New info from FBI affidavit says Trump had ‘no idea there were any records in any private office space’

Newly unredacted details from the Mar-a-Lago search warrant affidavit used to raid the property last month suggest that somebody on President Donald Trump’s team, including possibly him, is lying.

The new details show that on June 3rd, Department of Justice counterintelligence chief Jay Bratt visited Mar-a-Lago with three FBI agents to collect classified documents as per a grand jury subpoena.

When the DOJ unit arrived, Trump’s attorney Evan Corcoran told them that “he was advised all the records that came from the White House were stored in one location within Mar-a-Lago, the STORAGE ROOM,” and that this cache of records was the “remaining repository,” according to the unredacted affidavit.

In other words, he said that he’d been told by somebody — Trump perhaps? — that all of the remaining documents that had yet to be scooped up by the DOJ were stored in the so-called “STORAGE ROOM.”

He “further stated he was not advised there were any records in any private office space or other location in Mar-a-Lago,” the affidavit states.

In other words, he confirmed that there were no classified documents to be found in the former president’s private office.

There’s just one problem. During the August raid of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property, federal agents found classified documents in Trump’s office.

“[T]he search yielded three classified documents in desks inside Mr. Trump’s office, with more than 100 documents in 13 boxes or containers with classification markings in the residence, including some at the most restrictive levels,” according to The New York Times.

“That was twice the number of classified documents the former president’s lawyers turned over voluntarily while swearing an oath that they had returned all the material demanded by the government.”

This means somebody lied. Either the attorney lied and made it all up, or someone did really advise him, and that adviser lied.

The newly unredacted portions of the affidavit also show just how classified the documents found at Mar-a-Lago were.

“It was previously known that Trump’s lawyers provided one envelope to investigators, which contained 38 unique documents with classification markings, according to court filings. But the newly lifted redactions in the search warrant affidavit indicate that some of those classified files contained markings for “HCS, SI and FISA,” according to court filings made public on Tuesday,” CNN reported.

“These classification markings indicate that the documents were connected to extremely sensitive government programs. ‘HCS’ refers to human sources, or spies, that often work with the CIA. ‘SI’ refers to signals intercepts that are typically handled by the National Security Agency. And ‘FISA’ refers to domestic surveillance and wiretaps related to counterintelligence.”

Despite the president having had his home raided and ransacked, congressional Democrats are meanwhile demanding more.

Indeed, on Tuesday, House Oversight and Reform Committee chair Carolyn Maloney submitted a letter to the National Archives and Records Administration demanding NARA obtain 100 percent confirmation that Trump no longer has any classified documents on hand.

“I am deeply concerned that sensitive presidential records may remain out of the control and custody of the U.S. Government. … In light of the serious risk that Mr. Trump may still be retaining sensitive government records at Mar-a-Lago or his other properties, I urge NARA to seek a personal certification from Donald Trump that he has surrendered all presidential records that he illegally removed from the White House after leaving office,” she wrote.

“I also ask that the agency conduct an urgent review of presidential records recovered from the Trump White House to assess whether presidential records remain unaccounted for and potentially in the possession of the former president.”

She added that Trump may be storing classified records at other “non-secure locations.”

There’s no evidence to suggest the former president is holding onto any additional documents. Though conversely, there’s no evidence to suggest the opposite.

Vivek Saxena

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