Trump FBI raid documents about Mar-a-Lago search unsealed

FBI agents found four dozen empty document folders marked "CLASSIFIED" during their raid last month of former President Donald Trump's residence at his Mar-a-Lago club, a newly unsealed court file revealed Friday. Agents found 43 of those empty folders marked classified in Trump's office, according to the Department of Justice's inventory of the seized items, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. The remaining five empty folders with that marking were found in containers in a storage room. The FBI also found another 42 empty folders marked "Return to Staff Secretary/Miliary [sic] Aide," during the Aug. 8 raid, which was authorized to search for government documents removed from the White House when Trump left office in Jan. 2021, the filing said.

Documents seized by FBI from Mar-a-Lago Source: Department of Justice

Twenty-eight of those empty folders were found in Trump's office, while another 14 were in a storage room elsewhere, the document shows. And FBI agents found more than 10,000 government documents and photographs without classification markings, the filing shows. Among those were hundreds of photos and news articles, along with gifts, clothing, and books. The bombshell revelations raise the prospect that the DOJ has not yet recovered the documents that would have been in the empty folders. The DOJ is investigating possible crimes related to the removal of those and other government documents from the White House when Trump left office in Jan. 2021. By law, such records must be turned over to the National Archives and Records Administration.

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It was signed by Miami U.S. Attorney Juan Gonzalez, and Jay Bratt, the chief of the counterintelligence and export control section of the national security division of the Justice Department. "The seized materials will continue to be used to further the government's investigation, and the investigative team will continue to use and evaluate the seized materials as it takes further investigative steps, such as through additional interviews and grand jury practice," that notice says. "It is important to note, 'review' of the seized materials is not a single investigative step but an ongoing process in this active criminal investigation," the document says. Trump's spokesman in a series of tweets about the inventory of the seized items again criticized the raid. "The new 'detailed' inventory list only further proves that this unprecedented and unnecessary raid of President Trump's home was not some surgical, confined search and retrieval that the Biden administration claims, it was a SMASH AND GRAB," wrote the spokesman, Taylor Budowich. "These document disputes should be resolved under the Presidential Records Act, which requires cooperation and negotiation by NARA [National Archives and Records Administration], not an armed FBI raid," Budowich added.

Trump in a lawsuit filed in late August asked Cannon to appoint an independent watchdog, known as a special master, to review the items seized in the search before the DOJ is allowed to continue using the documents in the investigation. Trump's lawyers have said a special master could check to see if some documents would be prohibited from being used in the probe because they are protected by either attorney-client privilege or executive privilege. The DOJ has opposed the appointment of a special master, saying that it would delay the investigation, and that Trump does not own the documents. Cannon, during a court hearing in Florida on that dispute Thursday, said she will issue a ruling on the special master request in "due course."

Cannon, a Trump appointee, previously shared her "preliminary intent" to grant Trump's request for a special master. The judge suggested in Thursday's hearing that she is still considering that appointment, news outlets reported.

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Biden attacks Trump and MAGA Republicans as threat to American democracy

President Joe Biden, in a rare prime-time speech, condemned Donald Trump and his "MAGA Republicans" as he urged the nation to unite against threats to American democracy.

Biden took the stage shortly after 8 p.m. on Thursday at Independence Historical Park in Philadelphia, where several hundred people were sitting in white lawn chairs and Independence Hall's facade was lit up in red and blue.

"This is where the United States Constitution was written and debated," Biden said. "This is where we set in motion the most extraordinary experiment of self government the world has ever known."

"But as I stand here tonight, equality and democracy are under assault," he continued. "We do ourselves no favor to pretend otherwise. So, tonight, I've come to this place where it all began, to speak as plainly as I can to the nation about the threats we face, about the power we have in our hands to meet these threats and about the incredible future that lies in front of us if only we choose it."

President Joe Biden speaks about the soul of the nation, outside of Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia, Sept. 1, 2022. Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images

The president mentioned his Oval Office predecessor by name as he assailed Republicans who refuse to accept the 2020 election results, defend those who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 or want to strip away abortion rights and other privacy concerns.

"Too much of what's happening in our country today is not normal," he said. "Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic."

Biden made a distinction between the so-called MAGA Republicans and other conservatives, stating "not every Republican embraces that extreme ideology."

"I know, because I've been able to work with these mainstream Republicans," he said. "But there's no question that the Republican party today is dominated, driven, and intimidated by Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans and that is a threat to this country."

Biden's urgent rhetoric mirrors his 2020 messaging, in which he presented himself as a clear contrast to Trump and the race itself as an inflection point for the nation.

He made that comparison again Thursday, telling the crowd: "Now America must choose to move forward or to move backward, to build a future obsessed about the past, to be a nation of hope, unity, and optimism or a nation of fear, division and of darkness."

Administration officials had teased Biden's speech as an extension of his "soul of the nation" message, which first emerged in 2017 after white supremacists clashed with counter protesters in Charlottesville, West Virginia -- the incident Biden said inspired him to run for president.

Biden on Thursday said all Americans are called by "duty and conscience to confront extremists" and to reject political violence.

"We are still at our core a democracy, and yet, history tells us that blind loyalty to a single leader and a willingness to engage in political violence is fatal to democracy," he said.

President Joe Biden speaks outside Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Sept. 1, 2022.

Matt Slocum/AP

Biden's appearance in Philadelphia is his second of three stops in the battleground state of Pennsylvania this week alone.

At Wilkes University, where made the case Tuesday for his administration's plan for policing and crime prevention, Biden went after MAGA Republicans for their response to the Jan. 6 attack and the FBI search at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate.

"For God's sake, whose side are you on? Whose side are you on?" a fired-up Biden asked.

