{"id":1625121,"date":"2022-08-29T07:04:44","date_gmt":"2022-08-29T11:04:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1625121"},"modified":"2022-08-29T07:05:12","modified_gmt":"2022-08-29T11:05:12","slug":"redacted-mar-a-lago-affidavit-confirms-bidens-doj-fished-for-a-crime-to-pin-on-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/redacted-mar-a-lago-affidavit-confirms-bidens-doj-fished-for-a-crime-to-pin-on-trump\/","title":{"rendered":"Redacted Mar-A-Lago Affidavit Confirms Biden\u2019s DOJ Fished For A Crime To Pin On Trump"},"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\">28<\/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%2Fredacted-mar-a-lago-affidavit-confirms-bidens-doj-fished-for-a-crime-to-pin-on-trump%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=1625121&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 search warrant <a href=\"https:\/\/storage.courtlistener.com\/recap\/gov.uscourts.flsd.617854\/gov.uscourts.flsd.617854.102.1_5.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">affidavit<\/a> unsealed on Friday confirms the Department of Justice used a bait-and-switch tactic to justify the FBI\u2019s unprecedented raid on former President Donald Trump\u2019s home. The unredacted portions of the affidavit further expose the Biden administration\u2019s manipulative and tenuous basis for the search and its reliance on inapplicable federal criminal code provisions to justify the targeting of a political enemy.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>At noon on Friday, the search warrant affidavit used by the DOJ to obtain a warrant to raid Trump\u2019s Mar-a-Lago home hit the public court docket, albeit with heavy redactions. While sparse, the unredacted portions of the affidavit nonetheless proved significant, especially when read in conjunction with the previously unsealed search warrant and the leaks to the compliant media cartel.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe 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,\u201d the affidavit opened, before noting that \u201cthe 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.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>The affidavit then summarized the background of the NARA referral, explaining that \u201con February 9, 2022, the Special Agent in Charge of NARA\u2019s Office of Inspector General sent a referral via email to the DOJ.\u201d The referral explained that the NARA\u2019s White House Liaison Division director had reviewed 15 boxes NARA had retrieved from Mar-a-Lago including \u201cnewspapers, magazines, printed news articles, photos, miscellaneous print-outs, notes, presidential correspondence, personal and post-presidential records, and \u2018a lot of classified records.\u2019\u201d \u201cOf most significant,\u201d the search warrant affidavit explained, was that \u201chighly classified records were unfoldered, intermixed with other records, and otherwise unproperly [sic] identified.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While the next nearly eight pages of the search warrant affidavit remained redacted, the disclosures that followed exposed the affidavit\u2019s focus on \u201cclassified records\u201d as a sham. \u201cOn or about May 6, 2021, NARA made a request for the missing PRA records and continued to make requests until approximately late December 2021 when NARA was informed twelve boxes were found and ready for retrieval at the [Mar-a-Lago],\u201d the affidavit continued, with the abbreviation \u201cPRA\u201d previously noted to stand for the Presidential Records Act.<\/p>\n<p>As I <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/08\/15\/from-bureaucrat-hack-to-grand-jury-witch-hunt-the-dojs-trump-raid-smells-like-spygate\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">explained<\/a> previously, to fully comprehend the Biden administration\u2019s weaponizing of the DOJ and FBI, it is necessary to understand the Presidential Records Act, the concept of \u201cpresidential records,\u201d and the NARA\u2019s role, and the search warrant affidavit\u2019s references to those concepts confirm that point. In short:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>\u201cThe Presidential Records Act provides that documents created or received by the president or his immediate staff, such as memos, letters, notes, emails, and other written communications, related to a president\u2019s official duties, constitute \u2018presidential records\u2019 and must be preserved. The act further declares that the United States shall retain complete ownership, possession, and control of Presidential records.\u2019 And at the conclusion of a president\u2019s term in office, the \u2018Archivist of the United States\u2019 \u2018assumes responsibility for the custody, control, and preservation of, and access to, the Presidential records.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The Presidential Records Act, however, expressly excludes specific documents from the definition of \u201cpresidential records,\u201d including any documentary materials that are \u201cofficial records of an agency,\u201d \u201cpersonal records,\u201d or \u201cextra copies of documents produced only for convenience of reference, when such copies are clearly so identified.\u201d The federal statute further defines \u201cpersonal records\u201d as \u201cdiaries, journals, or personal notes \u2018not prepared or utilized for, or circulated or communicated in the course of, transacting Government business\u2019\u201d or \u201cmaterials relating to private political associations\u201d or \u201crelating exclusively to the President\u2019s own election to the office of the Presidency.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The public (understandably) may wish to sidestep the minutia of the mandates of the Presidential Records Act, but three top-line takeaways prove imperative to understanding the scandal of the Mar-a-Lago search. First, the Presidential Records Act is not a criminal statute, and violations of that federal law do not constitute a crime. Second, the Presidential Records Act does not reach broad swathes of documents retained by a former president, including \u201cofficial records of an agency,\u201d \u201cpersonal records,\u201d and convenience copies of presidential records. And third, the courts have refused to question a former president\u2019s conclusion that a record constitutes a \u201cpersonal record\u201d and not a \u201cpresidential record.