Trump news latest: Republican demand disclosure of affidavit justifying FBI’s Mar-a-Lago raid

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Trump lawyer does not believe that secret nuclear documents were found at Mar-a-Lago

Republicans are stepping up calls for the release of the FBI affidavit justifying the seizure of documents from Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home.

A search warrant released last week revealed that the former president had 11 sets of classified documents at his home, and that the Justice Department had probable cause to conduct the search based on possible Espionage Act violations.

Republicans are now demanding the bureau release its submissions that persuaded judge Bruce Reinhart to issue the search warrant.

The Justice Department should show that this was not just a fishing expedition, that they had due cause to go in and to do this, that they did exhaust all other means, Republican senator Mike Rounds told NBC.

The unsealing of such affidavits is highly unusual and would require approval from a federal judge.

The demand comes amid reports of heightened threats against federal law enforcement personnel in the wake of the raid.

Key PointsShow latest update 1660549244Cheney in trouble while Palin eyes comeback

The Tuesday election in Wyoming and Alaska could relaunch the political career of a former Republican star while effectively ending the career of another.

Wyoming representative Liz Cheney is the vice chair of the House committee seeking the truth behind Donald Trump’s relentless efforts to stay in power after losing the 2020 election.

Mr Trump has made Ms Cheneys ouster a top priority as he emphatically endorsed her main challenger, leaving her fighting to hold on to the House seat she has held for three terms.

Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin makes a joke about the size of the state of Texas compared to Alaska during her appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Dallas on August 4, 2022

(AP)

Meanwhile in Alaska, Sarah Palin jumped on a vacancy in the states congressional delegation as a potential springboard back into elected office. A victory in Tuesday’s special election to fill the remaining months of the late US representative Don Youngs term could send her to Washington as soon as next month.

Ms Palin, a former Alaska governor and the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee, has been out of elected office for over a decade and is hoping for a comeback with her insurgent brand of conservatism.

Namita Singh15 August 2022 08:40

1660548000Trump keeps trying to divert attention to Obama over nuclear records scandal heres why that doesnt add up

One of the many responses from Donald Trump to the unprecedented raid of his home is another unfounded conspiracy theory positing that Barack Obama took millions of documents from the White House when he left.

Its factually untrue; the 44th president in fact has only obtained unclassified records from the National Archives (which is the legal process for doing so) for use in the development of his presidential library. No one at the National Archives or DOJ has insinuated that Mr. Obama did anything remotely wrong.

Dive deep into the latest flailing attempt by Donald Trump and his team to offer alternative facts instead of addressing the issue at hand:

Trump fails to divert attention to Obama over nuclear records scandal

National Archives refutes baseless allegations of former president

John Bowden15 August 2022 08:20

1660545978Republicans push to see affidavit justifying FBI raid of Trumps home

Republicans have sought more details on the FBI’s raid of Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home.

They are seeking disclosure of the affidavit submitted by the agency that persuaded a federal judge into issuing a search warrant, arguing that it would show the raids had due cause and were not just a fishing expedition.

I think releasing the affidavit would help, at least that would confirm that there was justification for this raid, Republican senator Mike Rounds told NBC.

File: Mike Rounds speaking during a Senate Veterans Affairs Committee confirmation hearing on January 27, 2021

(AFP via Getty Images)

The Justice Department should show that this was not just a fishing expedition, that they had due cause to go in and to do this, that they did exhaust all other means, he said.

And if they can’t do that, then we’ve got a serious problem on our hands.

The statement comes as the search warrant released last week showed that Mr. Trump had 11 sets of classified documents at his home, and that the Justice Department had probable cause to conduct the search based on possible Espionage Act violations.

Namita Singh15 August 2022 07:46

1660544400 Trumps lawyer claims all investigations into him will be dropped if he says he won’t run in 2024

An attorney on Donald Trumps legal team claimed once again in a new interview that the Justice Departments probe is aimed at stopping the former president from running for office in 2024, and that it would end if Mr Trump pledged to abstain from running.

There is zero actual indication from the words or actions of the Justice Department that their investigation has anything to do with his campaigns, past or present, but the Trump team has latched onto that conspiracy, like many others, as they rage over the growing scandal which erupted on Monday.

I’ve said it 100 times if he’s not leading in the polls I’ve sat across from him, every time he gets frustrated I say to him, Mr President, if you would like me to resolve all your litigation, you should announce that you are not running for office, and all of this will stop, the former presidents attorney Alina Habba told Real Americas Voice in an interview.

