.

"It's stunning to hear it," said Esper, who has himself for years been revealing ugly secrets of what he saw in the Trump administration. "It sounds familiar in some ways. I talk a lot about these instances in my memoir, where I categorize how every few months or so we would come back to this issue about Iran and what to do. I can say Mark Milley worked for me for nearly 18 months, which was most of Trump's tenure that we were together. He never advocated for attacking Iran. If anything, Trevor, Milley, and I were the reluctant warriors urging caution, urging restraint. So, that kind of is what strikes me first. But secondly, it's the nonchalant nature of sharing those documents, is illegal and dangerous. That concerns me as well, that such things were kept loosely around Mar-a-Lago."

"He told Fox, there was no document but referenced newspaper stories, magazine clippings," said Collins. "But it sure doesn't sound like he's talking about just a magazine article there. Is it clear to you? Does it sound to you that he is holding a classified document?"

"Well, it sounds like he's holding something and showing something," said Esper. "I don't know what it was. I think earlier it was reported some time ago that it was a four-page document, which would not have been what DOD typically prepared. What we usually prepare was a one-pager that included targeting options and escalatory measures, things like that. I outlined this in my memoir for everybody. Something like that would be a document that would generate that wow effect, if you were, by people who are unfamiliar with these types of things or classified material."

Watch the segment below or at this link.



https://www.rawstory.com/trump-iran-tape/

 

If we really look at this what we are seeing is Trump's literal and clinical mental illness, He exists sin a delusional reality where he is always the smartest, the toughest, infallible, and invincible. And so he simply cannot grasp the consequences of his own actions. So he makes insane demands when he's actually looking at going to prison.


Trump Demanded ‘My Documents’ Back Even After His Lawyers Told Him He’d Be Indicted
1.7k
Adam Rawnsley and Asawin Suebsaeng
Wed, June 28, 2023 at 6:00 PM MDT




Last month, Donald Trump’s lawyers told him he was on the cusp of a federal indictment in the classified documents case. But the former president still wanted “my documents” and “my boxes” back, asking some of his lawyers if they could get them from the federal government, according to a source with direct knowledge of the matter and two other people briefed on it.

It’s one of many such conversations Trump has had over the past few months, the sources say. In these conversations, Trump also claimed it was “illegal” that he could no longer have the documents seized in the Mar-a-Lago raid. Those materials, Trump insisted, belonged to “me.” Trump has also asked if there are any other possible legal maneuvers or court filings they could try to accomplish this that they hadn’t thought of yet.

For much of his post-presidency, Trump has incorrectly insisted to various aides and confidants that the highly classified documents he continued to hoard were “mine.” In some of these conversations, according to the source with knowledge of the matter, Trump has also mentioned that he’ll get the documents back in 2025 — because he predicts he’ll be president again, and therefore regain unfettered access to the government’s most sensitive secrets.

- ADVERTISEMENT -

Earlier this month, Trump was charged with 37 counts of willful retention of classified documents and obstruction of justice as part of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s probe. But Trump and his campaign have insisted that the Presidential Records Act — a law passed in the wake of Watergate to narrow presidents’ claims to official documents when they leave office — actually does the opposite.

Two sources familiar with the situation tell Rolling Stone that several lawyers — some retained by Trump and others politically aligned with him — have briefed Trump that he is, in their view, entitled to the return of government documents under an obscure part of the Presidential Records Act, specifically 44 USC 2205(3), which asserts that “Presidential records of a former President shall be available to such former President or the former President’s designated representative.”

But experts on classification rules disagree. “Whatever one might say about his Presidential Records Act argument, there’s no argument that it immunizes him from criminal prosecution under the Espionage Act,” Brian Greer, an attorney who served in the CIA’s office of general counsel from 2010 to 2018, tells Rolling Stone. Nor does the act allow a former president to defy a lawful court-ordered subpoena for documents and obstruct justice, as the special counsel alleges Trump did in the indictment, Greer adds.

Nonetheless, Trump remains enamored of the legal theory. “Whatever documents a president decides to take with him, he has the absolute right to take them,” Trump claimed last week, addressing the Faith and Freedom Coalition conference. “He has the absolute right to keep them, or he can give them back [to the government], if he wants…That’s the law, and it couldn’t be more clear.”

“TRUMP IS RIGHT! The Presidential Records Act Allows Presidents To Take Whatever Documents They Want” his campaign blasted out in an email to the media on Wednesday afternoon.