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Two additional legal points require expansion for the populace to fully grasp the outrageous overreach of the DOJ, which was further exposed in the partially unsealed affidavit. The first legal principle of note concerns a president\u2019s power to declassify documents. As Trump\u2019s attorney stressed in a May 2022 letter to the DOJ, which the government released along with the redacted version of the search warrant affidavit, \u201ca president has absolute authority to declassify documents.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>\u201cUnder the U.S. Constitution, the President is vested with the highest level of authority when it comes to the classification and declassification of documents,\u201d Trump\u2019s lawyer Evan Corcoran explained in his correspondence with the DOJ. Citing both the Constitution and <em>Navy v. Egan<\/em>, 484 U.S. 518, 527 (1988), wherein the United States Supreme Court wrote, \u201cthe President\u2019s authority to classify and control access to information bearing on national security \u2026 flows primarily from this constitutional investment of power in the President and exists quite apart from any explicit congressional grant,\u201d Corcoran countered the DOJ\u2019s attempt to frame NARA\u2019s discovery of documents marked \u201cclassified\u201d as warranting a criminal investigation.<\/p>\n<p>Trump\u2019s lawyer stressed a second significant legal principle in the same letter, writing that \u201cpresidential actions involving classified documents are not subject to criminal sanction.\u201d Then, after noting that \u201cany attempt to impose criminal liability on a President or former President that involves his actions with respect to documents marked classified would implicate grave constitutional separation-of-powers issues,\u201d Corcoran wrote: \u201cBeyond that, the primary criminal statute that governs the unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents or material does not apply to the President.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The attorney for the former president then quoted the statute that criminalizes the removal, possession, or retention of classified materials before stressing that \u201can element of this offense, which the government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt, is that the accused is \u2018an officer, employee, contractor, or consultant of the United States.\u2019\u201d \u201cThe President is none of these,\u201d Trump\u2019s attorney continued, before concluding, \u201cthus, the statute does not apply to acts by a President.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Corcoran closed his letter by reminding the DOJ of its obligation \u201cto be candid in representations made to judges,\u201d and requested that a copy of the lawyer\u2019s letter be provided \u201cto any judicial officer who is asked to rule on any motion pertaining to this investigation, or on any application made in connection with any investigative request concerning this investigation,\u201d as well as \u201cany grand jury considering evidence in connection with this matter, or any grand jury asked to issue a subpoena for testimony or documents in connection with this matter.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The search warrant affidavit referenced Corcoran\u2019s letter and provided a copy to Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart, who issued the search warrant. The DOJ also informed Reinhart of a Breitbart News article from May 5, 2022, which states that a former Trump administration official, Kash Patel, had characterized as \u201cmisleading\u201d reports that documents retrieved by NARA included classified material; Patel alleged that the reporting was misleading because Trump had declassified the materials at issue.<\/p>\n<p>The DOJ informed Reinhart of the above details and thus, in essence, that the government lacked probable cause to search Mar-a-Lago based on a violation of the statute governing the mishandling of classified documents. But what Trump\u2019s legal team did not foresee, and what the search warrant affidavit revealed, was that the DOJ would twist the facts to find other crimes to justify the targeting of Trump.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The introductory section of the affidavit summarized three other legal theories to justify the search, stating first that \u201cthe FBI\u2019s investigation has established that documents bearing classification markings, which appear to contain National Defense Information (NDI), were among the materials\u201d contained in the 15 boxes retrieved by the NARA. Second, the affidavit maintained that there was \u201cprobable cause to believe that additional documents that contain classified NDI or that are Presidential records subject to record retention requirements currently remain at the Mar-a-Lago.\u201d And third, the affidavit claimed there was \u201calso probable cause to believe that evidence of obstruction will be found at\u201d Mar-a-Lago. Those legal theories track the three statutes cited by the DOJ to justify the search, namely 18 U.S.C. \u00a7\u00a7 793(e), 1519, and 2071.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>As I previously explained, none of those criminal code <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/08\/15\/from-bureaucrat-hack-to-grand-jury-witch-hunt-the-dojs-trump-raid-smells-like-spygate\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">provisions<\/a> require material to be classified for there to be criminal liability. Rather, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/uscode\/text\/18\/793\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Section<\/a> 793(e), also called the Espionage Act, makes it a crime for a person \u201chaving unauthorized possession of, access to, or control over\u201d \u201cnational defense information\u201d to \u201cwillfully\u201d share that information with a \u201cperson not entitled to receive it\u201d or to \u201cwillfully retain\u201d the national defense information and fail to deliver it to an employee of the United States \u201centitled to receive it,\u201d if \u201cthe possessor has reason to believe [it] could be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The unredacted portions of the search warrant affidavit reveal how the DOJ manipulated the facts to fit within the Espionage Act. First, for the Espionage Act to apply, the material must qualify as \u201cnational defense information.\u201d To establish probable cause that \u201cnational defense information\u201d remained at Mar-a-Lago, the affidavit noted that a review by FBI agents of the 15 boxes retrieved by NARA \u201cidentified documents with classification markings in fourteen of the fifteen boxes.