The GOP issued a preemptive rebuttal of Biden's remarks, with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy speaking in Scranton (Biden's hometown) just hours before the president took the stage in Philadelphia.

McCarthy criticized Democrats on inflation, crime and the border before demanding Biden "apologize for slandering tens of millions of Americans as fascists" after the president previously described the ideology being adopted by MAGA Republicans as "semi-facism."

"What Joe Biden doesn't understand is that the soul of America is the tens of millions of hard working people, loving families, and law-abiding citizens whom he vilified for simply wanting a stronger, safer, and more prosperous country," McCarthy said.

"The soul of America is not the ruling class in Washington, it is the law-abiding, tax-paying American citizen," McCarthy said. "The soul of America is our determination to get up and go to work everyday, provide for our families, to love our children, be involved in their education and ensure that this nation and its people always come first."

- ABC News' Justin Gomez, Mary Bruce, Sarah Kolinovsky and Molly Nagle contributed to this report.

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Lawyers in Trump White House to appear before 1/6 grand jury

Pat Cipollone was the top White House lawyer at the end of the Trump administration as Trump and outside allies pressed for ways to overturn the election results, culminating in the US Capitol riot.

The scheduled grand jury appearances underscore how Justice Department officials examining schemes to overturn the presidential contest have been seeking the cooperation of senior White House officials and advisers who opposed those efforts. (AA)

The White House counsel under former President Donald Trump and his top deputy are set to appear before a federal grand jury investigating efforts to undo the 2020 presidential election, a person familiar with the matter has said. Pat Cipollone was the top White House lawyer at the end of the Trump administration as Trump and outside allies pressed for ways to overturn the results of the election, culminating in the January 6, 2021 riot at the US Capitol. Cipollone vigorously resisted efforts to undo the election and has said he did not believe there was sufficient fraud to have affected the outcome of the race won by Democrat Joe Biden. He and Patrick Philbin, a deputy White House counsel also set to appear before the grand jury on Friday, have already cooperated with a separate House committee probe investigating the January 6 attack and attempts to subvert the election. The person who confirmed their appearance before the grand jury was not authorised to discuss the matter. ABC News was first to report the appearance. Spokespeople for the Justice Department declined to comment. READ MORE: Three Percenters militia members charged in US Capitol attack Under the scanner The scheduled grand jury appearances underscore how Justice Department officials examining schemes to overturn the presidential contest have been seeking the cooperation of senior White House officials and advisers who opposed those efforts. Federal prosecutors have been especially focused on a scheme by Trump allies to elevate fake electors in key battleground states won by Biden as a way to subvert the vote. They have issued subpoenas in recent weeks to multiple state Republican Party chairmen. Portions of Cipollone’s private interview to the House January 6 committee were featured prominently in hearings over the summer. Lawmakers aired video clips of him discussing a heated December 2020 meeting at the White House during which outside aides and advisers to Trump discussed a proposed executive order calling for the seizure of voting machines. “To have the federal government seize voting machines? That’s a terrible idea for the country. That’s not how we do things in the United States,” Cipollone testified, adding, “I don’t understand why we even have to tell you why that’s a bad idea for the country.” READ MORE: Secret files 'likely concealed' at Trump home to block FBI investigation [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDtmLnbEs3E[/embed] Source: AP

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With talk of riots, Trump probe moves into more explosive territory

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Awash in arguments over redacted affidavits and special masters and the meaning of "uncharged persons," we might seem to be settling into a debate about the Trump investigation that only lawyers can love.

But along comes Lindsey Graham, a staunch ally of the former president, with this proclamation on Fox News: "If there is a prosecution of Donald Trump for mishandling classified information after the Clinton debacle… there literally will be riots in the street." Well, that woke everyone up.  Especially when Trump shared the video on Truth Social. Sounds like a prediction of civil war.

A screenshot of Sen. Lindsey Graham from America's Newsroom on November 10, 2021. (Fox News)

IMPROPER JUSTICE LEAKS TRIGGER BOMBSHELL STORY ON TRUMP'S STASH OF CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS A bitter opponent of Trump who became a close confidant and has been ordered to testify in a Georgia criminal probe of the former president, the senator was not mincing words. But was he delivering a not-so-veiled threat to Merrick Garland about bringing charges based on the boxes of classified material that Trump held back from the National Archives? Trump, for his part, has essentially called for a revolt at the FBI. "When are the great Agents, and others, in the FBI going to say ‘we aren’t going to take it anymore… The wonderful people of the FBI went absolutely ‘nuts’" during the Hillary Clinton probe, he wrote. It’s not just about legal language anymore.  Trump is referring to the former first lady’s private email server when she was at the State Department, and sent some emails that were later deemed to be classified. She was not charged, although James Comey did plenty of damage to her campaign by publicly assailing her conduct. Sandy Berger, Bill Clinton’s national security adviser, was fined $50,000 and given two years probation for stealing classified papers from the Archives. It is cases like this that make it impossible for me to believe that the Justice Department will bring charges against Trump solely for mishandling classified documents – unless, that is, it’s connected to some further misconduct that was blacked out in that FBI affidavit. This is not some mere paperwork dispute – these are criminal offenses – but the history of leniency works in Trump’s favor.

