FBI investigation into Donald Trump's handling of government documents

From Justapedia, unleashing the power of collective wisdom
Jump to navigation Jump to search
"FBI investigation into Donald Trump" redirects here. For the counterintelligence investigation into links between Trump associates and Russian officials, see Crossfire Hurricane (FBI investigation).

On August 26, 2022, the FBI released a redacted affidavit into its search of the Mar-a-Lago.
Donald Trump official portrait (cropped).jpg
This article is part of
a series about
Donald Trump
Business and personal
45th President of the United States
Tenure
Impeachments
Interactions involving Russia

Donald Trump's signature

Seal of the President of the United States

The FBI investigation into Donald Trump's handling of government documents is an ongoing criminal investigation by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation into former President Donald Trump's handling of classified and national defense-related government documents, looking for possible violations of the Espionage Act and obstruction of justice.[1][2] The investigation is under the direction of Christopher A. Wray, whom Trump appointed in 2017 to replace James Comey.

Origin and presidential transition

See also: Donald Trump's disclosures of classified information

Following Trump's loss in the 2020 United States presidential election, talks began between the Trump administration and the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) regarding transferring documents related to the Trump administration. Under the Presidential Records Act (44 U.S.C. §§ 2201–2209), any presidential documents under the current administration must be transferred to the Archivist of the United States by the end of their term. White House chief of staff Mark Meadows informed the National Archives during this period that he would take care of the documents.[3] On January 18, 2021, at least two moving trucks were spotted outside the Mar-a-Lago, Trump's private residence in Palm Beach, Florida. Pictures were taken on the day of his departure showing boxes of materials that he had taken with him.[citation needed]

In May 2021, the National Archives would become aware of missing documents. Among the missing material were correspondence letters with Kim Jong-un and a congratulatory letter from former President Barack Obama. On May 6, Gary Stern—the general counsel for the National Archives—emailed Trump's representatives, including Patrick F. Philbin, to inform them that such material was missing. In the email, Stern named Pat Cipollone as a witness to the documents, identifying two dozen boxes that were in the White House but had not been transferred to the National Archives. Scott Gast, a representative for Trump, responded to Stern by giving him a note informing him that Trump would return his correspondence letters with Jong-un, although Trump was unclear on how to proceed. An archive official recommended FedEx as a method of transferring the documents; Trump aides objected to this idea, and the letters were not returned. Trump would display these letters to people in his office, leading to Meddows contacting Philbin in an effort to figure out how to facilitate the return of these documents.[3]

Trump's lawyers would inform the National Archives in December that they had found 12 boxes of documents at the Mar-a-Lago.[3]

NARA retrieval of documents

In January 2022, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) had begun a process to retrieve 15 boxes that were taken from the White House at the end of Trump's term to his private Mar-a-Lago estate, and successfully negotiated with Trump's lawyers in retrieving the documents. Among what was contained in the documents was classified information.[4]

Following the discovery, the National Archives flagged the incident to the Justice Department and the House Committee on Oversight and Reform began an investigation into the documents. The Justice Department would instruct the National Archives not to share any more details about the documents to the committee, implying that the FBI was beginning a separate investigation.[5] In May 2022, the Justice Department subpoenaed the National Archives in an attempt to obtain the documents, and had interviewed several White House officials who were present in the days leading up to Trump's departure from the White House, seemingly confirming that the Justice Department was beginning a grand jury investigation into the documents.[6] Of the documents retrieved by NARA from Mar-a-Lago, archivists and federal agents determined that 184 unique documents had classification markings, of which 25 were marked "top secret", 92 "secret" and 67 "confidential".[7][8] Some materials were governed by special access programs (SAP), a type of protocol reserved for extremely sensitive U.S. operations conducted abroad, intended to significantly limit access to the information.[9][10][11]

Investigation

Mar-a-Lago security footage subpoena

On June 3, 2022, the Justice Department sent counterintelligence chief Jay I. Bratt and three FBI agents to Mar-a-Lago, where they saw that material taken from the White House was kept in a storage area. A lawyer for Trump followed up with a signed statement that Trump no longer had any classified material in his possession. On June 8, Bratt emailed Trump's lawyers, telling them to put a stronger lock on the basement and to keep all documents "preserved in that room in their current condition until further notice".[12]

On June 19, Trump wrote to NARA, telling them that former Trump administration official Kash Patel, as well as journalist John Solomon, should be considered "representatives for access to Presidential records of my administration".[12]

