The (Heavily Redacted) Trump Search Warrant Affidavit Has Been Released

The DOJ just released the affidavit submitted in support of the search warrant of former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence.

Here it is for download.

https://www.scribd.com/document/589353502/affidavit

FBI's former intel chief on raid of Trump home: ‘I think they are going to regret this’

Retired Assistant Director Kevin Brock says FBI didn’t exhaust other means, appear to have established probable cause for search

https://justthenews.com/politi..._campaign=newsletter

The FBI’s former intelligence chief declared Friday the agency should not have criminalized the records dispute between Donald Trump and the National Archives and that the bureau appears to have failed to meet the probable cause standard for the invasive search of the former president’s Florida estate.

"I think they're going to regret this,” retired Assistant Director Kevin Brock told the "Just the News, Not Noise" television show after reviewing a heavily redacted affidavit the FBI used to persuade a judge to allow the Aug. 8 search at Mar-a-Lago.

Brock, ordinarily an ardent defender of his former agency, has raised concerns for several days that the bureau did not exhaust other means to resolve the dispute over presidential and alleged classified records Trump kept. He said he did not believe the FBI adequately considered the possibility that Trump had wide latitude to declassify records and declare them personal.

He said Friday his concerns were only heightened by the court-ordered release of the search warrant affidavit, which he noted was still heavily redacted.

File
gov.uscourts.flsd_.617854.102.1_1.pdf
"I will caveat all of this by saying we can only see what we can see. But the first thing that jumped out to me is that the probable cause statement focuses on the nature of the documents, and where they are.

"But it doesn't, at least in the un-redacted portion, address the main element of the criminal federal statutes that they cite," said Brock, a respected three-decade agent who rose to become the bureau’s first intelligence chief under Director Robert Mueller.

"The FBI should not have participated in this investigation," Brock continued. "It is something that needs to be settled along established roots in that regard that we traditionally used. There was no need for law enforcement involvement in this. And there was certainly no need for an invasive search for the residence. I think they're going to regret this."

Brock defends the agency often but has also criticized – like many – the bureau’s failures in the Trump-Russia collusion probe. And his assessment about the Trump search earlier this month is certain to carry weight with agents inside the bureau as well as retirees.

He said the threshold the FBI should have met under its own standards for a search warrant was to show Trump had records he was not authorized to keep and that were illegal to possess.

Brock noted the affidavit even acknowledged the president had the power to declassify and did not call the documents in disputed classified but rather documents with classified markings.

"From what I can see, that's not established in the probable cause," he said. "And there's an allusion to the argument from the Trump advocates that the former president has was within his authority to declassify and to establish what a presidential record is."

Brock said if the redacted sections of the affidavit don’t lay out evidence that Trump's possession of the documents was clearly illegal, then "basically we have a search of the man's residence without cause being stated as to why something illegal happened."

Asked if he were still in the FBI whether he would have authorized the search warrant, Brock answered: "No, frankly not."

"And it's puzzling to a lot of folks who have been involved in search warrants for much more serious disputes, in white collar crimes where these things are settled in attorneys’ offices, and you don't have to go in with an invasive search, contrary to the attorney general’s statement during his press conference that they've exhausted all other means," he continued.

Brock said the FBI could have continued with negotiations given that Trump’s team had returned requested documents at least twice before, or asked a judge to enforce a grand jury subpoena previously issued in the case.

"This is not anything that rises, or passes the no smile test, that rises to the level, where you would actually do a search with armed agents of almost any other federal employee, let alone the former president of the United States," he said.

It looks like with total redacted documents, the fbi and doj had no cause yet, even Fox, after weeks of pileing on this sum it all up as a document dispute. And in the end will be chalked up as just more political games. And noone bares responsibility? Nine hours on site in the Presidents home? And that daughter raper biden knows nothing of this? No matter the efforts to harm President Trump, no matter the politics, the criminals living in our government for decades, enriching their lives and breaking laws on a daily basis, President Trump is coming back and we all know it. I hope he cleans house spic n span on his return.

Why did the FBI redact the Mar-a-Lago raid affidavit?
By Rajan Laad

After a series of attempts by the Department of Justice to keep the affidavit used in the FBI's August raid on Mar-a-Lago sealed from the public eyes, the document was finally released on Friday afternoon just before the 12:00 p.m. ET deadline set by federal Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart.

The affidavit was supposed to provide the reasoning for the Mar-a-Lago raid.

As expected the affidavit was heavily redacted.

The following is the gist of the exposed contents of the document:

“A preliminary review of the 15 boxes indicated that they contained newspapers, magazines, printed news articles, photos, miscellaneous printouts, notes, presidential correspondence, personal and post-presidential records, and ‘a lot of classified records.’”

“The FBI’s investigation has established that documents bearing classification markings, which appear to contain National Defense Information (NDI), were among the materials contained in the FIFTEEN BOXES and were stored at the PREMISES in an unauthorized location.”

“There is probable cause to believe that additional documents that contain classified NDI or that are Presidential records subject to record retention requirements currently remain at the PREMISES. There is also probable cause to believe that evidence of obstruction will be found at the PREMISES.”