Former President Trump's Mar-a-Lago home was raided by the FBI earlier this month.  (Fox News)

Andy McCarthy, a former federal prosecutor, told me on "Media Buzz" that while Trump’s legal strategy of resistance has backfired, the Justice Department insistence that most of the FBI affidavit remain sealed is revealing. "It doesn’t make sense to me that they would fight so hard to withhold this information if they actually intended to charge him," McCarthy said. Noting the reference to "uncharged persons" – which could obviously include Trump – he added the fact that DOJ is fighting disclosure so hard is "a sign that they won’t prosecute." The former president is poised, however, to win a legal skirmish after another judge (appointed by him) indicated she will probably rule in favor of his request for a special master, or outside expert, to review the seized documents. I don’t see what that gets him – DOJ has been poring over this material for three weeks – but the suit itself was widely mocked, especially after his inexperienced lawyers bungled the paperwork. As for the impact of the Mar-a-Lago search, news accounts, some based on DOJ leaks, make clear that Garland’s investigation is in the early stages. In normal criminal probes, search warrants are executed at the end, often before an indictment. What, then, was the rush, other than retrieving the super-top secret stuff? Still, some of Trump’s defenders have switched to process arguments – too many redactions! – now that emerging evidence makes clear that the 45th president repeatedly held back classified documents that are the government’s property.  What does all this mean for 2024? It’s still extremely difficult for me to imagine Trump running and somehow losing the nomination. National Review Editor Rich Lowry says that while Trump’s narrative of chaos and persecution is boosting his core Republican support, "that a potential presidential candidate was raided by the FBI is a terrible reason to support him. "It’s become clear that Trump certainly could have been more cooperative and forthcoming in the negotiations with the National Archives, to keep the conflict from even getting to this point… "Wouldn’t it be better to go with someone who isn’t so routinely victimized; indeed, someone who doesn’t adopt a framework of victimhood at all? The answer would seem obvious, but not many Republicans feel that way." David Frum, in the Atlantic, says "the enforcement of a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago has rallied trial Republicans to Trump’s defense. The search boosted his fundraising to $1 million a day – and helped to extend his lead over Governor Ron DeSantis in a putative 2024 primary contest. NBC reported on a poll that showed Trump, pre-search, tied with DeSantis in a multicandidate field. Post-search, he led DeSantis 52–20. 

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks to supporters at a campaign stop on the Keep Florida Free Tour at the Horsepower Ranch in Geneva.   (Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

THE MEDIA LIONIZE CHENEY AS SHE LOSES, CHEERING THE ANTI-TRUMPER THEY ONCE OPPOSED "Although the Republican base loves Trump, Republican leaders recognize that he’s a general-election loser. Trump at the head of the ticket in 2024 spells trouble; even a reminder that Trump is at large in 2022 hurts down ballot. That’s why Republican leaders have pleaded with Trump to delay any announcement of a 2024 run until after November’s voting. SUBSCRIBE TO HOWIE'S MEDIA BUZZMETER PODCAST, A RIFF ON THE DAY'S HOTTEST STORIES "To win consistently, a party needs a broad coalition. A party that keeps alienating great numbers of voters by nominating extremists, crooks, and weirdos is a party that is abdicating from governing." CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP That’s an obvious reference to some of the MAGA contenders and election deniers who won primaries with Trump’s backing, but are considered problematic candidates, especially in Senate races, in the midterms.

There’s an old adage in politics that if you’re explaining, you’re losing. My updated version is, if you’re talking about riots, you’re on the defensive, and changing the subject from some very unflattering facts.  

Howard Kurtz is the host of FOX News Channel's MediaBuzz (Sundays 11 a.m.-12 p.m. ET). Based in Washington, D.C., he joined the network in July 2013 and regularly appears on Special Report with Bret Baier and other programs.

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Justice dept filing on Trump docs suggests special master unnecessary

A judge earlier indicated that she was inclined to grant the Trump legal team’s request for a special master to oversee the review of documents taken by the FBI from Mar-a-Lago to protect documents covered by attorney-client privilege

Former president Donald Trump is also under investigation by the New York attorney general. (Julia Nikhinson / AP)

The Justice Department has completed its review of potentially privileged documents seized from former president Donald Trump's Florida estate this month and has identified “a limited set of materials that potentially contain attorney-client privileged information.” The filing from the department on Monday follows a judge's weekend order indicating that she was inclined to grant the Trump legal team's request for a special master who would oversee the review of documents taken during the August 8 search of the Mar-a-Lago estate and ensure that any that might be protected by claims of legal privilege be set aside. In revealing that the department had completed its review of potentially privileged communications, law enforcement officials appeared to be suggesting that the appointment of a third-party special master might now be moot. The department had been relying on a specialised team to filter out potentially privileged communications and said Monday that it had completed its review of those materials before the judge's order. The Justice Department on Friday disclosed that it was investigating Trump for removing White House records because it believed he illegally held documents including some involving intelligence-gathering and clandestine human sources – among America's most closely held secrets. US District Judge Aileen Cannon said on Saturday that it was her “preliminary intent” to appoint a special master — which would be an early procedural win for the Trump legal team — but gave the department an opportunity to respond and scheduled a Thursday hearing to discuss the matter further. The judge also directed the Justice Department to submit under seal a more detailed description of the materials that were seized from Trump's estate in Palm Beach, something the department on Monday said it would do. READ MORE: FBI affidavit shows recovery of secret info led to raid on Trump home White House supports review of content from Trump home The White House on Monday said it is "appropriate" that the US intelligence community is reviewing potential national security risks if Trump took ultra-sensitive material to his residence after his term ended. The White House is not involved in that probe of materials recovered during a search of Trump's Florida residence, the Biden administration said. National Intelligence Director (DNI) Avril Haines said in a letter to lawmakers on Friday that her office is working with the Justice Department to "facilitate a classification review" of documents including those recovered during the August 8 search. In the letter to lawmakers, Haines said that DNI "will also lead an Intelligence Community (IC) assessment of the potential risk to national security that would result from the disclosure of the relevant documents" including those seized. She said the DNI was aiming not to interfere with the ongoing criminal investigation. The FBI's extraordinary search of Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach ended with the seizure of 11 sets of classified records including some labelled "top secret" as documents that could gravely threaten national security if exposed. The search was part of a federal investigation into whether Trump illegally removed and kept documents when he left office in January 2021 after losing the 2020 election to President Joe Biden and whether Trump tried to obstruct the probe. READ MORE: Explainer: Why is Trump facing a presidential records probe? Source: TRTWorld and agencies