Trump is hardly alone in espousing this rather unorthodox legal theory. Within his own orbit of legal advisers, and among various MAGAfied advocacy organizations and conservative activists, there is a vast network of Trump allies willing to tell him what he wants to hear, and trying to prop up his corrupt legal fantasies — even if such arguments ultimately do not make it to a courtroom.

On Wednesday, an opinion piece from Judicial Watch, the conservative legal nonprofit close to Trump, argued in the Wall Street Journal that the classified documents taken by Trump weren’t “agency records” as defined by the Presidential Records Act and that “his decision to maintain the records can’t be second-guessed.”

Asked to comment on Wednesday, a Trump spokesperson did not weigh in on any specific details of Trump still wanting “my documents” back in his possession. Instead, the spokesperson said: “This is a Presidential Records Act issue, and it’s ridiculous that the government is trying this under the Espionage Act.”

In an interview with Fox News’s Bret Baier last week, Trump reiterated the claim that he has “every right to have those boxes” seized by the FBI. “This is purely a Presidential Records Act. This is not a criminal thing.”

Trump’s campaign to get the classified documents back from the government through the Presidential Records Act follows an earlier attempt to retrieve them, which ran aground following the intervention of a federal appeals court.

Trump and his legal team initially floated the possibility of retrieving classified documents seized by the FBI during the August 2022 FBI search warrant executed on Mar-a-Lago through a so-called Rule 41 motion. Under Rule 41(g) of federal criminal procedure, those “aggrieved by an unlawful search and seizure of property” can file a motion asking a judge to return property seized during an illegal search.

Shortly after the search, Trump’s attorneys asked Judge Aileen Cannon to appoint a special master to review the evidence seized in the August search for potential privilege issues. The attorneys asked that Cannon appoint a special master who would have a “fair-minded approach to providing defense counsel with information needed to support any Rule 41(g) filing,” in a sign that the legal team intended to seek the return of what they claimed was the former president’s property.

Cannon granted the motion and appointed Raymond Dearie, a former Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court judge and chief judge of the Eastern District of New York to serve in the role. But the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ultimately cut short the third party review following an appeal from prosecutors with the justices concluding that the move would “defy our nation’s foundational principle that our law applies ‘to all, without regard to numbers, wealth or rank.’ ”

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-demanded-documents-back-even-000000834.html

 

Thr Florida grand jury is still active and issuing new subpoenas.

And the latest reports are Jack Smith intends to hit Trump with up to 40 more charges. And indict somr of his attorneys.

 

Revealed: DOJ and Director of National Intel. can't find Trump's 'standing order' to declassify docs

Sarah K. Burris
June 29, 2023, 6:43 PM ET



(Photo: stock_photo_world / Shutterstock.com)


One of former President Donald Trump's claims about having classified documents at his country club in Florida and New Jersey was that he had a "standing order" to declassify whatever he wanted. Experts have explained why the claim isn't something that is done.

In an Aug. 2022 appearance with Fox's Sean Hannity, Trump's lawyer read a statement claiming that the former president had such a "standing order" and that anything he took to the residence in the White House was automatically declassified.

Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton, called the assertion “complete fiction" the following day. Another senior administration official called it “bullsh*t," and two of Trump's former chiefs of staff agreed.

“Nothing approaching an order that foolish was ever given,” said Gen. John Kelly. “And I can’t imagine anyone that worked at the White House after me that would have simply shrugged their shoulders and allowed that order to go forward without dying in the ditch trying to stop it.”

It has been a search that Bloomberg News has endeavored for the past year, finding nothing. They filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for the order, suing the DOJ and ODNI for the release. But on Wednesday, government lawyers said they can neither confirm nor deny whether Trump had such an order. They claim it's due to an ongoing criminal investigation.

On Thursday, a new update came from the Justice Department and the Director of National Intelligence: they haven't been able to find the "standing order" either.

It was part of the ongoing FOIA last year. Bloomberg sued the ODNi and the Justice Department for a copy of the "standing order" — if one existed. What was revealed in that court battle is that no such document exists.

"Last month, in a court filing, government attorneys asserted to Bloomberg News that they could neither confirm nor deny whether the agencies had such a document, citing the ongoing criminal investigations against Trump," the report said.

Government attorneys told Bloomberg in a letter on Thursday that "each agency 'possesses no records responsive to your request' about the existence of a declassification standing order."