\u201d The FBI agent who signed the search warrant affidavit then attested that based on his \u201ctraining and experience,\u201d he \u201cknows that documents classified at these levels typically contain NDI\u201d or \u201cnational defense information.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>What the DOJ did here, then, was this: It highlighted that the documents retrieved by the NARA contained \u201cclassification <em>markings<\/em>\u201d and then used the FBI agent\u2019s expertise to establish that documents that receive a classification marking typically include \u201cnational defense information.\u201d That Trump declassified (or may have declassified) the documents is irrelevant under this analysis because the fact that they were ever classified would mean they likely qualified as \u201cnational defense information.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The DOJ subtly confirmed this point by dropping a footnote that explains that \u201c\u00a7 793(e) does not use the term \u2018classified information,\u2019 but rather criminalizes the unlawful retention of \u2018information relating to the national defense.\u2019\u201d The footnote continues by noting that Section 793(e) does not define \u201cinformation related to the national defense,\u201d but adds that courts have construed national defense information \u201cbroadly.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In other words, the DOJ bent the Espionage Act to fit the facts of Trump\u2019s possession of documents at Mar-a-Lago. The Biden administration couldn\u2019t target Trump for mishandling classified material both because he declassified it and because the statute that criminalizes such mishandling doesn\u2019t reach a president or a former president. So instead, they tried to find a crime to get the man.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Even then, there is a second problem with the DOJ\u2019s reliance on the Espionage Act: An Espionage Act violation only occurs if the person has \u201cunauthorized possession of, access to, or control over,\u201d the national defense information. But how was Trump\u2019s possession \u201cunauthorized\u201d?<\/p>\n<p>From the unredacted portions of the affidavit, it appears the DOJ maintained that Trump\u2019s possession of the national defense information was \u201cunauthorized\u201d because the documents were \u201cpresidential records\u201d wrongly retained by Trump. But \u201cpresidential records\u201d do not include agency records, personal records, or convenience copies, and the documents bearing the classification markings likely originated from intelligence community agencies and\/or were hard copies printed for convenience, meaning Trump\u2019s possession of those documents would not be \u201cunauthorized\u201d under the Presidential Records Act.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>For the same reason, the DOJ\u2019s reliance on Section 2017, which criminalizes the removal, destruction, or concealing of government records, falters because that criminal provision protects the government\u2019s access to its own records, and merely possessing copies of government records is not enough to constitute a crime. Yet from the search warrant affidavit and the search warrant, it appears the government sought to recover from Trump hard copies of information it already had within its possession, either through various agencies or the electronic copies maintained by the relevant authorities. And it is a stretch for the government to rely on Section 2017 to criminalize Trump\u2019s possession of the records.<\/p>\n<p>Again, what we are seeing is a bending and twisting of the law to find a crime on which to launch the Mar-a-Lago raid. Mishandling of classified materials wouldn\u2019t work, and Trump\u2019s attorney made sure the DOJ knew that, so the creative team working under Attorney General Merrick Garland combed the federal code and found two plausible statutes on which to rely, adding a claim of obstruction of justice to round out the search warrant affidavit. While it is unclear from the affidavit the basis for the government\u2019s obstruction of justice allegation, the affidavit establishes that the other criminal provisions relied upon representing illicit maneuvering to manufacture a crime for the man who was their political enemy.<\/p>\n<p>Americans may shrug when prosecutors use pretext to target known drug dealers or human traffickers, but manipulating the criminal code to find a basis to search the home of a former president and a political enemy represents an appalling weaponization of the criminal justice system. And while large portions of the affidavit remain under seal, the country has seen enough to know that is precisely what the Biden administration did to get Trump.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<p>\n  Margot Cleveland is The Federalist&#8217;s senior legal correspondent. She is also a contributor to National Review Online, the Washington Examiner, Aleteia, and Townhall.com, and has been published in the Wall Street Journal and USA Today. <\/p>\n<p>Cleveland is a lawyer and a graduate of the Notre Dame Law School, where she earned the Hoynes Prize\u2014the law school\u2019s highest honor. She later served for nearly 25 years as a permanent law clerk for a federal appellate judge on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Cleveland is a former full-time university faculty member and now teaches as an adjunct from time to time. <\/p>\n<p>As a stay-at-home homeschooling mom of a young son with cystic fibrosis, Cleveland frequently writes on cultural issues related to parenting and special-needs children. Cleveland is on Twitter at @ProfMJCleveland. The views expressed here are those of Cleveland in her private capacity.<\/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 search warrant affidavit unsealed on Friday confirms the Department of Justice used a bait-and-switch tactic to justify the FBI\u2019s unprecedented raid on former President Donald Trump\u2019s home. The unredacted<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":499,"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-1625121","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\/1625121","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\/499"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1625121"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1625121\/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=1625121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1625121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1625121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}