The very fact that the FBI walked out with the very boxes that they listed in the warrant proved that the FBI had sources close to Trump. The assumption is that very few people would know exactly which documents were where. But now, The Guardian’s Hugo Lowell believes that he’s found a single unredacted element in the affidavit in support of probable cause that proves without a doubt that the source is even closer than one could have assumed simply from the warrant and receipt.
As Lowell told Morning Joe’s crew:
“The fact that Pine Hall was mentioned, you know, among other places, was really interesting. Pine Hall is an entrance way that leads into Trump’s area, and so the fact that the FBI has pinpointed that location suggests to me, and certainly to people around the former president, that the FBI has someone on the inside, someone close to Trump himself or around his family that knows the kind of documents that were being left around them.”
“That spooked them to have that level of detail and knowledge. It’s not going to come from people from the help or the staff, that close quarters to the former president.
To the average reader, the fact that a private area is named “Pine Hall” doesn’t scream out that it’s almost impossible for someone – especially Mar-a-Lago staff – to know, but Lowell knows the context and dynamic better than the average reader.
Lowell also said the open-ended questions, the fact that Trump’s team has no idea where the FBI is going next with their investigation, is frustrating Trump’s team and is surely driving Trump into vessel-popping hysterics:
I think a lot of this is coming from the fact that Trump’s lawyers don’t know where the Justice Department wants to go next.
The Espionage Act, classified documents at Mar-A-Lago, they’re also monitoring the obstruction side. That’s where lawyers are very nervous, not least because it sounds like Evan Corcoran and Christina Bobb, two of the former president’s lawyers, might themselves be witnesses to that because of their interactions with the Justice Department, and that’s indicative of the general inability to find defense here.
Lowell’s observation above is a little vague and is a bit of a head-scratcher. There is no question that Trump’s team should be worried about obstruction of justice charges. If Trump has scribbled all over documents or destroyed some of the nation’s most secret documents, that is just another very serious crime, and it is evidence that Trump knowingly possessed this stuff for a specific purpose. Why destroy it when he could simply give it back?
But the comment about Trump’s former lawyers possibly being witnesses is odd unless those lawyers knew that Trump was lying to the FBI and National Archives. If that is true, they certainly are witnesses, but they might want to get lawyers themselves because it’s possible they would be accused of conspiring with Trump to obstruct justice. If they knowingly conveyed a lie to DOJ… well, DOJ will certainly evaluate that better than anyone on the outside.
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