Republicans push to see affidavit that justified FBI search of Trump's home

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Reuters

By David Lawder

WASHINGTON, Aug 14 (Reuters) - Republicans stepped up calls on Sunday for the release of an FBI affidavit showing the justification for its seizure of documents at former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago home amid reports of heightened threats against federal law enforcement personnel.

A search warrant released last week after the unprecedented search showed that Trump had 11 sets of classified documents at his home, and that the Justice Department had probable cause to conduct the search based on possible Espionage Act violations.

Republicans are calling for the disclosure of more detailed information that persuaded a federal judge to issue the search warrant, which may show sources of information and details about the nature of the documents and other classified information. The unsealing of such affidavits is highly unusual and would require approval from a federal judge.

"I think a releasing the affidavit would help, at least that would confirm that there was justification for this raid," Republican Senator Mike Rounds told NBC's "Meet the Press".

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/legal/republicans-demand-see-affidavit-that-justified-fbi-search-trumps-home-2022-08-14/

[likesmountains 52]

1. Funny how now they want "to see" everything...

[Renew Deal]

3. They don't want to see anything. That's why they're asking for it.

They want to run with a conspiratorial "we don't really know" defense. They used it before the warrant was released because they thought we'd never see the warrant. Now they're asking to see the affadavit, which is even less likely to be released. I hope Garland pushes to release it. Then they will move back to a combination of "it's not illegal" and "Obama did the same thing."

[Warpy]

24. They might want to find out who finked out their porcine Jebus

They need to be shit out of luck on that account.

[ashredux]

2. They want to get all the data so they can figure out how to combat it.

It’s a losing game they’re playing. It appears this baby is button down tight

[onecaliberal]

4. They retrieved top secret documents from his house that belong to the people. THAT IS JUSTIFICATION

Not to mention he was warned NOT TO TAKE ANYTHING. The documents do not belong to him.

[forgotmylogin]

5. He stole their shit. They took it back.

The former president likes to steal shit.

https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2020/09/08/the-art-of-the-steal-trump-swipes-dollar750000-worth-of-art-from-the-us-embassy-in-francebut-none-of-it-is-the-real-deal
President Donald Trump swiped some art from the residence of the US ambassador to France during a 2018 visit—the same visit on which he cancelled a trip to visit fallen First World War Marines at the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery outside Paris after allegedly calling the dead “suckers” and “losers”. According to a recent report by Bloomberg, Trump fancied for himself several of the pieces in the ambassador’s historic residence in Paris, where he was staying and which serves as the flagship for the State Department’s “Art in Embassies” cultural programme. Without notifying the ambassador, Jamie McCourt, the president and author of The Art of the Deal had a portrait and bust of Benjamin Franklin and a set of silver figurines depicting Greek mythological characters loaded onto Air Force One to bring them back to the White House.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/15/politics/white-house-move-lincoln-bust-pheasant/index.html
With just days left in the Trump administration, the White House complex is abuzz with signs of the end of one presidency and the beginning of another, staffers pushing carts with empty and full boxes, aides bidding farewell to their departing colleagues, and some walking out with large framed photograph mementos – a jolting air of normalcy in the wake of last week’s deadly insurrection at the US Capitol and the anticipation of more violence around Wednesday’s inauguration.

Questions abounded Thursday after a trio of unidentified masked officials walked a bronze bust of President Abraham Lincoln outside the front door of the West Wing. To whom did it belong? And where, precisely, was it off to?

Items such as the Lincoln sculpture were on loan from the official White House collection and part of a documented process wherein thousands of pieces of art, decorative art, sculpture, china, silver and other items are historically preserved.

[dalton99a]

9. +1. He is a congenital liar and a thief.

[kacekwl]

6. 2 words,

Fuck off.

[iluvtennis]

21. x 2. n/t

[Unwind Your Mind]

40. Yep, my thought too

[Jarqui]

7. They're squawking for something that they know is very hard for DoJ to

produce because it can compromise their case or compromise Trump's ability to defend himself.

The affidavit is sealed. Not even Trump has seen it.
Show it to Trump now could compromise their case and collection of evidence.
Classified material is involved.
So they cannot publicize it.

Everybody knows this.

If Trump did nothing wrong, he has nothing to worry about.
The only reason anyone knows about it is because Trump told everyone so that's tough shit for him.

[PatSeg]

11. Most of them are lawyers

and of course they know that, but they also know that most voters don't understand how the system works, so such demands are primarily for show. Almost everything republicans do these days is for show and they're not even good performers.

[Jarqui]

12. Vintage Trump to do it for show

Throw a bunch of crap at the wall to see if any sticks ..

[PatSeg]

13. Yep and meanwhile they

manage to distract people and obscure the truth. It has gotten too easy as republican voters aren't inclined to question anything unless it comes from a Democrat's mouth. They watched as Trump did it over and over again - wow, the truth doesn't matter, who knew!

[JT45242]

8. Mr rounds may be looking to see if his name and other (R) names are in it

Given rand Paul 's rhetoric, pretty sure he is involved from his trip to Pooty for July 4.

My guess is every rethug who wants to see the affidavit is looking to see if they need to call to arrange a plea deal and flip on TFG.

This is all CYA territory.

[dalton99a]

10. As expected from the party of traitors.

[Takket]

14. once they see the warrant they will want the affidavit, and once they see the

affidavit they will want to talk to whoever spoke to it, and once they talk to whoever spoke to it they will look into their campaign donations and we'll go around and around and come out at Hillary and Soros and no one in the FREAKING MEDIA WILL EVER POINT OUT THAT DRUMPF HAD THE SHIT THEY SAID HE DID!!!!!!