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Judge orders Trump to give details about Mar-a-Lago warrant lawsuit

An aerial view of former U.S. President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago home after Trump said that FBI agents raided it, in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S. August 15, 2022. Marco Bello | Reuters

A federal judge appointed by former President Donald Trump ordered him Tuesday to answer several key questions about his new lawsuit related to the FBI raid on his Florida home, including why her court should be the one hearing the case and to more precisely explain what he wants her to do. Judge Aileen Cannon also ordered Trump to tell her how his suit affects another pending case involving the same search warrant before a federal magistrate judge in the same court, and whether the Department of Justice has been served with his lawsuit yet. Cannon also wants to know if Trump is seeking any injunctions related to material seized in the raid until the lawsuit is resolved. Cannon's order came a day after Trump filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, asking her to appoint a so-called special master to review documents seized Aug. 8 in the FBI raid on his Mar-a-Lago resort residence in Palm Beach.

The judge, whom Trump appointed to that court in 2020, gave him and his lawyers until Friday to answer her questions. Trump wants to block the DOJ from examining the seized documents until a special master looks at them. The step is typically taken when there is a chance that some evidence should be withheld from prosecutors because of various legal privileges. The DOJ is conducting a criminal investigation related to the documents being removed from the White House when Trump left office in January 2021. By law, presidential records are required to be turned over to the National Archives. A warrant authorizing the FBI's search-and-seizure operation at Mar-a-Lago shows that the DOJ is probing potential violations of laws related to espionage and obstruction of justice. Multiple sets of documents marked top secret were seized in the raid. Trump claims the raid was illegal and motivated by a desire to harm his chances of regaining the White House if he decides to run again.

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Cannon in her order Tuesday wrote: "The Court is in receipt of Plaintiff's Motion for Judicial Oversight and Additional Relief." "To facilitate appropriate resolution, on or before August 26, 2022, Plaintiff shall file a supplement to the Motion further elaborating on the following: (1) the asserted basis for the exercise of this Court's jurisdiction, whether legal, equitable/anomalous, or both; (2) the framework applicable to the exercise of such jurisdiction;" Cannon wrote. The judge also told Trump's team to detail "the precise relief sought, including any request for injunctive relief pending resolution of the Motion; (4) the effect, if any, of the proceeding before Magistrate Judge Bruce E. Reinhart; and (5) the status of Plaintiff's efforts to perfect service on Defendant." Reinhart signed the warrant authorizing the raid. He is considering requests by media outlets to unseal an affidavit that the DOJ filed, which laid out the need for the search and events leading up to it. Earlier Tuesday, the National Archives posted online a letter that said classified material was found in boxes that Trump turned over to that agency in January.

The material, which spans 700 pages, includes ones related to top secret, sensitive compartmented information and special access programs, the National Archives letter said.

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Trump asks court for neutral oversight of FBI review of Mar-a-Lago files

Former US president's attorneys say materials taken from Trump's Florida residence were “presumptively” covered by executive privilege and the FBI review should be overseen by a "special master".

The Federal Bureau of Investigation building headquarters as seen in Washington, US, on August 13, 2022. (AP)

Lawyers for former President Donald Trump have asked a federal judge to prevent the FBI from continuing a review of documents recovered from his Florida estate earlier this month until a neutral "special master" can be appointed. The attorneys asserted in a court filing on Monday, their first since the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago two weeks ago, that the sets of documents taken from the residence were “presumptively” covered by executive privilege. “This matter has captured the attention of the American public. Merely ‘adequate’ safeguards are not acceptable when the matter at hand involves not only the constitutional rights of President Trump, but also the presumption of executive privilege,” the attorneys wrote. Trump's court motion, filed in a federal court in West Palm Beach, Florida, also demanded that the US Justice Department provide him with a more-detailed property receipt outlining the items the FBI seized from his Mar-a-Lago home during its August 8 search, and asked investigators to return any items that were not within the scope of the search warrant. Separately on Monday, a federal judge acknowledged that redactions to an FBI affidavit spelling out the basis for the search might be so extensive as to make the document “meaningless” if released to the public.  A written order from US Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart largely restates what he said in court last week, when he directed the Justice Department to propose redactions about the information in the affidavit that it wants to remain secret. That submission is due Thursday at noon. Justice Department officials have sought to keep the entire document sealed, saying disclosing any portion of it risks compromising an ongoing criminal investigation, revealing information about witnesses and divulging investigative techniques. They have advised the judge that the necessary redactions to the affidavit would be so numerous that they would strip the document of any substantive information and make it effectively meaningless for the public. Reinhart acknowledged that possibility in his Monday order, adding, “I may ultimately reach that conclusion after hearing further from the Government.” READ MORE: US judge to consider partially unsealing affidavit behind Trump home raid [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aSJccrT7dg[/embed] Call for releasing materials Several news organizations, including The Associated Press, have urged the judge to unseal additional records tied to this month's search of Mar-a-Lago, when FBI officials said they recovered 11 sets of classified documents, including top secret records, from the Florida estate. Of particular interest is the affidavit supporting the search, which presumably contains key details about the Justice Department's investigation examining whether Trump retained and mishandled classified and sensitive government records. Trump and some of his supporters have also called for the document to be released, hoping it will expose what they contend was government overreach. In his written ruling, Reinhart said the Justice Department had a compelling interest in preventing the affidavit from being released in its entirety. But he said he did not believe it should remain fully sealed, and said he was not persuaded by the department's arguments that the redaction process “imposes an undue burden on its resources." READ MORE: US Justice Department opposes disclosure of affidavit on Trump's house raid Source: AP

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Lisa Boothe: Cheney, McConnell hate Trump because he 'transformed the Republican Party'

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The panelists on the "Big Sunday Show" discussed Rep. Liz Cheney's, R-Wyo., landslide primary defeat last Tuesday, her contempt for former President Trump, and her future political aspirations.