Read more from The Independents Gustaf Kilander:

Trump’s lawyer says all probes will be dropped if he says he won’t run in 2024

As we can all relate to, everyone ends up having to bring home their work from time to time. American presidents are no different, Trump’s office says in new defense

John Bowden15 August 2022 07:20

1660540800Trump asked Merrick Garland: What can I do to reduce the heat? before the FBI warrant was unsealed, report says

An unnamed source tells The New York Times that Donald Trump attempted to reach out to Merrick Garland personally after the FBI raided his home.

In a message sent from a Trump ally to a top DOJ official, the ex-president reportedly questioned, What can I do to reduce the heat?

Many have speculated about the reasoning for the message, as Donald Trump has shown little actual interest in reducing the political firestorm that he kicked off last week by excoriating the Department of Justice for the raid.

Read more from The Independents Gustaf Kilander:

Trump reportedly asked Garland What can I do to reduce the heat? after FBI raid

The country is on fire, Trump allegedly told Garland

John Bowden15 August 2022 06:20

1660537200ICYMI: Trump surges with 2024 primary voters

Donald Trump is surging with Republican voters after the FBI raided his home at Mar-a-Lago.

A new Morning Consult poll taken after Monday’s news broke found that as many as 10 percent of likely primary voters may have just swung in his favor.

Read more from The Independents Graeme Massie:

FBI raid gave Trump a 10-point boost over DeSantis, poll shows

Federal agents removed 11 sets of documents that were marked as classified

John Bowden15 August 2022 05:20

1660533642ICYMI: Rand Paul mocked for call to repeal Espionage Act cited in Trump FBI warrant

Kentucky Sen Rand Paul is under fire after he called for the Espionage Act, a controversial piece of legislation which has been used to punish whistleblowers like Chelsea Manning, to be repealed in response to the news that Donald Trump is being investigated for potentially violating it.

Many users pointed out that it was the first time the libertarian Kentuckian had ever mentioned the legislation on Twitter and that the Acts past use does not justify the mishandling of important government secrets, including information about nuclear technology that the Washington Post reported was among the documents the DOJ hoped to find at Mar-a-Lago.

Read more from The Independents Gustaf Kilander:

Rand Paul mocked for calling to repeal Espionage Act cited in Trump FBI warrant

The espionage act was abused from the beginning to jail dissenters of WWI. It is long past time to repeal this egregious affront to the 1st Amendment, Paul tweets

John Bowden15 August 2022 04:20

1660530042Trump-backed candidate says hes glad voters know he threatened ex-wife with a gun

Herschel Walker, the Trump-backed candidate in the Georgia Senate race whose campaign has been upturned by a cascade of embarrassing revelations, says in a new interview that he is glad that Democrats are running ads about him threatening his ex-wife’s life.

In a bizarre interview with a right-wing podcaster, Mr Walker asserted that the anecdote of him threatening to shoot his then-wife makes him look like a warrior.

John Bowden15 August 2022 03:20

1660526442ICYMI: Trump demands FBI return documents to Mar-a-Lago

Donald Trump is calling on the Justice Department to hand over some of the documents seized on Monday in a raid of his Mar-a-Lago resort and residence in Florida.

In a Truth Social post, the former president reacted to a Fox News report which stated on Saturday that the FBI had informed Mr. Trump’s team following the raid that some of the documents they seized were protected under attorney-client privilege.

Oh great! It has just been learned that the FBI, in its now famous raid of Mar-a-Lago, took boxes of privileged attorney-client material, and also executive privileged material, which they knowingly should not have taken. By copy of this TRUTH, I respectfully request that these documents be immediately returned to the location from which they were taken. Thank you! wrote Mr. Trump on Sunday.

Trump demands FBI return documents to Mar-a-Lago

Former president reacts to report that FBI seized privileged documents

John Bowden15 August 2022 02:20

1660522842ICYMI: Mar-a-Lago footage subpoenaed by DoJ sparks speculation Trump may still have some classified documents

A new subpoena from the Justice Department is raising the question: Is the DOJ done retrieving potentially classified material from Mar-a-Lago?

The New York Times reports that investigators from the Justice Department subpoenaed video from a 60-day period including views from outside the storage room where the documents in question were being kept.

According to a person briefed on the matter, the footage showed that, after one instance in which Justice Department officials were in contact with Mr. Trumps team, boxes were moved in and out of the room, the Timess Maggie Haberman reported.

If true, it means that investigators could be on the lookout for further materials removed from the White House apparently without authorization.

Read more from The Independents Graeme Massie:

Mar-a-Lago footage sparks speculation Trump may still have some classified documents

Video from 60-day period included views from outside the storage room, according to report

John Bowden15 August 2022 01:20

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