On June 22, the Justice Department subpoenaed surveillance footage from Mar-a-Lago of the basement where records had been stored. According to the New York Times, sources familiar with the tapes revealed that "the video showed boxes being moved out of the storage room sometime around the contact from the Justice Department. And it also showed boxes being slipped into different containers, which alarmed investigators."[2]

The FBI suspected violations of the Espionage Act and obstruction of justice due to information from "a significant number of civilian witnesses", as stated in an affidavit.[2] This affidavit was used to obtain a search warrant.[13]

FBI search of Mar-a-Lago

Main article: FBI search of Mar-a-Lago
In response to a lawsuit by Donald J. Trump, the National Security Division and U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida submitted a filing containing this image.

On August 8, 2022, the FBI executed the search warrant on Mar-a-Lago.[14] Thousands of government documents were seized, some with classification markings: top secret/sensitive compartmented information (TS/SCI), top secret, secret, and confidential.[15][16][17] TS/SCI is the highest possible classification and is supposed to be read exclusively in secure government facilities.[2]

Across three interactions with Trump in 2022, including the August search of Mar-a-Lago, the government recovered approximately 13,000 documents[18] totaling 21,792 pages.[19][20]

Trump's response

Trump has claimed that he made a "standing order" to declassify all material brought to Mar-a-Lago, though there is no known documentation of the order and no former Trump administration official defends Trump on this point. (Only one former Trump administration official, Kash Patel,[21] initially agreed with Trump's claim that such an order existed; later, however, Patel refused to answer most questions when he went under oath before the grand jury.[22][23]) Also, even had the information been declassified, it would have remained illegal for Trump to take and keep documents that belong to the government.[24][25][26]

Early in the investigation, Trump suggested, without evidence, that the FBI planted classified documents taken during the search.[27] In response to the informal allegation, Dearie gave Trump a deadline to formally dispute the inventory of the seized property,[28][29] to which Trump's team objected that they wouldn't be able to meet the deadline.[30]

Trump's legal team sued to request a "special master" whose review would identify any privileged material or material not covered by the search warrant to ensure that the Justice Department return that material to Trump.[31] A federal judge granted Trump's request and appointed Raymond Dearie as special master,[32][33] a person suggested by Trump's legal team.[34] Dearie must complete his review by the end of November 2022, and Trump must pay the costs.[35][36]

Despite not turning over all the requested material during his previous interactions with the government, Trump has said that the search warrant was unnecessary, claiming: "the government could have had whatever they wanted, if we had it."[27]

Court proceedings

On October 13, 2022, Kash Patel appeared before the grand jury.[37] He chose to invoke his Fifth Amendment rights and refused to answer most questions.[22][23] The Justice Department asked a federal judge to compel his testimony, but the judge declined, saying the Justice Department would first have to promise him immunity. The Justice Department then gave Patel immunity, and he was rescheduled to testify on November 3.[38]

On October 27, Trump's legal team and federal prosecutors came for a hearing at a federal courthouse in Washington, DC. The hearing was sealed, but it is known that it was at least partly related to whether all classified material in Trump's possession has been returned to the government. Previous court appearances by Trump's legal team had been in Florida; this was their first appearance in Washington, DC for this case.[39]

In late October, it was reported that the Justice Department had brought on federal prosecutor David Raskin. Raskin has worked on international counter-terrorism cases and, more recently, on the investigation of the January 6 attack, and he gradually began working on the Mar-a-Lago document case.[40]