"She lost by almost 40 points, I don't understand how her name is being mentioned with any sort of seriousness for 2024 or anything beyond, the woman is done," Fox News contributor and cohost Lisa Boothe said. "Put a fork in it, her career is over." "The entire reason Liz Cheney, she hates Donald Trump for the same reason Mitch McConnell hates Donald Trump. Because when Trump walked down that escalator in 2015, he transformed the Republican Party," Boothe continued. "The Republican Party is now a multiracial, working class party, Democrats are the party of coastal elites, and Trump did that." NEW YORK TIMES REPORT: ‘AMERICAN DREAM’ IS BEING ‘DISTORTED - PARTICULARLY BY REPUBLICANS OF COLOR’

Aug 21., 2015: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump waves to supporters during a campaign rally in Mobile, Ala. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Boothe argued that McConnell is trying to sabotage Republicans winning back the Senate because he'd rather be in charge of the minority.  McConnell recently complained about "candidate quality" with regard to the victors of recent Republican primaries and said "I think there's probably a greater likelihood the House flips than the Senate."  CHENEY SAYS SHE SPOKE WITH BIDEN AFTER PRIMARY LOSS: ‘WE HAD A VERY GOOD TALK’

President Trump speaks after being sworn in as President of the United States, January 20, 2017. (Getty Images)

Boothe said that "Trump had something to lose by going into political office instead of all these people like Mitch McConnell, Joe Biden, the Pelosis who all just go into these positions of power to enrich themselves and their families." George ‘Tyrus’ Murdoch, a Fox News contributor and former WWE superstar, said "politics is the only business where somebody loses so bad, and they say, ‘you know what?’, I gotta run for president next time." Tyrus argued how voters were the reason why Cheney lost by 37 points, not the former president.   "The voters are the reason you [Cheney] lost by 37 points. Not the GOP, not Mr. Trump, he didn't vote 37,000 times to get you out," he said. 

In this Nov. 25, 2019, file photo, Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., center, speaks with President Donald Trump during a bill signing ceremony for the Women's Suffrage Centennial Commemorative Coin Act in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. (AP Newsroom)

"The American people said no. Something you did, the voters in Wyoming did not agree with, and they didn't say no, they said ‘NOOO!’ to where you were destroyed," Tyrus continued. He argued that "there's a disconnect" between Cheney and the voters.  CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Cheney compared herself to President Abraham Lincoln during her concession speech and hinted at a potential future run for president.

Joe Silverstein is a production assistant for Fox News Digital. 

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US judge to consider partially unsealing affidavit behind Trump home raid

Justice Department has a week to submit a redacted affidavit but is adamantly opposed to making any of it public over risk of compromising ongoing investigation into ex-president Donald Trump.

FBI searched Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate on August 8, removing 11 sets of classified documents, with some not only marked top secret but also "sensitive compartmented information." (DPA)

A federal judge has ordered the Justice Department to put forward proposed redactions as he committed to making public at least part of the affidavit supporting the search warrant for former US president Donald Trump's estate in Florida.

US Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart on Thursday gave prosecutors a week to submit a copy of the affidavit with proposed redactions for the information it wants to keep secret after the FBI seized classified and top secret information during a search at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate last week.

The hearing was convened after several news organisations, including The Associated Press news agency, sought to unseal additional records tied to last week’s search, including the affidavit. 

It is likely to contain key details about the Justice Department's investigation examining whether Trump retained and mishandled classified and sensitive government records.

The Justice Department has adamantly opposed making the affidavit public, arguing that doing so would compromise its ongoing investigation, would expose the identities of witnesses and could prevent others from coming forward and cooperating with the government.

Attorneys for the news organisations, however, argued that the unprecedented nature of the Justice Department's investigation warrants public disclosure.

"You can't trust what you can't see," said Chuck Tobin, a lawyer representing the AP and several other news outlets.

READ MORE: US agents reportedly looked for nuclear files in Trump house raid

Govt against revealing investigation 'road map'

In addition to ordering the redactions, the judge agreed to make public other documents, including the warrant's cover sheet, the Justice Department's motion to seal the documents and the judge's order requiring them to be sealed.

Those documents showed the FBI was specifically investigating the "willful retention of national defense information," the concealment or removal of government records and obstruction of a federal investigation.

Jay Bratt, a top Justice Department national security prosecutor, had argued that the affidavit should remain hidden from the public. 

Unsealing it, he said, would provide a "road map" of the investigation — which is in its "early stages" — and expose the next steps to be taken by federal agents and prosecutors.

READ MORE: Republicans dub FBI raid on Trump house 'weaponised politicisation'

He argued it was in the public interest for the investigation, including interviews of witnesses, to go forward unhindered.

Bratt argued in court that even a redacted version of the document could reveal investigative steps or create the ability for sleuths or those being eyed in the investigation to identify witnesses in the case. He also contended that the Justice Department had already gone to rare lengths to bring transparency, including making a request for the court to unseal the warrant and property receipt, which were made public last week.

Reinhart gave the government until next Thursday to submit its version with the proposed redactions. He said he would then review it and may meet lawyers for the government and give them a chance to make an argument for why specific information should be withheld.

FBI agents searched Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate on August 8, removing 11 sets of classified documents, with some not only marked top secret but also “sensitive compartmented information," according to a receipt of what was taken that was released on Friday. 

That is a special category meant to protect the nation’s most important secrets that if revealed publicly could cause "exceptionally grave" damage to US interests. 

