More Potential Trump Crimes Revealed By DOJ Documents

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This Friday, a version of the federal affidavit used in the process of Justice Department personnel seeking a search warrant for Trump’s southern Florida property known as Mar-a-Lago was released.

The search was eventually conducted earlier this month as part of a criminal investigation at the Justice Department into the handling of highly sensitive government records from the Trump administration. The affidavit outlines some of what was found in boxes recovered in January from Mar-a-Lago after months of communications between Trump’s team and the National Archives. The Archives referred the matter for investigation by the Justice Department after finding classified materials mixed with an array of miscellaneous items in the boxes.

“A preliminary triage of the documents with classification markings revealed the following approximate numbers: 184 unique documents bearing classification markings, including 67 documents marked as CONFIDENTIAL, 92 documents marked as SECRET, and 25 documents marked as TOP SECRET,” the affidavit says, in reference to January’s cache. “Further, the FBI agents observed markings reflecting the following compartments/dissemination controls: HCS, FISA, ORCON, NOFORN, and SI. Based on my training and experience, I know that documents classified at these levels typically contain NDI. Several of the documents also contained what appears to be [Trump’s] handwritten notes.”

The affidavit was prepared by an agent with the FBI whose name was protected by redactions in the version of the document released Friday. In this context, HCS identifies a sensitive compartmented information (SCI) control framework meant for the protection of intelligence garnered from clandestine human sources. FISA is the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, referring to information gathered within the context of the law and the court system that handles implementing it, and ORCON “indicates that dissemination beyond pre-approved U.S. entities requires originator approval,” the affidavit notes. “NOFORN,” meanwhile, is a restriction used for information no foreign interests are permitted to access without approval of the originator of whatever is at issue. Although that’s not what the abbreviation directly represents, “SI” refers to signals intelligence, meaning information the U.S. gathered from intercepted foreign communications, and NDI is national defense information.

A recent report from The New York Times says Trump personally went through the boxes provided to the Archives in January before the federal record-keeping agency obtained them, details that directly implicate Trump with apparent knowledge of at least some of the specific materials at issue. The disclosure of information gathered from clandestine human sources or info related to that form of gathering intelligence could potentially compromise those sources. A separate document that also became available on Friday confirmed the highly active nature of the investigation. The redactions were needed to “protect the safety and privacy of a significant number of civilian witnesses, in addition to law enforcement personnel, as well as to protect the integrity of the ongoing investigation,” according to those other materials.

The affidavit is heavily redacted in the form made available this week, but what is now publicly accessible is plenty condemning. Crimes specified in the affidavit among potential violations include the Espionage Act, which broadly covers national defense-related issues and leads to up to 10 years in prison if violated, per specifications included in the document. “Similarly, based upon this investigation, I do not believe that any spaces within [Mar-a-Lago] have been authorized for the storage of classified information at least since the end of [Trump’s] Presidential Administration on January 20, 2021,” the affidavit released this week said.

“Affidavit heavily redacted!!!” Trump ranted on Truth Social this Friday. “Nothing mentioned on “Nuclear,” a total public relations subterfuge by the FBI & DOJ, or our close working relationship regarding document turnover – WE GAVE THEM MUCH.” In fact, the lengthy redactions make it unclear whether references to concerns about nuclear weapons-related information potentially at Trump’s Florida resort are in the doc.