Read the full report at Bloomberg News.



https://www.rawstory.com/trump-documents-standing-order-lies/

 

I can't believe he said on Fox News that he kept the secret documents because he wanted to sort through them and take out shirts from the boxes before he handed them over.

 

Trump campaign aide who viewed classified docs linked to Chinese lobbying firm: report

Gideon Rubin
June 29, 2023, 6:34 PM ET



Former US President Donald Trump gestures after delivering remarks at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in Bedminster, New Jersey, on June 13, 2023. - ED JONES/Getty Images North America/TNS


A top Donald Trump 2024 campaign advisor who prosecutors allege viewed classified documents is employed by a firm with links to China that poses a potential national security threat and enables human rights abuses, The New York Post reports.

Susan Wiles serves as co-chair of Mercury Public Affairs, which has taken millions of dollars from several high-profile Chinese companies including Yealink, Hikvision, and Alibaba.

Wiles also served on the staff of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ 2018 gubernatorial run.

Special counsel Jack Smith’ 37-count indictment against Trump over allegations the former president mishandled classified documents identifies Wiles as “PAC Representative” whom Trump showed classified documents to, ABC News reports, citing sources familiar with the matter.

Josh Christenson writes for The Post, “If confirmed, the episode is further complicated by both Wiles’ high standing in the Trump campaign and her closeness to potential hostile entities through her firm’s lobbying work.”

Mercury, the lobbying firm that employs Wiles, was paid $240,000 in 2022 by a telecommunications company that had been flagged for security issues, the report said.

The report notes that Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) in Sept. 2021 wrote a letter to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo to alert the agency that a security analytics company determined that Yealink’s phones had software installed that secretly records calls and tracks web browsing.

The data can be transferred to administrators in China who are required by the government to comply with any requests to turn over any information related to national security, the report said.

Wiles figures to be a potentially damaging witness should she turn against the former president, a GOP operative from a rival campaign told The Post.

“Susie could put Trump away for years in just one minute of testimony to Jack Smith,” the operative told The Post.

“She’s got Trump by the balls, which means she can name her price for her loyalty and Trump can’t say no.”

Read the full article here.



https://www.rawstory.com/donald-trump-2662051626/

 

We'll just blame this one on the drugs ...

 

This should be interesting. A lot if not most of the original search warrant information was redacted. So I would like to see this myself.

Judge orders more details of the FBI's search of Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate be made public

Sarah K. Burris
July 5, 2023, 3:51 PM ET



Former U.S. President Donald Trump sits with his attorneys Joe Tacopina and Boris Epshteyn inside the courtroom during his arraignment at the Manhattan Criminal Court April 4, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Andrew Kelly-Pool/Getty Images)


The vast majority of information released thus far in Donald Trump's classified documents trial has been redacted, with large black squares appearing on page after page. That secrecy was reduced Wednesday – but only by a little.

Court documents show that Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart ordered that more details of the justifications given to secure a search warrant letting FBI agents into Mar-a-Lago be revealed to the public. However, he denied the release of the entire affidavit.

It followed a lawsuit from media agencies that requested greater transparency in the case, citing the public interest, NBC News reported. The magistrate ruled "additional portions of the search warrant application should be unsealed," though large portions of it remain restricted.

Some parts of the warrant could be made public, he explained, but he intends to "comply with grand jury secrecy rules and to protect investigative sources and methods."

The DOJ, which fought the news agencies, "has met its burden of showing that its proposed redactions of the affidavit are narrowly tailored to serve the Government's legitimate interests and are the least onerous alternative to sealing the entire search warrant affidavit," the judge also said.

Trump was indicted on seven different laws with 37 counts including retaining national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice, withholding documents or records, false statements and representations, corrupt concealing a document in a federal investigation and a scheme to conceal.

He pleaded not guilty at the end of June in the Miami federal court.

The less-redacted version has not yet been posted to the online court system but is expected to be soon.

See an MSNBC report on the release in the video below or at the link here.



https://www.rawstory.com/trump-search-warrant-documents-case/

 

Ex-FBI agent Pete Strzok trolls Trump over security of Mar-a-Lago docs

Gideon Rubin
July 5, 2023, 8:51 PM ET



FBI agent Peter Strzok at a House hearing (Screenshot)


Former FBI agent Pete Strzok on Wednesday trolled Donald Trump over sensitive classified documents the former president stored at Mar-a-Lago that have landed him in legal jeopardy.