READ MORE: Cheney vows to do 'whatever it takes' to deny Trump second term

READ MORE: US prosecutors targeting Giuliani in Trump investigation

Source: AP

Source https://www.globalcourant.com/us-judge-to-consider-partially-unsealing-affidavit-behind-trump-home-raid/?feed_id=12729&_unique_id=62feb7dcedcda

Alex Murdaugh lawyer cites Trump FBI raid in demand for evidence in murders of wife, son: 'Manufactured drama'

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The lawyer defending the once powerful and now disbarred attorney, Alex Murdaugh, blasted South Carolina prosecutors on Wednesday for allegedly withholding evidence from the defense connecting the legal scion to the mysterious murders of his wife and son following a 13-month investigation. 

At a press conference he organized, Dick Harpootlian, a Democratic state senator, made a weak comparison to the unprecedented FBI raid on former President Donald Trump’s residence at Mar-a-Lago, and calls since then to have the warrant unsealed to understand the grounds for the search. 

In a motion of his own Wednesday, the state’s lead prosecutor on the Murdaugh case, Creighton Waters, dismissed Harpootlian’s press event as "manufactured drama" delaying the case. 

Harpootlian accused South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson’s office of failing to produce discovery before the 30-day maximum period allotted by law since Murdaugh’s murder indictment. 

ALEX MURDAUGH SCHEMES RESULT IN FIRST FEDERAL INDICTMENT TARGETING SOUTH CAROLINA BANK SCION RUSSELL LAFFITTE 

Alex Murdaugh is escorted out of the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, S.C., on Wednesday, July 20, 2022. Murdaugh pleaded not guilty to murdering his wife and son 13 months ago.  (Tracy Glantz/The State via AP)

"There was no reason, as I point out, that they couldn’t turn almost all of this over to us 32 days ago," Harpootlian told reporters Wednesday. "A number of search warrants have sealed affidavits – now sealed affidavits I shouldn’t have to explain to any of you because you turn on the news right now, they’re talking about sealed affidavits on a certain search warrant in Florida. The question is – after the indictment is brought, should they still be sealed? The answer is no."

Murdaugh, 54, was indicted on July 14 by a Colleton County grand jury on two counts of murder and two counts of possession of a firearm during the commission of a violent crime in connection to the double homicide of his college sweetheart wife, Maggie Murdaugh, and their 22-year-old son, Paul. 

The bare-bones indictment accuses Murdaugh of shooting his 52-year-old wife with a rifle and his younger son with a shotgun on June 7, 2021. He has pleaded not guilty.

"This is again ‘gotcha’ prosecution. Trial by ambush. Give us the stuff," Harpootlian said Wednesday.  "You went to a grand jury and said you have enough evidence to convict Alex Murdaugh and convince a jury beyond a reasonable doubt. Where is it? I don’t have a shred of paper! I don’t have an email, I don’t have an exhibit, I don’t have any evidence." 

"Somebody wants to know about blood spatter. All I know about blood spatter is what I read in some blog. I’ve never seen any blood spatter evidence," he said, referencing local media citing unnamed sources. "They want to obscure this by saying, ‘well, you know, we need to get this sealed, this needs to be protected, we don’t want crime scene photos left out on tables.’ That is hooey!"

Murdaugh’s lawyer also seemed to defend his own reputation for working the case. 

"This case needs to be resolved. Not just for Alex Murdaugh, but for the judicial system, for the state of South Carolina. We need to put this behind us and move on," Harpootlian said. "People say to me – How could you represent this guy? John Adams, the second President of the United States, represented the British soldiers who massacred the colonial protesters on the Boston Common, 4 were acquitted, two were hung. It is my duty to do that. It’s what keeps this country free. Abraham Lincoln defended 22 murder cases… Don’t they teach civics in high school anymore?

ALEX MURDAUGH: TIMELINE OF THE SOUTH CAROLINA ATTORNEY'S FALL FROM GRACE 

Dick Harpootlian, Alex Murdaugh's defense lawyer, hosts a press conference criticizing prosecutors for delaying discovery in the murder case.  (Fox News)

In a 27-page motion provided to Fox News Digital, Waters defended his team’s handling of discovery. 

"Defendant Murdaugh’s motion is unfortunately a not unexpected but completely blatant attempt to create drama where formerly there was none. It is clearly aimed at generating content for the press conference defense counsel has called on this matter rather than actually doing anything meaningful to move forward litigation of the case," the motion outlining prosecutors’ stance says. 

"As with the rest of their motion, their claims of prosecutorial ‘coercion’ may make for exciting reading or content for a press conference, but they are detached from reality," Waters adds. 

The motion included emails between Waters to Judge Clifton Newton explaining that he agrees with the defense that an order must be issued unsealing the search warrants sealed by other judges early in the murder investigation. However, prosecutors – in disagreement with the defense – are proposing a protective order for some murder evidence, citing pre-trial publicity and the sensitive nature of the crime scene photos.  

"There is simply no last-minute effort to delay discovery," Waters wrote in one email. 

Alex Murdaugh, right, is shown here with his family.  (Fox News)

"This manufactured drama is just a well-known part of defense counsel’s playbook," the motion says. "The State has no desire to preclude the defense from any discovery and has every intent of moving this case to a public trial as soon as practicable. As soon as these two discovery issues are addressed and the Court green lights it, discovery will be sent."  

At the time of the bombshell murder charges, Murdaugh already was facing 81 financial and related criminal charges alleging he misappropriated $8.1 million from friends, former legal clients and the prominent personal injury law firm founded by his great-grandfather nearly a century ago. 

Maggie and Paul Murdaugh were found shot to death next to dog kennels on the family’s sprawling hunting in South Carolina’s rural Low Country when authorities responded to a frantic 911 call from Murdaugh himself. 

