[DS] Took The Bait, The Stage Is Set, [DS] Power Implosion – Ep. 2849

• Some observations.
• First, the alleged statutory violations. The property to be seized (allegedly) constituted “evidence, contraband, fruits of crime, or other items illegally possessed in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 793,  2071, or 1519.” Let’s go through these statutes.
• 18 USC § 793 – also called the Espionage Act. This statute “prohibits communicating, transmitting, or delivering to any person not entitled to receive it ‘any document, writing, … or note relating to the national defense,’ or attempting to do so.”1
• 18 USC § 2071. This law prohibits the removal of “any record, proceeding, map, book, paper, document, or other thing, filed or deposited with any clerk or officer of any court of the United States, or in any public office. . .”
• 18 USC § 1519. This statute prohibits the destruction of “any record, document, or tangible object with the intent to impede, obstruct, or influence the investigation or proper administration of any matter within the jurisdiction of any department or agency of the United States.”
• As you can imagine, the press is happy to run with allegations that the former President violated the Espionage Act. You have to ask whether the intent is to damage Trump or to indict Trump.

• Second, the scope of the warrant (related to my first point discussing the statutes). A lot has been said about the removal of classified information. Yet the statutes prohibit the removal of other documents (or, in the case of Section 1519, the destruction of records) – not just those that are classified. I’ll add that 18 USC 2071, mentioned in the search warrant documents, does not require a record to be classified for prosecution to be successful. For example, that statute has been used to prosecute a court employee for stealing a sealed affidavit filed with a federal court.2
•  Attachment B, which seeks both classified and unclassified documents, evidence of transmission of “national defense information or classified material,” and evidence relating to the alternation/destruction of “Presidential Records, or of any documents with classification markings”:

And looking at the “Receipt for Property,” the DOJ/FBI apparently seized items that were likely unclassified, such as two binders of photos.

• Third, what remains at issue is whether Trump can be charged with these violations. This isn’t a normal criminal case. Rather, it implicates this country’s foundational separations of powers, and whether Congress can limit the power of the Executive. Put it another way, can Congress criminalize declassification by a US President?I think not. 
• In 1987, the Supreme Court (again) made clear the President has constitutional power, as commander-in-chief, to classify and declassify. Regardless of any statute passed by Congress. Did AG Merrick Garland obtain an OLC opinion before ordering his illegal Trump raid? Why not? 
•  We don’t have the most important part of the warrant application: the affidavit in support prepared by an FBI agent. The affidavit would likely describe:

1. The basis for believing that classified documents, including those relating to nuclear weapons, were at Mar-A-Lago;
2. The history of the Trump classified documents investigation;
3. The assertion of probable cause that Trump had committed a crime; and
4. Information gathered through surveillance or through informants (most notably whoever told the FBI about the safe).

•   Judicial Watch has asked that all warrant materials, including the affidavit, be unsealed “as expeditiously as possible.” The DOJ’s response to that issue is due on Monday, August 15.
• Garland also proclaimed yesterday that “the Department of Justice would speak through its court filings and its work.” Nobody believes that. Certainly Garland doesn’t. But he lies to the public anyway 
•  , it was leaked to the Washington Post that “classified documents relating to nuclear weapons were among the items FBI agents sought in a search of former president Donald Trump’s Florida residence.”
•   what exactly are “classified documents relating to nuclear weapons”? Nobody knows, as the leaks structured to make the documents sound as scary as possible while keeping their true nature purposefully vague.
• “They had no idea what it was, and the list of possibilities was enormous. The category of ‘classified documents relating to nuclear weapons’ is so broad as to be meaningless.”

Source: technofog.substack.com