Trump is facing federal charges on allegations he mishandled the classified documents he retained after his presidency. Trump has denied wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty to all charges in a historic 38-count indictment.

Strzok tweeted a screenshot showing unverified photos taken from the social media site Post that he says cast serious doubt on the claim of the president’s defenders that the documents were secure.

The photos are from a Dec. 8, 2021, gathering at the Trump’s Florida property in which the former president endorsed Anna Paulina Luna’s congressional run.

That’s the same day Trump aide Walt Nauta found boxes of classified documents spilled on the floor and stored haphazardly in photos released by the Department of Justice.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure Mar-a-Lago was secure,” Strzok tweeted sarcastically, adding “Here’s a nighttime photo of the open outer door to the storage area *on the same day* Nauta found the boxes w/ spilled docs.”

Strzok then twists the knife.

“What was going on that night?" he wrote on Wednesday. "A big party for Trump to endorse Anna Paulina “Mole Named ‘One-Eye’” Luna.”









Pete Strzok
@petestrzok
·
Follow
Don’t worry, I’m sure Mar-a-Lago was secure. Here’s a nighttime photo of the open outer door to the storage area *on the same day* Nauta found the boxes w/ spilled docs. What was going on that night? A big party for Trump to endorse Anna Paulina “Mole Named ‘One-Eye’” Luna.












The Pee Tape | post.news/@/the_peetape
@the_peetape
Replying to @the_peetape
Let's compare that data point to the indictment of Donald Trump. The indictment said: On December 7, 2021, NAUTA found several of Trump's boxes fallen and their contents spilled onto the floor of the storage room. That's the SAME DAY as the pic was taken! cc: @petestrzok



5:58 PM · Jul 5, 2023


https://www.rawstory.com/ex-fbi-trolls-trump-security/

 

Strzok.
Unquestionably an expert on Mar a Lago, an unbiased source of information on all things Trump and perhaps the most unethical FBI agent in the history of the bureau.

 

Why do you call him that? What has he done that?

 

Well, for starters he allowed his personal politics to impact critical investigations into some high level political shenanigans, starting with Hilary's e mails. Forgave her destroying e Mails that were under subpoena. Did not follow procedure when she was interviewed about things. Interfered in the possible indictment of her for the e mail security document thingy.

Exposed his bias with the Trump investigation, knowingly participated in getting FISA warrants not otherwise justified to spy on the Trump campaign, covered up evidence that the Steele dossier was unverified and unverifiable, participated in a scheme to pay Steele to "verify" the dossier.

And now he offers his "expert" opinion on Mar a Lago security when there is no evidence that the man has ever been to Mar a Lago.

 

DOJ had Trump nailed on obstruction long before anyone realized: legal expert

Matthew Chapman
July 5, 2023, 6:59 PM ET



Photos: FBI


The Justice Department on Monday released a new, less-redacted version of the affidavit used to obtain the search warrant for classified documents at Mar-a-Lago last year, which formed a critical part of the investigation preceding former President Donald Trump's indictment under the Espionage Act.

There was not an enormous amount of new information in the unredactions — however, one thing that did stick out to former federal prosecutor Elie Honig was new information about the storage room, suggesting federal investigators knew more than previously understood about Trump's orders to subordinates to move around the boxes to hide them from investigators — which forms the backbone of the obstruction of justice charges against him.

"These details, as we know them so far, how significant are they in this affidavit that is now less redacted?" CNN anchor Alex Marquardt asked Honig. "What are we really learning from this affidavit with the details that have not been redacted?"

"Yeah, Alex, so Katelyn [Polantz] said there's new information in there about the storage room," said Honig. "The storage room is pivotal location in this whole story, because the intentional movement of documents by Donald Trump and his co-defendant Walt Nauta, into and out of that storage room, have now become the basis for the obstruction of justice charges, and so this tells us that DOJ prosecutors were onto that very early."

Another important thing to consider, Honig added, is that "while we in the public are seeing apparently still fairly heavily redacted version of this document, Donald Trump and Walt Nauta, as the criminal defendants in this case, they will get the whole thing."

"They are going to use that as the basis to challenge the legality of the search," Honig continued. "Nothing unusual about that. Virtually everyone who does get searched will bring a challenge. They will argue there was not probable cause or that the search exceeded the legal bounds. So that's an important discovery and motion dispute that's coming up later in this case."

Watch below or click here.

