We’re hearing a lot of talk about former President Donald Trump having classified materials in his home that were seized by the FBI in its raid of Mar-a-Lago Monday. Margot Cleveland wrote a great thread Friday on why the search warrant didn’t sit right with her. But first, let’s check in with MSNBC legal analyst Barb McQuade, who thought the DOJ’s selection of statutes for the raid was a “brilliant tactical move.”
Brilliant tactical move by DOJ on selecting statutes for the search. None of the crimes cited require the documents to be classified. Any claim by Trump that he declassified the documents is irrelevant. I’ll discuss at 7 am ET on @MSNBC.https://t.co/WEpri6AERz
— Barb McQuade (@BarbMcQuade) August 13, 2022
Because, you see, first you select the target, then you decide to search, then you pick the alleged crime. https://t.co/jH5Gce2o9a
— Brit Hume (@brithume) August 13, 2022
This selection of statutes is what bristled against Cleveland Friday, and the fact that none require the documents to be classified.
THREAD: Search warrant & schedules has been bristling me & I finally figured out why–we are getting lost in what was taken & what was listed as susceptible to seizure & NOT the criminal provisions on which warrant was based. I'm still ruminating here, but what I see is NONE 1/
— Margot Cleveland (@ProfMJCleveland) August 13, 2022
2/ of the three criminal statutes used to justify the search require materials to be "classified". Yet, both NY Times & Washington Post directed everyone to idea of Trump keeping classified info & list of what was taken highlighted that too. But look at the three statues:
— Margot Cleveland (@ProfMJCleveland) August 13, 2022
3/ Espionage Act's plain language does not require material related to "national defense" to be classified. (Preliminary research confirms my reading but want to dig deeper). pic.twitter.com/Rj8Kqy4Yho
— Margot Cleveland (@ProfMJCleveland) August 13, 2022
4/ Second criminal provision, also doesn't distinguish between classified and unclassified. pic.twitter.com/fpPOqJUpN4
— Margot Cleveland (@ProfMJCleveland) August 13, 2022
5/ Nor does the third. And IN FACT the third isn't concerned about Trump's possession of it, but his "destruction" of it. pic.twitter.com/0hKuVaC5OU
— Margot Cleveland (@ProfMJCleveland) August 13, 2022
6/ So the "classified" "top secret" is an emotive red herring. The search was authorized NOT because Trump allegedly had top secret information (which he says he didn't b/c he declassified). But under the statutes, it doesn't matter.
— Margot Cleveland (@ProfMJCleveland) August 13, 2022
7/ And whether classified or not, the second statute cited, seems to make Trump taking anything that is considered "Presidential Papers" from White House, whether classified or not; whether the archivest (sp?) has a copy or not. pic.twitter.com/VrqgZBme7s
— Margot Cleveland (@ProfMJCleveland) August 13, 2022
8/ And the first statute makes "national defense" the issue, again whether declassified or not, and could include things such as pictures of Trump by military equipment etc., and that would seem to reach "personal" as opposed to non-presidential papers.
— Margot Cleveland (@ProfMJCleveland) August 13, 2022
9/ So, if I'm reading the statutes correctly, all DOJ has to do is show judge that Trump had kept Presidential Papers, which would clearly cover anything that was ever classified (unless copies are exempt???), b/c those are gov't property & go to archivist.
— Margot Cleveland (@ProfMJCleveland) August 13, 2022
10/ And there is a separate statute specifically related to classified material. So why wasn't that used? pic.twitter.com/HxlerKZEzH
— Margot Cleveland (@ProfMJCleveland) August 13, 2022
Why not indeed?
11/ Why was the "espionage act" used instead/in addition? It doesn't need to be classified under espionage act and it doesn't need to be Presidential Papers.
— Margot Cleveland (@ProfMJCleveland) August 13, 2022
12/ And why is "Obstruction of Justice" part of this which deals with destruction NOT the keeping? My gut is that DOJ wants a crime to prosecute Trump with and it appears keeping Presidential Papers qualifies, but they also want to get him for "destroying" evidence but for what?
— Margot Cleveland (@ProfMJCleveland) August 13, 2022
13/ What was the underlying "investigation or proper administration of justice" that DOJ is claiming he is seeking to obstruct? Here I think they are digging for Trump's post-election & January 6 communications and if missing "ah ha," he obstructed justice.
— Margot Cleveland (@ProfMJCleveland) August 13, 2022
14/ I'm still noddling this but my big take-away is the entire "classified" focus is misplaced. Trump is the man & they found the "crimes". But "classified/top secret play to the public & distract from the entire goal. And the obstruction tells you the breadth of investigation
— Margot Cleveland (@ProfMJCleveland) August 13, 2022
15/15 is much beyond Trump keeping Presidential Records. And on that point, it would seem that any document that WAS classified at some point between 2017-2021 would be definition be a Presidential Record, and viola a crime to keep. This still stinks but odor skunk & not cat pee.
— Margot Cleveland (@ProfMJCleveland) August 13, 2022
That was my thought as well. Seemed pretty open ended to me.
— Ada Nestor (@AdaNestorWC) August 13, 2022
Is it simply searching for anything that they might nail him on? Was there no real basis for the warrant?
— Gary Doyle (@GetInTheGame18) August 13, 2022
https://twitter.com/3coach_cheer/status/1558271995191640065
The crime doesn’t matter. All they need is an indictment before he announces his campaign. They’ve never managed to get anything to stick in 5+ years. This is a Hail Mary pass
— Luke (@LukeTaylorUSA) August 13, 2022
Fishing expedition would have covered all the tweets nicely.
— John (@Gpasareus) August 13, 2022
Here it is. The FBI's search warrant was issued on 8/5.
The Feds waited THREE DAYS to conduct its unprecedented raid.
The Biden DOJ waited 565 days to act over purported 'nuclear weapons secrets' believed to be in Trump's possession.
Goodbye, Russia Hoax. Hello, Nuclear Hoax. pic.twitter.com/l3frH3FDQh
— Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) August 12, 2022
Related:
Trump statement has info related to the FBI document seizure we’re not hearing from DOJ or media https://t.co/Rtl5spyGUR
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) August 12, 2022