References

  1. ^ Polantz, Katelyn; Cohen, Zachary; Murray, Sara; Cohen, Marshall (August 12, 2022). "FBI took 11 sets of classified material from Trump's Mar-a-Lago home while investigating possible Espionage Act violations". CNN. Archived from the original on August 12, 2022. Retrieved August 13, 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d Thrush, Glenn; Feuer, Alan; Haberman, Maggie (August 26, 2022). "Trump Search Live Updates: Documents at Mar-a-Lago Included Top Secret Information". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on August 26, 2022. Retrieved August 26, 2022.
  3. ^ a b c Broadwater, Luke; Benner, Katie; Haberman, Maggie (August 26, 2022). "Inside the 20-Month Fight to Get Trump to Return Presidential Material". The New York Times. Archived from the original on August 27, 2022. Retrieved August 27, 2022.
  4. ^ Lybrand, Holmes; Cohen, Marshall; Rabinowitz, Hannah (August 12, 2022). "Timeline: The Justice Department criminal inquiry into Trump taking classified documents to Mar-a-Lago". CNN. Retrieved August 14, 2022.
  5. ^ Montague, Zach; McCarthy, Lauren (August 9, 2022). "The Timeline Related to the F.B.I.'s Search of Mar-a-Lago". The New York Times. Archived from the original on August 12, 2022. Retrieved August 13, 2022.
  6. ^ Haberman, Maggie; Schmidt, Michael (May 12, 2022). "Prosecutors Pursue Inquiry Into Trump's Handling of Classified Material". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 13, 2022. Retrieved August 13, 2022.
  7. ^ Barrett, Devlin; Stein, Perry (August 26, 2022). "Mar-a-Lago affidavit says many witnesses interviewed, 184 classified files returned in January". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on August 26, 2022. Retrieved August 26, 2022.
  8. ^ Sneed, Tierney; Cohen, Marshall (August 26, 2022). "Takeaways from the Mar-a-Lago search warrant affidavit". CNN. Archived from the original on August 26, 2022. Retrieved August 26, 2022.
  9. ^ Bender, Bryan (August 12, 2022). "Need to know: The rarified world of the government's most closely guarded secrets". Politico. Archived from the original on August 20, 2022. Retrieved August 14, 2022.
  10. ^ Perez, Evan; Orr, Gabby; Brown, Pamela (August 11, 2022). "Feds removed documents from Mar-a-Lago in June with grand jury subpoena". CNN. Archived from the original on August 11, 2022. Retrieved August 26, 2022.
  11. ^ Thrush, Glenn; Haberman, Maggie; Protess, Ben (August 11, 2022). "Trump Search Said to Be Part of Effort to Find Highly Classified Material". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on August 12, 2022. Retrieved August 26, 2022.
  12. ^ a b Bump, Philip (August 15, 2022). "The curious timing of Trump naming two allies to access his records". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 15, 2022.
  13. ^ "Over 180 classified docs removed by National Archives from Mar-a-Lago, affidavit says". NPR. August 26, 2022. Archived from the original on August 26, 2022. Retrieved August 26, 2022.
  14. ^ Haberman, Maggie; Thrush, Glenn; Savage, Charlie (August 12, 2022). "Files Seized From Trump Are Part of Espionage Act Inquiry". The New York Times. Archived from the original on August 13, 2022. Retrieved August 13, 2022.
  15. ^ Barrett, Devlin; Dawsey, Josh (August 12, 2022). "Agents at Trump's Mar-a-Lago seized 11 sets of classified documents, court filing shows". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on August 17, 2022. Retrieved August 26, 2022.
  16. ^ Gurman, Alex Leary, Aruna Viswanatha and Sadie (August 12, 2022). "FBI Recovered 11 Sets of Classified Documents in Trump Search, Inventory Shows". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Archived from the original on August 26, 2022. Retrieved August 26, 2022.
  17. ^ Davis, Wynne (August 16, 2022). "TS/SCI: What an abbreviation reveals about the files seized from Mar-a-Lago". NPR. Archived from the original on August 26, 2022. Retrieved August 26, 2022.
  18. ^ Wire, Sarah D. (October 14, 2022). "Justice Department appeal contends special master review of Mar-a-Lago search records is unnecessary". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 14, 2022.
  19. ^ Savage, Charlie; Feuer, Alan (October 18, 2022). "In Documents Review, Special Master Tells Trump Team to Back Up Privilege Claims". The New York Times. Archived from the original on October 23, 2022. Retrieved October 23, 2022.
  20. ^ Lowell, Hugo (October 18, 2022). "'Where's the beef?': special master says Trump's Mar-a-Lago records claims lack substance". The Guardian. Archived from the original on October 20, 2022. Retrieved October 23, 2022.