 

Surveillance of Mar-a-Lago liquor tunnel was key to Trump's document 'shell game': DOJ

Tom Boggioni
July 6, 2023, 2:12 PM ET



Leon Neal/Getty Images


According to the partially unredacted indictment filed against Donald Trump that led to a 37-count felony case in Florida, the Department of Justice's concerns that the former president was hiding documents was confirmed by surveillance video from a camera that documented comings and goings in a tunnel used to transport liquor.

As the Guardian's Hugo Lowell reported on Thursday, a hard drive that was handed over to DOJ investigators contained video from a camera designated as "South Tunnel Liquor."

A review of the footage showed boxes of documents being moved which set off alarm bells at the Justice Department.

According to the report, "When prosecutors reviewed the footage, they noticed that Trump’s valet Walt Nauta had removed more than 50 boxes from the storage room but did not bring the same number back before Trump’s then lawyer Evan Corcoran looked through them for any classified documents."

Read more: Justice Department moves to block Trump deposition in Peter Strzok's firing suit

In the affidavit that led to a search of Mar-a-Lago, an FBI agent wrote, “The current location of the boxes removed from the storage room but not returned to it is unknown,” which confirmed to investigators that there was more to be recovered than the former president has already returned.

"The conclusion inside the justice department’s national security division, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter and the language in the affidavit, was that 50 boxes should have yielded hundreds of classified documents if 15 boxes yielded 200," the report states before adding, "The suspicion that Trump had played what a federal judge later referred to as a 'shell game' with the boxes during the criminal investigation last year proved to be correct when the FBI executed the warrant in August 2022 and seized 103 classified documents from the storage room and Trump’s office."

You can read more here.



https://www.rawstory.com/trump-indictment/tyrump-mar-a-lago-documents/

 

Target letter to Trump Organization staffer signals new push in classified docs probe: Sources

Target letter to Trump Organization staffer signals new push in classified docs probe: Sources
222
ALEXANDER MALLIN, KATHERINE FAULDERS, JOHN SANTUCCI, MIKE LEVINE and LUCIEN BRUGGEMAN
Fri, July 14, 2023 at 3:01 AM MDT




The special counsel investigating former President Donald Trump's handling of classified documents has taken new steps to examine possible efforts to obstruct the probe, threatening potential charges against a Trump Organization employee who is suspected of lying to investigators, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.

Special counsel Jack Smith in recent weeks transmitted a target letter to the staffer indicating that he might have perjured himself during a May appearance before the federal grand jury hearing evidence in the classified documents probe, the sources told ABC News.

The target letter to the employee, which was described to ABC News by sources familiar with it but not obtained or reviewed by ABC News, signals Smith's growing interest in the Trump Organization's handling of the surveillance footage and potential efforts to avoid sharing it with investigators.

MORE: Special counsel argues Trump's request for lengthy trial delay has 'no basis in law'


Trump has pleaded not guilty to 37 criminal counts related to his handling of classified materials, after prosecutors said he repeatedly refused to return hundreds of documents containing classified information ranging from U.S. nuclear secrets to the nation's defense capabilities.

A target letter puts a subject of an investigation on notice that they are facing the prospect of an indictment. Smith's office similarly provided notice to Trump that he was a target in their investigation weeks before a grand jury in Florida returned the indictment against him.

Reached Thursday by ABC News, the employee declined to answer questions about a possible target letter and his discussions with investigators, saying only, "It's none of your business."

Stanley Woodward, a lawyer who has represented the employee and who represents several other Trump advisers, declined to comment to ABC News.


PHOTO: President and 2024 Republican Presidential hopeful Donald Trump speaks at a Republican volunteer recruitment event at Fervent, a Calvary Chapel, in Las Vegas, July 8, 2023. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)
Investigators have been scrutinizing the employee's role in the handling of surveillance footage at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate that was sought by federal prosecutors last summer, sources said.

Investigators are also interested in any subsequent conversations he had with other Trump Organization employees, including Walt Nauta, who was indicted alongside Trump in June on charges related to his own alleged efforts to obstruct the investigation.

Nauta, like Trump, has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

The Trump Organization maintains that no surveillance footage was destroyed or deleted, according to sources familiar with their thinking.

The government is not taking the position that footage was deleted or destroyed, but rather is zeroing in on potential efforts to obstruct the probe, sources said.

The special counsel's office declined to comment when contacted by ABC News.

https://www.yahoo.com/gma/target-letter-trump-organization-staffer-090114378.html

 

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