Tag Archives: Mar-a-Lago

Take away from the Redacted Affidavit on raid on Trump

Revelations 2:5 “Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.

Important Takeaways:

  • FBI raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago: 5 things the redacted affidavit reveals
  • First, there is little effort spent addressing the significance of apparent exculpatory evidence and mitigating facts. While it includes a letter from Trump’s lawyers, it does not acknowledge potential advice of counsel defense or any authority to bring such a case against a former U.S. president, or even refute the issues raised by Trump’s lawyers in any meaningful way.
  • Further, the affidavit references the applicable law but withholds any mention of court decisions regarding a U.S. president’s unfettered ability to declassify documents, and it fails to inform the court that a former U.S. president may fall outside the criminal statute.
  • Second, it’s hard to find criminal intent anywhere in the unredacted affidavit. If it’s in there, it is redacted since no visible language alludes to any individual “willfully” retaining documents or otherwise violating the laws that the FBI alleges have been broken.
  • Third, we still do not know who the target – or targets – of this warrant are. The affidavit is filled with conclusory statements such as “there is probable cause,” but the unredacted language gives absolutely no reference to whom the probable cause applies.
  • Fourth, perhaps nowhere do the redacted portions have more work to do than the alleged evidence of obstruction.
  • Fifth, the unredacted portions still do not answer the question “why now?” Timing is a critical piece of any warrant.

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Mar-a-Largo raid was said to be about documents relating to nuclear weapons as Garland prepares to unseal parts of the warrant

“Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear.” — President Harry S. Truman

Important Takeaways:

  • Donald Trump Mocks Claim He Had Classified Documents on Nuclear Weapons at Mar-a-Lago
  • The Washington Post cited “people familiar with the investigation,” who claimed the FBI was searching Trump’s home for “classified documents relating to nuclear weapons.”
  • No other details were provided.
  • “Nuclear weapons issue is a Hoax, just like Russia, Russia, Russia was a Hoax, two Impeachments were a Hoax, the Mueller investigation was a Hoax, and much more,” Trump wrote on social media.
  • “Why wouldn’t the FBI allow the inspection of areas at Mar-a-Lago with our lawyers, or others, present,” he asked. Made them wait outside in the heat, wouldn’t let them get even close – said “ABSOLUTELY NOT.”
  • The former president also raised concerns the FBI was planting information on site, as some of his supporters have speculated.
  • Some details of the raid are expected to be released after Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Friday the Department of Justice had filed a motion to unseal parts of the warrant, citing “substantial public interest” in the details.
  • Trump agreed to cooperate.

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FBI Director Wray declines to answer question on Mar-a-Largo Raid and condemns calls for violence against law enforcement

Revelation 13:2-4 “2 And the beast that I saw was like a leopard; its feet were like a bear’s, and its mouth was like a lion’s mouth. And to it the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority. 3 One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed, and the whole earth marveled as they followed the beast. 4 And they worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?”

Important Takeaways:

  • FBI Director Wray pushes back on threats following unprecedented raid on Trump: ‘Deplorable and dangerous’
  • On Monday, the FBI executed a “raid” on Trump’s Florida home and by that night, droves of social media posts criticized the incident and accused the bureau of being politicized in nature. Some messages also called for violence towards Wray, a massive uprising, and even a civil war.
  • “I’m always concerned about threats to law enforcement,” Wray said Wednesday, condemning the posts. “Violence against law enforcement is not the answer, no matter who you’re upset with.”
  • He called the threats “deplorable and dangerous.”
  • At the presser, Wray declined to comment further or answer any questions about why FBI agents spent hours on Monday searching Trump’s Palm Beach, Florida resort. This was the first time in U.S. history that the FBI has conducted such a search at the residence of a former president.

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Chinese woman arrested by Secret Service at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago

FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., March 22, 2019. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo

By Mark Hosenball

(Reuters) – A Chinese woman who passed security checkpoints at President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida carrying a thumb drive coded with “malicious” software was arrested on Saturday for entering a restricted property and making false statements to officials, according to a court filing.

Documents filed by the Secret Service on Monday in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida say that shortly after noon on Saturday, Yujing Zhang approached a Secret Service agent screening visitors to Mar-a-Lago seeking entrance to the club.

Zhang produced two Chinese passports displaying her photo and said she wanted to go to the pool. Secret Service officers could not initially find her name on an access list for the property, according to the Secret Service affidavit filed with the court.

A club manager said that a man named Zhang was a club member, and even though Yujing Zhang did not give a clear answer as to whether the man was her father, the Secret Service affidavit says resort officials allowed her on the property on the assumption she was related to a member.

Resort personnel became suspicious after Zhang appeared to have trouble explaining why she was visiting Mar-a-Lago, according to the affidavit.

Zhang initially said she was there for an event staged by a group called the United Nations Chinese American Association. But resort staff found no such event was scheduled, according to the court filing.

A receptionist then contacted Secret Service personnel who questioned Zhang and concluded she did not have “any legitimate documentation” authorizing her entry to Mar-a-Lago, according to the filing.

After detaining her, investigators found in Zhang’s possession four cellphones, a laptop computer, an external hard drive device and a thumb drive, the Secret Service court filing says. Initial examination of the thumb drive determined it contained “malicious malware,” the Secret Service said.

“While the Secret Service does not determine who is permitted to enter the club, our agents and officers conduct physical screenings to ensure no prohibited items are allowed onto the property,” the Secret Service said in a statement.

Responding to a question on the case, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a regular news briefing in Beijing on Wednesday: “I have no understanding of the situation you mention.”

In a court filing on Tuesday, a public defender representing Zhang said she was invoking her right to remain silent.

A Justice Department spokeswoman had no comment on the arrest.

(Reporting by Mark Hosenball; additional reporting by Roberta Rampton in Washington and Cate Cadell in Beijing; Editing by Leslie Adler)