Ironically, the DOJ redacted its reasoning for redacting nearly the entire search warrant affidavit. The only justification not redacted is “agent safety.”



The DOJ claims the decision was made to protect the witnesses.

So what was the purpose of this redaction?

Barack Obama once said that the only people who don’t want to disclose the truth are the people with something to hide.

If the FBI has ironclad reasons for the raid, they would have released the entire document with only the names of the agents redacted.

The purpose of this redaction is to allow the cloud of doubt and suspicion to prevail to furnish a narrative.

This narrative began the day President Trump won the 2016 elections by defeating Hillary Clinton.

First, it was baselessly claimed that Trump had won by colluding with the Russians. There were once again no details provided. The accusers couldn’t say if any votes were altered. They couldn’t reveal the specifics of how Trump colluded with the Russians. It was merely a sinister disinformation campaign based on innuendo and insinuations. The media that functions as mouthpieces for the Democrats led the charge on this abominable hoax that the Russians had ‘meddled in the 2016’ elections, the implication being Trump was an illegitimate president.

The cacophonous campaign caused the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller. For the next 22 months, at a cost of $40 million, Mueller, whose team comprised of Trump haters carried out an investigation.

The goal is this probe wasn’t to investigate the truth, it was to persecute a political adversary, criminalize political opposition, and push a narrative.

Throughout the ‘investigation,’ the FBI and Justice Department leaked “bombshells” to the media. The media then claimed that the “walls are closing in” and Trump would be removed.

In the end, no evidence of collusion was discovered. Mueller’s team purposefully worded their report to keep the inferences ambiguous. It enabled the Democrats to continue to make bogus claims about collusion, extending the ordeal through much of Trump's presidency.

When the Trump-Russia collusion narrative began to fade away, they concocted the Ukraine call narrative that Trump was soliciting foreign electoral intervention in the 2020 U.S. presidential election.

They claimed Trump ordered the Ukrainian president to concoct damaging narratives about potential Democratic Party presidential candidate, Joe Biden. Ironically, it was they who were fabricating scandals about Trump.

Hunter Biden was a director on the board of Burisma - a Ukrainian-owned private energy company while Joe was Obama's point man on U.S.-Ukrainian relations. Ukrainian prosecutors were blocked from investigating Burisma Holdings by Biden who pressured the government to fire the head prosecutor.

President Trump had every reason to compel the Ukrainian government to investigate the shady links between Biden and Ukraine, to know if Joe Biden who could be the next president, was compromised by a foreign power.

But that hardly mattered, the Democrats pushed the narrative that Trump asked Ukraine to meddle in the US elections. Once again, with every leak' they claimed the ‘wall closing in narrative’ on president.

In the end, Trump was impeached by the House but acquitted by the Senate.

Next was the Insurrection narrative.

Trump was impeached by the House again for "incitement of insurrection" but once again acquitted by the Senate.

The ‘insurrection’ was actually a protest that went overboard.

There was footage of one Ray Epps, inciting people to enter the Capitol Building. The DOJ and FBI, have arrested over 900 individuals but strangely overlooked Epps, leading some to conclude that he was a covert government agent who incited violence in order that the Democrats could push their insurrection narrative.

When the second impeachment failed, the Democrats launched the Stalinist January 6 Committee in Congress, comprised of Trump haters who presumed Trump's guilt before the ‘probe’ began.

There have been a series of televised hearings from the House Select Committee. The main purpose of these hearings has been to build a narrative of Trump’s culpability for the January 6 riot.

If the goal was to learn the truth, Trump’s lawyers would have been allowed to counter witnesses who often made ludicrous claims. Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson testified that, when Trump heard the “Hang Mike Pence” chant, he told aides that the vice president “deserves it.” She also claimed Trump tried to seize the steering wheel of his presidential vehicle and lunged toward his security detail when informed that he wouldn't be taken to the Capitol following his Jan. 6 rally. The Secret Service has denied it ever occurred.

Since the January 6 hearings gained little traction, they conducted a raid and released a redacted document.

The redacted document provides the Democrats with a platform to fabricate and push their 'walls are closing in' narrative. They may claim that a ‘source’ told them that Trump was planning to dispatch former New York Mayor and Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani to Moscow to sell nuclear secrets to the highest bidder.

They have already pushed this narrative without any basis.

https://www.americanthinker.co..._raid_affidavit.html

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

^^^^ Says it all ^^^^

The left has completely taken off the gloves. They have shown that in DC they are willing to do anything. In the past there has been at least a veneer of civility, sort of a gentleman's rules of not going beyond what you are willing to have done to you when the tide turns.

Dirty tricks have been SOP forever, of which the Russia dossier would have been classic had it not included collusion at the highest levels of multiple agencies and media. While not the first red flag, the dossier is a clear sign of the left abandoning self imposed limits.

The strongest retribution is now called for. No longer is it worth holding oneself above their level. There needs to be a complete housecleaning, clearing of the decks, total reset. And the harshest prosecutions so that the lesson is learned for a very long time. Everyone from agency bureaucrats to high level politicians to media to tech. No more useless slow congressional hearings. No more special prosecutors that take years to put out neutered reports.