The double homicide prompted a slew of investigations into Murdaugh and his financial dealings, and law enforcement has since reopened criminal probes into the mysterious deaths of Murdaugh’s former housekeeper Gloria Satterfield, as well as 19-year-old Stephen Smith, a former high school classmate of the Murdaugh’s surviving elder son, Buster Murdaugh. 

Murdaugh, also a former assistant prosecutor at the office his family previously controlled for generations, is also charged with orchestrating a botched suicide for hire plot for his distant cousin, former legal client and recently accused conspirator in an alleged opioid trafficking ring, Curtis "Eddie" Smith, to shoot on the side of a rural road so that Buster could collect a $10 million life insurance policy. 

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Recently, Russell Laffitte, the fired CEO of Palmetto State Bank, which was founded by his family in the early 20th century, was federally indicted for allegedly helping Murdaugh steal and launder money from legal clients. A lawyer and Murdaugh’s former college roommate, Cory Fleming, has also faced state charges in connection to Murdaugh’s long-spiraling fall from grace. 

Danielle Wallace is a reporter for Fox News Digital covering politics, crime, police and more. Story tips can be sent to danielle.wallace@fox.com and on Twitter: @danimwallace. 

Source https://www.globalcourant.com/alex-murdaugh-lawyer-cites-trump-fbi-raid-in-demand-for-evidence-in-murders-of-wife-son-manufactured-drama/?feed_id=12225&_unique_id=62fd2f6317a91

Cheney vows to do 'whatever it takes' to deny Trump second term

Former president Donald Trump's harshest Republican critic, Liz Cheney, loses seat in US Congress after ceding GOP primary to 'election denier' Harriet Hageman.

Liz Cheney is actively considering a 2024 White House bid, as a Republican or independent. (AP)

Liz Cheney, a leading Republican critic of Donald Trump, has vowed to do everything in her power to prevent the former president from returning to the White House.

“Our work is far from over,” the Wyoming congresswoman said in a concession speech after losing her seat to another Republican contender in a primary election on Tuesday evening. 

Hinting at a presidential bid of her own, she later added, “I have said since Jan 6 that I will do whatever it takes to ensure Donald Trump is never again anywhere near the Oval Office — and I mean it.”

Cheney, Trump’s fiercest Republican adversary in Congress, fell to a rival, Harriet Hageman, backed by the former president in a contest that reinforced his grip on the party’s base. 

The third-term congresswoman and her allies entered the day downbeat about her prospects, aware that Trump’s backing gave Hageman considerable lift in the state where he won by the largest margin during the 2020 campaign.

READ MORE: Why the GOP’s radicalisation is detrimental to America

New 'presidential' chapter for the Cheneys?

She is actively considering a 2024 White House bid, as a Republican or independent, having vowed to do everything in her power to fight Trump’s influence in her party.

Cheney described her loss as the beginning of a new chapter in her political career as she addressed a small collection of supporters, including her father, former vice president Dick Cheney, on the edge of a vast field flanked by mountains and bales of hay.

Four hundred miles to the east, festive Hageman supporters gathered at a sprawling outdoor rodeo and Western culture festival in Cheyenne, many wearing cowboy boots, hats and blue jeans.

The results were a powerful reminder of the GOP’s rapid shift to the right. A party once dominated by national security-oriented, business-friendly conservatives now belongs to Trump, animated by his populist appeal and, above all, his denial of defeat in the 2020 election.

Those narratives, which have been roundly rejected by federal and state election officials along with Trump’s own attorney general and judges he appointed, transformed Cheney from an occasional critic of the former president to the clearest voice inside the GOP warning that he represents a threat to democratic norms.

Cheney’s defeat would have been unthinkable just two years ago. The daughter of a former vice president, she hails from one of the most prominent political families in Wyoming. And in Washington, she was the No 3 House Republican, an influential voice in GOP politics and policy with a sterling conservative voting record.

Cost of Cheney's leadership on January 6 panel

But after January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters, Cheney voted to impeach Trump and made it her primary mission to ensure he never again serves in the Oval Office. 

She pushed past GOP censures and death threats to serve as a leader on the congressional panel investigating Trump’s role in the insurrection.

Cheney will now be forced from Congress at the end of her third and final term in January. 

She is not expected to leave Capitol Hill quietly.

She will continue in her leadership role on the congressional panel investigating the January 6 attack until it dissolves at the end of the year. 

READ MORE: US House panel accuses Trump of summoning mob that stormed Capitol

Source: AP

Source https://www.globalcourant.com/cheney-vows-to-do-whatever-it-takes-to-deny-trump-second-term/?feed_id=11959&_unique_id=62fc7b8b932df

Documents show how Trump landed Lincoln Memorial for Fox News event

In the spring of 2020, National Park Service personnel were preparing for an event President Donald Trump was holding with Fox News to address the nascent covid-19 pandemic from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, site of historic protests and inaugural concerts.

But, first, they had to brief Trump on the plans.

“As of now we’re looking at an event at base of Lincoln from 6-8 or so Sunday night. No event in chamber. I will see if that holds once POTUS is briefed later today,” Jeff Reinbold, the Park Service’s superintendent for the National Mall and Memorial Parks, wrote in an April 28, 2020, email to other agency officials.

By the next morning, the virtual “town hall” was no longer to be held at the base, the documents show. Trump’s two-hour sit-down with Fox News anchors would take place inside the memorial’s main chamber, on the landing in the shadow of the marble statue of a seated Lincoln. With the exception of an annual birthday tribute to Lincoln, federal regulations bar events from being held in that area.