[BWdem4life]

17. Nothing will ever be enough.

And no low will ever be too low.

These people will not stop until the entire country is completely destroyed, and maybe not even after that.

[Marcuse]

15. Next the Trumpublicans will push to see the DOJ's opening statement.

[LudwigPastorius]

16. "...would confirm that there was a justification..."

I think the GOPers in Congress will find that the Judiciary doesn't like it when they start questioning the individual judgements of its members for political points.

So, go ahead and try to see the affidavit. Hell, if you win the House, you can even subpoena the magistrate who signed the warrant, but don't be surprised when he tells you to FUCK RIGHT OFF.

[SeattleVet]

18. They can see the affidavit after the indictment comes out.

[agingdem]

33. Exactly.

Garland said what he had to say to protect his people..that's all the assholes are gonna get..Garland is not in the business of pacifying rancid GOP bloviating Trump apologists...

[BidenRocks]

19. Ask your pimp!

He has it all.

FWIW, They are OUR documents, regardless.

The orange ass ripped us off (again)!

[BOSSHOG]

20. Trump wants to know who to sic maggots on

He’s guilty. He knows it. Lashing out is his M O. Release the hounds. It’s what you do when you don’t love America, you are not a Patriot, you don’t know how to lead, govern or manage money, when you have fake bonspurs and when you are slowly but surely coming to the realization that Hillary is much more of a man then you ever were or will be. No offense to the ass kicking females in our midst.

How many more of us must die because republicans don’t care about freedom? Soon, when conservatives lose the next civil war, IT WONT BE UNPRECEDENTED.

[gab13by13]

22. I hope Trump gets to see the affidavit, that means he has been indicted.

[riversedge]

23. Why Trump's Mar-a-Lago Affidavit Is Still Under Wraps

Why Trump's Mar-a-Lago Affidavit Is Still Under Wraps

Ex-prosecutors say DOJ has to protect ongoing investigations
Trump allies have focused attack line on a sealed affidavit

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-08-12/experts-explain-why-mar-a-lago-affidavit-remains-under-wraps


Why Did the FBI Search Trump's Florida Home?
10:12
Top-Secret Documents Seized From Trump's Home: WSJ

August 12, 2022 at 1:15 PM CDT

Once the Justice Department announced it wouldn’t stand in the way of releasing the search warrant for Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home, the president’s allies shifted tack, calling for the immediate release of more detailed information. That’s not likely to happen.

The Justice Department will want to keep an underlying affidavit for the warrant sealed to protect the investigation and any sources or classified information, former prosecutors said. It’s also not up to DOJ to decide whether to share something filed under seal -- as with the warrant, the department would have to make a request in court.

It would be highly unusual to see that affidavit now, let alone at any point before someone is formally charged, said Sarah Krissoff, a former federal prosecutor in New York now in private practice.

“If there are sources close to Trump who are providing that information, the department is going to be very careful about outing those sources,” she said.

.......................................

Such an affidavit typically features a narrative explaining not only what crimes are under investigation, but also how investigators have been gathering information to date, what evidence they already have, and how they believe any evidence seized at the property they want to search will build on that probe. ......................................................................................................................

[aggiesal]

25. They don't care what's in it. ...

Whatever is in the affidavit, they would spin it to benefit (R)'s and blame the (D)'s.
Mark my words.

[C Moon]

27. They want President Biden to have been involved.

[C Moon]

26. Still standing behind the traitor. Wow. Insanity.

[More_Cowbell]

28. "Home"? It's a business

GOP keeps saying "home" like the feds busted in on tfg and Melania sitting in easy chairs by the fire. Mar-a-Lago is a business with foreign citizens coming through every day.

[SunSeeker]

29. They're trying to expose the Mar-a-Lago mole, in order to help Trump get rid of him/her.

I don't think DOJ will give them what they want.

[rainin]

32. Yep! They want the "leaker". We know what they'll do if they can get a name. n/t

[live love laugh]

30. Only so they can move their goalpost yet again.

[LunaSea]

31. And if given the affidavit, they'll say

No, no, we want the "long form" affidavit.
The bullshit is never ending.

[SouthernDem4ever]

34. I thought something along those lines

Even if they have it they won't read it and just pretend it says something else.

[MissMillie]

35. They do get to see it--right after he's officially charged. lol

He doesn't get special treatment. If affidavits are typically sealed until someone is charged, then THIS one stays sealed until he's charged.

[sanatanadharma]

36. Just like the GOP was hard on the FBI in 2016

Republicans push to see affidavit that justified the FBI investigation, just like they did when FBI checked Clinton in 2016.
Or do I remember wrong?

[hadEnuf]

37. They want to distract from Trump's crimes by trying to focus on technicalities that they can twist

and distort thereby framing the narrative as how the evidence was gotten, not what the evidence proves.

They have pulled this many times before and Garland and the FBI need to tell them to stuff it.

[Novara]

38. I don't know, guys. Maybe they SHOULD see it, not that it's going to happen and they know it.

Maybe they should see, in black and white, just how much of a goddamned criminal their porcine jeebus (thanks for that, it's perfect) really is. Not that it will ever stop them from making up lie after lie after lie. We know truth doesn't matter to these people.

[hadEnuf]

39. We don't negotiate with terrorists.

n/t

[samsingh]

41. can the republican traitors handle the truth?