Former President Trump's lawyer certified in June that no classified material remains at Mar-a-Lago

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/former-president-trumps-lawyer-certified-june-no-classified-material-remains-mar-lago 

In a Truth Social post on Friday, after the warrant was made public, Trump disputed whether the documents the FBI seized were classified.

"Number one, it was all declassified. Number two, they didn’t need to ‘seize’ anything. They could have had it anytime they wanted without playing politics and breaking into Mar-a-Lago. It was in secured storage, with an additional lock put on as per their request..." Trump said. "They could have had it anytime they wanted—and that includes LONG ago. ALL THEY HAD TO DO WAS ASK. The bigger problem is, what are they going to do with the 33 million pages of documents, many of which are classified, that President Obama took to Chicago?"

Trump lawyer claimed no classified material was at Mar-a-Lago in signed letter to Justice Department

 https://edition.cnn.com/2022/08/13/politics/trump-attorney-classified-documents-mar-a-lago-search/index.html

One of former President Donald Trump's attorneys signed a letter in June asserting that there was no more classified information stored at Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

The letter signed by the attorney raises fresh questions about the number of people who may have legal exposure in the ongoing investigation into the handling of classified materials from Trump's time in the White House.

The probe reached dramatic heights earlier this week when the FBI executed a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago, with agents removing 11 sets of classified documents, some of which were marked as "top secret/SCI" -- one of the highest levels of classification.

That inventory list contradicts the attorney's letter. The removal of that classified information after the letter was sent could explain why prosecutors cited an obstruction law in their search warrant request.

Trump says "it was all declassified" — how declassification usually works

 https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-classified-records/

It is also unclear how central a legal question the classification process and the president's role in it could be. As the New York Times points out, none of the statutes cited in the warrant rely on whether the records were classified or not. The search warrant signed by the Florida magistrate judge entails items "illegally possessed in violation of 18 U.S.C. § § 793, 2071, or 1519." 

Trump claims Mar-a-Lago documents were 'declassified.' Why experts reject that argument.

 https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2022/08/12/trump-says-mar-a-lago-documents-declassified-experts-disagree/10310614002/?gnt-cfr=1

Former President Donald Trump claims that documents the FBI took from Mar-a-Lago were 'declassified

Even a president is subject to federal laws designed to protect the most sensitive documents, experts say.

The FBI seized 11 sets of secret, top secret, confidential and other classified documents.

Altered image of Bruce Reinhart, Ghislaine Maxwell circulates after FBI search of Mar-A-Lago

 https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2022/08/12/fact-check-altered-image-bruce-reinhart-ghislaine-maxwell-circulates/10307916002/

Our rating: Altered

Based on our research, we rate ALTERED an image that purports to show Reinhart with Maxwell. The original image shows Maxwell rubbing Epstein's foot, and it was released in 2021 amid her sex-trafficking trial. A 2017 photo of Reinhart watching a football game was edited into the image in the Facebook post in place of Epstein.

Judge who approved FBI’s Mar-a-Lago search represented clients linked to Jeffrey Epstein

 https://www.politico.com/news/2022/08/09/judge-mar-a-lago-epstein-00050739

He worked as a federal prosecutor until Jan. 1, 2008, when a day later he became a defense attorney representing employees of Epstein, according to a 2018 story by the Miami Herald. According to the Herald, the employees included pilots for Epstein, his scheduler and a woman who had been described by some of Epstein’s victims as his sex slave. Epstein committed suicide in a Manhattan federal jail in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking.

Trump is pushing us toward the abyss

 https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/8/12/23302835/trump-fbi-mar-a-lago-search-warrant

Conservative media has taken a similar line. Fox News has been leading the charge against Judge Bruce Reinhart, who authorized the FBI search warrant, on grounds that he represented clients with ties to Jeffrey Epstein over a decade ago. On Thursday night, Fox host Brian Kilmeade displayed a fake picture of Reinhart on a plane with Epstein confidante Ghislaine Maxwell. Little wonder, then, that Reinhart and his synagogue have been receiving threats.

 

Trump's 'Declassified' Defense After FBI Raid 'Is Going to Fail': McQuade

https://www.newsweek.com/trumps-declassified-defense-after-fbi-raid-going-fail-mcquade-1733438 

Speaking with The Washington Post, one source close to the situation claimed that some of the documents pertained to the country's nuclear arsenal. If true, this would also invalidate Trump's declassification defense, as presidents lack the authority to declassify nuclear information. The search warrant also revealed that the ex-president is under investigation for potentially violating the Espionage Act.

Attorney Shoots Down Trump’s ‘Insane’ New Document Defense

Watch The Beat With Ari Melber Highlights: Aug. 12

Trump allies say he declassified Mar-a-Lago documents. Experts say it's unclear whether that will hold up.

 https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-allies-say-declassified-mar-lago-documents-experts-say-unclear-w-rcna42311

Richard Immerman, a historian and former assistant deputy director of national intelligence under former President Barack Obama, disagreed and said that, while the president has the authority to declassify documents, there’s a formal process for doing so, and there's no indication Trump used it.

“He can’t just wave a wand and say it’s declassified,” Immerman said. “There has to be a formal process. That’s the only way the system can work,” because otherwise there would be no way of knowing who could handle or see the documents, he added.

“I’ve seen thousands of declassified documents. They’re all marked ‘declassified’ with the date they were declassified,” Immerman said.

Madison Cawthorn Comparing Biden's FBI to Roman Leader '100% Wrong'—Experts

 https://www.newsweek.com/madison-cawthorn-comparing-bidens-fbi-roman-leader-100-wrongexperts-1732607

"Quite what the good senator has in mind is beyond me, but if I read right, there is an assumption that Trump is the tribune of the plebs afflicted by some sort of dictatorial state. This would seem to be just about 100% wrong."

Nuclear Weapons Documents Among Items Sought From Trump in FBI Raid: Report

 https://www.newsweek.com/nuclear-weapons-documents-among-items-sought-trump-fbi-raid-report-1733092

FBI agents who descended upon Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate were searching for classified documents concerning nuclear weapons that the former president was suspected of improperly removing from the White House.

'Proof’ West Germany staged 1972 plane hijack to free Munich Olympics killers

 https://www.thejc.com/news/world/proof'-west-germany-staged-1972-plane-hijack-to-free-munich-olympics-killers-49mqppQPxDYek8XLzkUf38

“We have found documents that state that the German government asked the Palestinian terror organisation to fake the hijack of a German plane in order to be able to set them free — and for doing so, a month after the heinous terrorist attack, the Palestinians were paid nine million dollars,” Dutch lawyer Carry Knoops-Hamburger, one of the team negotiating with the German government for compensation for the victims’ families, told the JC.