{"id":1625026,"date":"2022-08-29T06:32:45","date_gmt":"2022-08-29T10:32:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1625026"},"modified":"2022-08-29T06:33:06","modified_gmt":"2022-08-29T10:33:06","slug":"absurdly-redacted-trump-raid-affidavit-debunks-trust-the-system-talking-points","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/absurdly-redacted-trump-raid-affidavit-debunks-trust-the-system-talking-points\/","title":{"rendered":"Absurdly Redacted Trump Raid Affidavit Debunks \u2018Trust The System\u2019 Talking Points"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fabsurdly-redacted-trump-raid-affidavit-debunks-trust-the-system-talking-points%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1625026&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The ridiculously blacked-out affidavit \u201cjustifying\u201d the FBI\u2019s Mar-a-Lago raid should make it obvious to anyone still making the \u201ctrust the process\u201d argument (here\u2019s looking at you, <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/08\/22\/mike-pence-is-wrong-doj-and-fbi-rot-spreads-way-deeper-than-garland\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Mike Pence<\/a>) that the Biden DOJ is making a mockery of the justice system. <\/p>\n<p>In case it wasn\u2019t enough of a giant middle finger to American voters to conduct a surprise raid on the private home of a former president they elected and may want to elect again, the DOJ and FBI saw no need to explain <em>why <\/em>agents descended on the home of the current president\u2019s former opponent (or why such dramatic measures were required for potential violations of public records law, violations that have been treated with <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/08\/12\/grassley-to-wray-why-is-there-one-law-for-hunter-biden-and-hillary-another-for-trump\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">kid gloves<\/a> in the past). Instead, upon order from the same magistrate judge who approved the raid, federal law enforcement smugly allowed an affidavit to be unsealed that was littered with redactions. Even the document ostensibly justifying the redactions was (surprise!) largely redacted. <\/p>\n<p>A few of the lines that weren\u2019t blacked out indicated that the raid was spurred by \u201ca CBS News article that a truck was present at Mar-a-Lago in the final days of [Trump\u2019s] presidency,\u201d as my colleague Tristan Justice <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/08\/26\/fbi-is-so-committed-to-transparency-nearly-entire-trump-raid-affidavit-is-redacted\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">summarized<\/a>, and that \u201cthe investigation began\u201d because of a gripe from a National Archives bureaucrat. The affidavit boastfully claims to have \u201cprobable cause to believe that the locations to be searched at the PREMISES contain evidence, contraband, fruits of crime, or other items illegally possessed,\u201d but the unredacted text provides no indication of criminal intent. <\/p>\n<p>The \u201ctrust the process\u201d argument for the Mar-a-Lago raid relied upon the process providing accountability, forcing the Justice Department to justify its unprecedented actions toward a political foe of the agency. To \u201ctrust the process\u201d was to assume that unsealing the affidavit would offer some answers and would show that, yes, 30 federal agents really did need to spend nine hours looking for <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/08\/12\/breaking-fbi-raid-warrant-demanded-seizure-of-literally-any-record-trump-ever-saw-during-4-year-presidential-term\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">every document<\/a> that ever crossed Trump\u2019s desk as president.<\/p>\n<p>The endless black stripes across nearly every page of the \u201cunsealed\u201d affidavit tell you everything you need to know about how seriously the Justice Department takes that \u201caccountability.\u201d These actions speak far louder than the lip service given to \u201ctransparency\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/opa\/pr\/attorney-general-merrick-b-garland-issues-new-foia-guidelines-favor-disclosure-and\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">here<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/opa\/pr\/justice-department-announces-first-federal-agents-use-body-worn-cameras\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">here<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/opa\/pr\/justice-department-establishes-initiative-strengthen-states-use-criminal-justice-data\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">here<\/a>, or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/opa\/speech\/attorney-general-merrick-b-garland-delivers-remarks-announcing-pattern-or-practice\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>If you thought that accountability would come from unsealing the affidavit, you now know otherwise. If you still think it\u2019s coming in any meaningful way, I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.<\/p>\n<p>Top brass at the FBI and DOJ know that American faith in their agencies is dismally low, with half of voters <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/08\/24\/exclusive-plurality-of-independents-dont-trust-doj-or-fbi\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">believing<\/a> the investigation into the former president is \u201conly intended to prevent him from running for office in 2024.\u201d This distrust is well founded, after the FBI used a debunked dossier to <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/03\/18\/spygate-101-a-primer-on-the-russia-collusion-hoaxs-years-long-plot-to-take-down-trump\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">spy<\/a> on Trump in 2016, <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/08\/26\/confirmed-fbi-colluded-with-big-tech-to-prevent-voters-from-learning-about-hunter-bidens-laptop\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">colluded<\/a> with Big Tech to stifle reporting on incriminating revelations about then-candidate Joe Biden\u2019s son Hunter right before the 2020 election, and participated in a <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/08\/19\/think-the-fbi-deserves-the-benefit-of-the-doubt-this-laundry-list-of-corruption-should-make-you-think-again\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">laundry list<\/a> of other corrupt antics.<\/p>\n<p>But what\u2019s telling is that such a bad (and self-inflicted) public image isn\u2019t making the DOJ more careful to appear less politicized. Instead, they\u2019re showing their haughty contempt for voters even more brazenly. <\/p>\n<p><em>Oh, you don\u2019t like it when an attorney general personally authorizes a raid on the guy who cost him a Supreme Court nomination or when it happens under a president who ran against the target of the raid and could face him again if the White House handlers prop up his medicated body long enough? Too bad, we\u2019re the feds.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>One of the many curses of bureaucracy is that \u201caccountability\u201d is often mired in paperwork. It doesn\u2019t take long for bad actors to take advantage of the obvious \u2014 that you can get away with nearly anything if your \u201caccountability\u201d is just a report that gets left on someone\u2019s desk and ignored (or if you redact information that could out you as a hack). Even non-malicious people can get used to skirting the rules if they know they\u2019re practically <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2016\/03\/03\/heres-why-its-all-but-impossible-to-fire-a-fed\/\">unfireable<\/a> and that the average American will read the corporate media\u2019s slanted PR but won\u2019t take the time to look at a redacted affidavit.<\/p>\n<p>Clearly, Merrick Garland\u2019s DOJ and FBI know that, and they\u2019re banking on enough Americans being ignorant of the lawless weaponization of federal law enforcement to get away with it. They\u2019re banking on enough people uncritically assuming they can still \u201ctrust the system.\u201d But in the sorry state when an administration targets political threats to the regime \u2014 and then pretends a blacked-out document is \u201caccountability\u201d \u2014 you can\u2019t. <\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<p>\n  Elle Reynolds is an assistant editor at The Federalist, and received her B.A. in government from Patrick Henry College with a minor in journalism. You can follow her work on Twitter at @_etreynolds.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-comments mt-30 mt-sm-60\">\n<div class=\"article-comments-container d-flex flex-column align-items-center py-30\">\n    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"110\" height=\"106\" src=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/fdrlst-mark.svg\" class=\"img-fluid mb-20\" alt=\"The Federalist logo eagle mark\" \/>    <\/p>\n<p>Unlock commenting by joining the Federalist Community.<\/p>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/plans\/pricing\/\" class=\"btn btn-on-white\">Subscribe<\/a>  <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The ridiculously blacked-out affidavit \u201cjustifying\u201d the FBI\u2019s Mar-a-Lago raid should make it obvious to anyone still making the \u201ctrust the process\u201d argument (here\u2019s looking at you, Mike Pence) that the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":500,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1625026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1625026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/500"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1625026"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1625026\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1625026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1625026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1625026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}