FBI's Mar-a-Lago Affidavit Reveals How Trump May Have Compromised National Security

[Nevilledog]

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https://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2022/08/fbis-mar-lago-affidavit-reveals-how-trump-may-have-compromised-national-security/376403/

The Justice Department on Aug. 26, 2022, released an affidavit written by an FBI special agent that was used to obtain a court order for the FBI’s search of former President Donald Trump’s Florida estate for documents related to national defense and other government records.

Large portions of the affidavit were blocked from public view, leaving many questions about details of the investigation. Nonetheless, what is visible shows the FBI had solid evidence that Trump took documents critical to national security to his Mar-a-Lago estate.

Florida federal Judge Bruce Reinhart had ordered on Aug. 22, 2022, that the affidavit – which typically contains key details about an investigation to justify a search warrant – be made public following a lawsuit from media organizations and other groups. But Reinhart also said in his order that he would allow the Justice Department to first redact some of the affidavit’s most critical information, like “the identities of witnesses, law enforcement agents, and uncharged parties … the investigation’s strategy, direction, scope, sources, and methods, and … grand jury information.”

It’s the latest development in the legal conflict over government documents, including national security material, that Trump has kept in violation of the law, according to the affidavit. The document shows that there is what the law calls “probable cause” to believe that Trump committed various crimes, including violation of the Espionage Act.

We asked Georgia State University legal scholar and search warrant expert Clark Cunningham to answer five key questions to help explain this new development.

*snip*

[LetMyPeopleVote]

1. DOJ says the filter team reviewing the records seized from Mar-a-Lago has completed its review

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[crickets]

2. Concise and informative article.

The last sentence says it all: "If a foreign spy got into that room and walked out with information disclosing U.S. undercover agents around the world, or how we have been monitoring and collecting classified information around the world, I see the potential harm as staggering."