The email is among hundreds of pages of newly released government documents that help fill in the picture of how officials from multiple government agencies worked to engineer the event at the Lincoln, one of the many norm-defying moments of the Trump presidency. They show that the Park Service provided security personnel at a cost of nearly $150,000 and that a Secret Service official apologized to colleagues for the planning process, calling it a “$#!t show.”

After the event, officials noted that the memorial itself — then 98 years old — had sustained scratches and gouges in its pink marble floor, according to a final memorandum.

In the end, the Trump-appointed interior secretary, David Bernhardt, relaxed the rules by finding that the venue was appropriate, given the president’s need to communicate with the American people during a “grave time of national crisis.” That finding has been previously reported.

Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, the executive director of the Partnership for Civil Justice, a progressive group that acquired the documents through a public-records request, said she believes Bernhardt exceeded his authority and allowed Trump to use “the Lincoln Memorial as his stage set.”

“They’re trying to find a way, it looks like, to give him the chamber when there is no legal way to give him the chamber,” she said.

Verheyden-Hilliard’s group often litigates on behalf of those seeking access to public spaces, pressing the government to properly allow free-speech activities and protests along Pennsylvania Avenue and elsewhere.

Mike Litterst, a spokesman for the Park Service, did not address specific questions from The Washington Post. He said in a statement that the agency monitored the activity associated with the town hall, as it does any event not sponsored by the Park Service.

A spokesman for the Secret Service declined to comment. A Trump spokesman did not respond to requests for comment.

Bernhardt said in an interview that he stood by the decision and that government lawyers had approved it. At the time, federal officials and the nation were in the early stages of learning how deadly and transmissible the novel coronavirus was. Mass business closures enacted weeks before had forced layoffs. The unemployment rate had quadrupled.

“I felt that it was an important moment for the country,” Bernhardt told The Post.

On May 3, 2020, at the opening of the town hall, Trump greeted Fox anchors Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum by saying, “We never had a more beautiful set than this did we?” according to a transcript.

The hosts asked about criticism that had already surfaced about the use of the memorial as the site for the event.

“What can you criticize? It’s — I don’t think it’s ever been done, what we’re doing tonight here,” Trump said. “And I think it’s great for the American people to see.”

All presidents use national parks as backdrops for photo opportunities and promotional events, said Kristen Brengel of the National Parks Conservation Association, a nonprofit organization that works to protect the national park system. For his 2009 inaugural, President Barack Obama hosted a concert on the steps of the memorial and was photographed in the chamber. Four years later, he gave a speech on the steps as part of a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I have a dream” speech.

But, by siting the town hall inside the memorial, with Fox News, Brengel said, the Trump administration held an event in defiance of federal regulations in a space that is hallowed ground to many Americans.

“This wasn’t a national emergency to do an event inside the Lincoln Memorial,” she said. “This was the commercial use of a park site in the middle of a pandemic.”

On April 28, the day before the event was announced, officials began sharing early information about it with one another, according to the documents. Reinbold told colleagues that it was being planned for the front steps of the memorial and directed a Fox News staffer to apply for the necessary permit.

Reinbold mentioned that the plans could change after they were presented to Trump that day.

Security personnel at the U.S. Park Police and the Secret Service began to make staffing considerations on short notice. A Park Police official justified the need to call in extra officers on the weekend by citing an emergency order issued weeks earlier allowing for “mission critical adjustments” to help the nation respond to the pandemic.

A Secret Service official helping to staff the event apologized for the process. “Sorry this is such a $#!t show. Will have answers shortly,” wrote the official, whose name is redacted in the documents.

The next day, with the event moved into the memorial’s chamber, Fox News would not need a permit after all, Reinbold wrote. He told colleagues it was out of his hands. “They are using the site as a venue and this is not a co-sponsored or NPS event in any way,” he wrote on April 29.

Trump and Fox announced that the event would take place four days later, on a Sunday evening.

Fox News began making arrangements. A Fox staffer sent Park Service officials a photo taken from the 1963 March on Washington, shot from behind Lincoln’s statue looking out at the entrance, that she hoped to replicate.

“We are also looking to achieve the camera shot in the attached picture,” she wrote on April 30.

An inscription marks the spot where King spoke, 18 steps from the top landing of the memorial.

On May 3, Bernhardt issued a “record of determination,” citing the growing pandemic and the need for the president to communicate with Americans as reasoning to allow the event. “In this grave time of national crisis, the Memorial is a uniquely appropriate place from which our President can communicate an official message to the American people,” Bernhardt wrote.

Verheyden-Hilliard rejected the idea that the interior secretary had such authority. “All they are really doing is putting window dressing on something that is clearly illegal,” she said.

In response to questions from The Post, Fox News Media said in a statement that the station had been approached by the Trump administration and “agreed to moderate the May 2020 event in an effort to provide critical information to the American public.”

“The location of the Lincoln Memorial was proposed by the administration and Fox News worked directly with the National Park Service to ensure the production followed every protocol to protect the space,” the company said.

A Park Service memo after the event said the production crew had “generally followed previously agreed to requirements.” But it also said: “Inside the Lincoln Chamber there are several scratches and gouges on the flooring. Photo documentation taken and referred to the park’s senior management.”

No photos of damage were among the documents released. Fox News said it was unaware of any damage. “At no point was the network made aware of any damages as a result of the event,” the company said.

Litterst said in the statement that the damage was “addressed in-house by the park’s conservators.”

In correspondence in the days after the event, about how to respond to reporters’ questions, Litterst made clear to colleagues that he did not want to give the impression that the agency would allow such an event to take place again: “I think it’s a good opportunity to slam the door on anyone who thinks they can make a similar ask to do an interview in the chamber.”

Source https://www.globalcourant.com/documents-show-how-trump-landed-lincoln-memorial-for-fox-news-event/?feed_id=10503&_unique_id=62f81eae0478f