The leader of the Republican Party, Donald J. Trump, is under investigation for possible violation of the Espionage Act. The FBI executed the Mar-a-Lago search warrant to investigate “potential crimes associated with violations of the Espionage Act.”
“NBC has obtained the Mar-a-Lago search warrant. It shows Donald Trump is under investigation for potential obstruction of justice and violations of the Espionage Act,” NBC’s Chris Jansing reported.
This isn’t really a surprise after we reported yesterday that the DOJ section in charge of the warrant handles espionage and sabotage, and yet at the same time, it is surreal to be discussing violation of the Espionage Act by a former president of the United States.
Breitbart “claims the DOJ is pursuing evidence under 3 statutes:
18 U.S.C. § § 793, 2071, and 1519,” which amount to:
18 USC 793: Gathering, transmitting or losing defense information
18 USC 2071: Concealment, removal or mutilation
18 USC 1519 — Destruction, alteration or falsification of records in Federal investigations
Here’s a link to a redacted version of the warrant.
A key point about the Espionage Act is that even if someone has every right legally to be in possession of the information, certain actions are still prohibited. This goes to a defense Trump will surely pull out, which would be that he declassified this information. Not only is super sensitive top secret information pertaining, for example, to nuclear information, protected by needing more than just a president for access, but even if this were material that could be declassified by a president, that is irrelevant.
It’s also not for nothing that “Any person convicted of a violation of
this section shall forfeit to the United States,irrespective of any provision of State law, any property property constituting, or derived from, any proceeds the person obtained, directly or indirectly,
from any foreign government, or any faction or party or military or naval force within a foreign country, whether recognized or unrecognized by the United States, as the result of such violation.”
We have no idea what profit or gain Trump and or his family members and posse incurred as a result of this potential crime, but golf clubs, $2 billion investments to Jared Kushner that make no sense and are shady as heck, a $640 million profit by Jared and Ivanka over four years, and patents come to mind. There’s a lot more in that pile.
Former US Acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal confirms that now that we know the FBI actually found top secret information, which means Trump is under investigation for violating the Espionage Act.
The former President is under investigation for violating the Espionage Act
Yest,when WSJ reported that the FBI was looking for “top secret” info, I urged caution b/c that was just what they were looking for, not what they found
Now we have learned FBI DID find Top Secret info
— Neal Katyal (@neal_katyal) August 12, 2022
The FBI recovered multiple sets of top secret documents from Trump’s private club.
A list of documents taken by the FBI during the Trump search warrant shows top secret materials that are meant to only be viewed in a secure government location, according to the warrant reviewed by the New York Times.
The Washington Post previously reported that the documents were related to nuclear weapons.
For all of the wailing from Trump World, if anyone else put the United States in what appears to be a frighteningly high level of danger, they’d be in jail. Just ask Reality Winner about how it works, even though she appeared to have been warning America about the dangers of the Russians interfering in the 2016 U.S. election for Trump, making her more of a whistleblower than a criminal. She wasn’t aiding foreign countries. But she paid her time anyway.
National security expert and former FBI Special Agent Asha Rangappa pointed out that the DOJ actually risked national security to show defense and courtesy to Trump:
10. DOJ, for its part, has frankly shown a willingness to risk national security, at least temporarily, in order to show some deference and courtesy (and benefit if the doubt) to a former POTUS. I think it’s fair to say that if you or I tried this, we’d be arrested on Day 1
— Asha Rangappa (@AshaRangappa_) August 12, 2022
Donald J Trump is under investigation for possible violation of the Espionage Act, because the DOJ found top secret information in his possession that he was not supposed to have. The DOJ had already subpoenaed Trump for these documents in June, which he ignored like he does all rules and laws.
Here we are, at this moment in history, when it seems very much like everything we witnessed with our own eyes for the past seven years now makes sense. Trump acted like he was on the side of Russia, the Saudis, North Korea, and even giving way to the terrorists with his Afghanistan withdrawal plan. He hid and destroyed readouts and transcripts of his meetings with foreign leaders. He looked and acted like someone who did not put the United States first at all, and it seems as if that is because he in fact did not put the United States first.
It looks very much as if Donald Trump has endangered our national security on purpose. It looks very much as if Donald Trump is a very big threat to the country’s safety and security.
Sarah has been credentialed to cover President Barack Obama, then VP Joe Biden, 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and exclusively interviewed Speaker Nancy Pelosi multiple times and exclusively covered her first home appearance after the first impeachment of then President Donald Trump.
Sarah is two-time Telly award winning video producer and a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.
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