We're close to being pushed over a precipice, so we'd better start pushing back.

The next Republican President has to fire every single appointed position in the Federal Government and clean house completely. Obama basically did this over his 8 years in office, and the media said nothing.

But if Trump tried clean house they would have cried holy murder. For example, every President has the complete authority to replace any and all Federal Prosecutors. But if a Republican does it the media claims it's some sort of illegal or unethical action.

Trump knew there was a swamp but he didn't know how deep it was. He was too inexperienced in DC politics to know what he HAD to do. Now he knows, and I'm pretty sure the swamp knows he knows. A second term will be a bloodbath and they know it, so now they are in scorched earth survival mode, and it shows.

The left vilifies Nixon for a B&E and a coverup of said B&E. He won such a landslide in 1972 that nothing the B&E could have discovered could have had any material effect on the outcome. Still, a crime was committed, he tried to cover it up, and he resigned in disgrace.

The actions of Biden (and of Obama between Trump's win and inauguration) are orders of magnitude worse than anything Nixon did. And the major media doesn't care, except for Fox, NYP, and WSJ to some degree.

The reason they cannot allow Trump to be President again is because he rejects the Global Warming Hoax, favors strong borders, and energy independence. Control of energy by restricting CO2 through the AGM hoax is the goal of the global elites.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Lefty Sig,

quote:

Originally posted by Fly-Sig:
..No more useless slow congressional hearings. No more special prosecutors that take years to put out neutered reports...

No more Praetorian guard, lockstep press, no more utterly manufactured, astroturf court of public opinion...

Mark Zuckerberg basically admitted that the FBI intimidated him into censoring people on Facebook who talked about Hunter Biden’s laptop right before the 2020 election, calling it "Russian propaganda", also acknowledging that the laptop story was authentic and true. And the FBI does not deny it.

https://www.breitbart.com/poli...-laptop-story-broke/

I believe the time has come to heavily redact the FBI

It will never happen, but I believe that it is well past time for term limits to be imposed on all of these hacks on both sides of the political aisle. A pox on both sides. Re-election is the mindset of any and all. No one thinks about what is best for the country. Just what is best for their political career. I am so tired of it all!

quote:

Originally posted by Wolfpacker:
It will never happen, but I believe that it is well past time for term limits to be imposed on all of these hacks on both sides of the political aisle. A pox on both sides. Re-election is the mindset of any and all. No one thinks about what is best for the country. Just what is best for their political career. I am so tired of it all!

Term limits won't solve this problem. Not even close. The unelected bureaucracy holds at least half of the power in Washington if not more.

I think it’s past time that the FBI needs to be retired and replaced with something else. Who/what that would be, I have no idea. They were weaponized by the left a long time ago and are beyond repair. It’s sad, really.

quote:

Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:

quote:

Originally posted by Wolfpacker:
It will never happen, but I believe that it is well past time for term limits to be imposed on all of these hacks on both sides of the political aisle. A pox on both sides. Re-election is the mindset of any and all. No one thinks about what is best for the country. Just what is best for their political career. I am so tired of it all!

Term limits won't solve this problem. Not even close. The unelected bureaucracy holds at least half of the power in Washington if not more.

And they stay in office just as long if not longer.

BREAKING : Footage Of FBI Raid On Castle Mar-a-Lago

quote:

Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:

quote:

Originally posted by Wolfpacker:
It will never happen, but I believe that it is well past time for term limits to be imposed on all of these hacks on both sides of the political aisle. A pox on both sides. Re-election is the mindset of any and all. No one thinks about what is best for the country. Just what is best for their political career. I am so tired of it all!

Term limits won't solve this problem. Not even close. The unelected bureaucracy holds at least half of the power in Washington if not more.

The founders tried to prevent tyranny wherever they imagined it could develop. I think bureaucratic tyranny would both surprise and disappoint them. To me it is the most insidious source of oppression because there is no one target for a remedy. At least a king could be eliminated. A bureaucracy is unaccountable and seemingly eternal.

Newt Gingrich Predicts DOJ Will Attempt to Indict President Trump Using a DC Grand Jury, “They are Playing for Keeps”

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich knows a thing or ten about the DC Deep State, and he appeared on television with Mark Levin to deliver a stark opinion about the current course of action by a comprehensively corrupt and politicized DOJ and FBI.

From the perspective of Mr. Gingrich the institutional system within Washington DC is “playing for keeps” with “no interest in the law,” in their effort to keep Donald Trump from challenging the corrupt system now controlling the U.S. government. Unfortunately, I agree with the prediction.
WATCH:


As soon as the Washington DC FBI sent agents to Florida, everything changed. If you stand back and look at the national political events from an objective perspective, the connections between the executive agencies and the national political apparatus starts taking on a new clarity.

https://theconservativetreehou...e-playing-for-keeps/

So we have a President that wants to drain the swamp. It turns out the swamp that he was supposed to clean out nails him. He did a poor job of cleaning house, which is why he needs to disappear and make way for DeSantis. DeSantis is doing what Trump promised to do, and is very effective at it.