  21. ^ Papenfuss, Mary (September 23, 2022). "Special Master Calls Out Lawyers On Trump's Claim That FBI 'Planted' Mar-A-Lago Records". HuffPost. Retrieved September 23, 2022. Only Trump’s staunch ally and former Pentagon official Kash Patel has publicly backed Trump's claim that he had issued a 'standing order' to declassify anything removed from the White House.
  22. ^ a b Lee, Lloyd (October 24, 2022). "An aide who once claimed he was with Trump when the former president declassified government records pleaded the fifth for the DOJ's Mar-a-Lago documents probe: report". news.yahoo.com. Retrieved October 29, 2022.
  23. ^ a b Schmidt, Michael S.; Haberman, Maggie; Feuer, Alan (October 24, 2022). "Prosecutors Pressure Trump Aides to Testify in Documents Case". The New York Times. Retrieved October 29, 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  24. ^ Savage, Charlie; Feuer, Alan; Thrush, Glenn; Haberman, Maggie (September 9, 2022). "Justice Dept. and Trump Legal Team Clash Over Special Master Candidates - The two sides had sharply diverging views of who could serve as a special master and what that person would do". The New York Times. Archived from the original on September 10, 2022. Retrieved September 10, 2022.
  25. ^ Savage, Charlie (August 14, 2022). "Presidential Power to Declassify Information, Explained". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on August 24, 2022. Retrieved August 28, 2022.
  26. ^ Savage, Charlie (August 12, 2022). "Trump claims he declassified all the documents at Mar-a-Lago. Even if that's true, it probably doesn't matter". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on September 3, 2022. Retrieved August 28, 2022.
  27. ^ a b Thompson, Stuart A. (August 16, 2022). "A Timeline of Trump's False and Misleading Statements on the Mar-a-Lago Search". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on August 24, 2022. Retrieved August 28, 2022.
  28. ^ Cohen, Marshall (September 23, 2022). "Mar-a-Lago special master orders Trump team to back up any claims of FBI 'planting' evidence". CNN. Retrieved September 23, 2022.
  29. ^ Dearie, Raymond J. (September 22, 2022). "Trump v. USA, No. 22-81294-CIV-CANNON, Case Management Plan" (PDF). pp. 1–2. Retrieved September 22, 2022.
  30. ^ Sneed, Tierney; Polantz, Katelyn (September 29, 2022). "Trump pushing back on special master's request for him to declare in court whether DOJ inventory is accurate". CNN. Retrieved September 29, 2022.
  31. ^ Polantz, Katelyn; Collins, Kaitlan; Sneed, Tierney (August 22, 2022). "Trump's legal team asks for 'special master' to go through Mar-a-Lago evidence and determine if some should be returned". CNN. Archived from the original on August 25, 2022. Retrieved August 28, 2022.
  32. ^ Shivaram, Deepa; Johnson, Carrie (September 5, 2022). "Federal judge grants Trump's special master request to review Mar-a-Lago materials". NPR. Retrieved September 5, 2022.
  33. ^ Cheney, Kyle; Gerstein, Josh (September 15, 2022). "Judge appoints special master, rejects DOJ bid to delay Mar-a-Lago ruling". Politico. Retrieved September 16, 2022.
  34. ^ Legare, Robert (September 10, 2022). "Special master candidates submitted by Trump and Justice Dept. in Trump documents case". CBS News. Archived from the original on September 20, 2022. Retrieved September 20, 2022.
  35. ^ Savage, Charlie; Feuer, Alan; Trush, Glenn (September 15, 2022). "Judge Keeps Block on Inquiry Into Mar-a-Lago Files and Names Special Master". The New York Times. Retrieved September 16, 2022.
  36. ^ Haroun, Azmi (September 16, 2022). "A judge swiftly appointed a special master to review documents taken by Trump from the White House – but Trump will have to pay for it". Business Insider. Retrieved September 16, 2022.
  37. ^ Polantz, Katelyn; Cohen, Zachary; Gannon, Casey (October 20, 2022). "Exclusive: Trump adviser Kash Patel has appeared before grand jury in Mar-a-Lago document probe | CNN Politics". CNN. Retrieved October 29, 2022.
  38. ^ Sadie Gurman; Alex Leary (November 2, 2022). "Trump Aide, Granted Immunity, Set to Testify at Grand Jury Probing Mar-a-Lago Documents". The Wall Street Journal.
  39. ^ Polantz, Katelyn; Collins, Kaitlan; Hannah Rabinowitz; Gannon, Casey (October 27, 2022). "Trump lawyers and DOJ met in sealed court hearing related to Mar-a-Lago investigation Thursday | CNN Politics". CNN. Retrieved October 29, 2022.
  40. ^ Barrett, Devlin; Stein, Perry; Dawsey, Josh (October 28, 2022). "Top national security prosecutor joins Trump Mar-a-Lago investigation". Washington Post. Retrieved October 29, 2022.
Retrieved from "https://justapedia.org/index.php?title=FBI_investigation_into_Donald_Trump%27s_handling_of_government_documents&oldid=1119788670"