Something to Know - 13 August

This is the end of a wild week of bombastic news.   As I see it, we are in a waiting period at the moment.   The Justice Department and the FBI executed a search warrant, and now there is no end of speculation and what ifs.   The Republicans are making a go at the best possible set of optics; internally debating to either go with Trump or not go with Trump.  The MAGA crowd is going crazy with ugliness and escalating violence.   As Merrick Garland said .....the DOJ and FBI will be following the Rule of Law and speaking through the actions of their work.   So, here is where we are now, and ignore the distracting irrelevance and let the facts play out:

Axios AM

By Mike Allen · Aug 13, 2022

1 big thing: Mar-a-Lago's secrets

Property seized during the Mar-a-Lago search. Photo: Jon Elswick/AP The documents seized from former President Trump's home may have been kept in violation of the Espionage Act, as well as other federal laws, according to documents released yesterday. Trump said in a statement that "it was all declassified" and insisted that "they didn't need to 'seize' anything. They could have had it at anytime." The Justice Department disputes that. An affidavit in the redacted search-warrant materials made public yesterday called for seizure of "all physical documents and records constituting evidence, contraband, fruits of crime, or other items illegally possessed in violation of" 18 U.S. Code § 793, 2071, or 1519.c. That covers the Espionage Act, as well as laws against removing government records or obstructing justice, Axios' Alayna Treene and Margaret Talev write. The search warrant described Mar-a-Lago as a 17-acre estate with 58 bedrooms and 33 bathrooms. The search applied to the "45 office" (45th president) as well as storage rooms and other rooms used by the former president and his staff. It didn't cover private guest suites or other areas for third parties and not available to Trump or his staff. Front page of today's New York Times Reality check: The search — and the many boxes and binders retrieved — doesn't guarantee an indictment, said Ryan Goodman, an NYU law school professor and founding co-editor of the Just Security online national security forum. Obtaining and securing the most sensitive documents may have been the overarching objective. The inventory shows the FBI removed 11 sets of classified information from the Trump property, including some marked as "top secret." Agents collected: "Various classified/TS/SCI documents" — referring to documents containing "top secret" or "sensitive compartmented information." 21 boxes of "miscellaneous confidential documents," "miscellaneous secret documents" or "miscellaneous top secret documents." The presidential clemency for Trump's associate Roger Stone, "Info re: President of France," a leather-bound box of documents, two binders of photos and a handwritten note. What's missing: The affidavit to support the search warrant wasn't included in the materials unsealed Friday. Its contents could reveal a great deal more about the circumstances behind the search.

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Juan

"The Republicans are the party that says government doesn't work and then they get elected and prove it."