August 12, 2022
We now have the search warrant and the FBI inventory list of what was seized from Mar-a-Lago earlier this week.
The federal judge ordered them released after the former President and his lawyers agreed to the request by the Department of Justice.
This is a long video but it’s packed full of information.
The warrant lists the statutes the Department of Justice says it has probable cause to believe were violated. Those laws are violation of the espionage act, obstruction of justice, and destruction of federal documents. And these laws have actually nothing to do with whether or not the former President declassified the documents. Under two of these statues, just the fact that they were in Florida – from DOJ’s perspective– is the problem. These are serious violations, but it’s important to remember in this country everyone, including the former President is innocent until proven guilty. And probable cause is a lower standard of proof than beyond a reasonable doubt. All you need to get a warrant is probable cause. A criminal conviction needs to be beyond a reasonable doubt. And the former President claimed that both he de-classified the documents and suggested the FBI planted the documents at Mar-a-Lago.
So let’s talk about what those statues mean.
Violation of the Espionage Act section 793 applies to those who gather, lose, or destroys defense information with the intent or reason to believe there was intent to injure the United States or benefit any foreign nation. If convicted that carries a max 10 years in prison.
Section 1519, obstruction of justice by destroying, altering or falsifying records in a federal investigation. The max penalty is 20 years
And section 2071 concealment removal or mutilation of federal records. The max penalty is three years plus forfeiture of the current political office that person holds and disqualification from future office. Now whether that applies to the office of the president is up for debate.
Just because these are the statues listed in these documents doesn’t mean these are the crimes that will be charged. The Department of Justice could charge these crimes if they find the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt – or they don’t have to if they can’t prove it beyond a reasonable doubt. Or they could charge even more crimes if they find more evidence beyond a reasonable doubt.
The search warrant lists about two dozen items including 20 boxes that were taken from Mar-a-Lago. Most of the list is general. It includes things like binders and boxes but it’s not specific about what’s in those binders and boxes. But the list does specify some of those items range from secret to top secret-SCI documents.
There are three main levels of classification of government documents and there is a reason why those things are designated that way.
From least to most secret – generally the levels are confidential, secret and then top secret. There are also documents designated as SCI or sensitive compartmented information. It’s not its own classification but those documents are a type of sensitive information that can usually only be disclosed on a need to know. Those types of documents are often kept in something called a SCIF a sensitive compartmented information facility. SCIFs can be rooms or they can be whole buildings. SCIFs have to comply with very specific standards of building, security and tech. They’re super secure locations, if you have the clearance to enter, normally you can’t take your phone inside. Fun fact, lots of Presidents going back to George W Bush had SCIFs put into their homes. Yes, the former President had a SCIF installed in Mar-a-Lago.
The reason why documents are designated in these ways is to say to people hey, these documents are of a sensitive nature. If the documents at any level got out, they would damage national security. But by which level, depends on how secret the document is. If top secret information got out or into the wrong hands by legal definition — it could reasonably be expected to cause exceptionally grave danger to national security.
Search Warrant
FBI INVENTORY LIST
