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Tag: Mar-a-Lago

  • Trump’s campaign employee who ‘helped hide secret materials’ appears in court

    Trump’s campaign employee who ‘helped hide secret materials’ appears in court

    The Mar-a-Lago property manager for Donald Trump made his first court appearance to answer to allegations that he assisted the former president in hiding secret information.

    Carlos De Oliveira did not enter a plea at the James Lawrence King Federal Justice Building in Miami on Monday afternoon because he has not yet hired a lawyer. He was dressed in a blue suit and tie.

    De Oliveira is charged with conspiring with Trump to try to erase surveillance footage that federal investigators had requested in order to look into the secret materials that Trump had taken from the White House to his Florida home. There are four counts against De Oliveira, including obstructing the administration of justice.

    De Olivera’s arraignment was set for August 10 by US Magistrate Judge Edwin Torres, who also commanded him not to communicate with any of the other defendants in the case, including Trump’s valet Walt Nauta.

    De Oliveira was informed of his legal rights during the 10-minute hearing and freed on a $100,000 bail.

    “The Justice Department has regrettably decided to bring these charges, and now it’s time for them to put their money where their mouth is,” De Oliveira’s attorney said following the hearing.

    Four days after the prosecution published a revised indictment in the case involving the secret documents, which included new accusations of obstruction and deliberate retention of national defence information, De Oliveira showed up in court. De Oliveira was listed as a third defendant.

    When asked if he assisted Nauta in moving boxes of secret information about Mar-a-Lago during a voluntary interview, the prosecution claims that De Oliveira lied to FBI investigators.

    According to the superseding indictment released on Thursday, De Oliveira led another Mar-a-Lago employee to a “audio closet” in June 2022 and inquired about the amount of security footage the server could store.

    The boss, most likely referring to Trump, wanted the server data wiped, according to De Oliveira. De Oliveira is accused of saying the “boss” demanded it be done and questioned, “What are we going to do?” when the employee replied he didn’t think he could delete the server.

    Trump and Nauta have both pleaded not-guilty to all allegations.

    On Monday, Trump addressed a second federal indictment that he previously stated he anticipates from special counsel Jack Smith, who is in charge of the investigation into leaked classified information.

    Regarding an investigation into the rioting on January 6 at the Capitol and efforts by Trump and his friends to rig the 2020 election, Trump’s attorneys met with Smith’s prosecutors last week.

    Trump posted on his Truth Social platform, “I presume that an Indictment from Deranged Jack Smith and his extremely political gang of Thugs, referring to my “PEACEFULLY & PATRIOTICALLY Speech, will be coming out any day now.”

  • New classified documents found in Trump’s storage facility

    A U.S. official confirmed to CBS News that representatives of former President Donald Trump notified the FBI after discovering additional potentially sensitive documents in a West Palm Beach, Florida, storage facility.

    More than 300 documents with classified markings have been discovered at Trump properties so far this year, and two more were found inside a sealed box. The FBI has been given access to the documents.

    The information is the first to suggest that Trump properties may have housed or may have held classified materials.

    The searches by Trump representatives were conducted around Thanksgiving at three other locations — the former president’s golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, Trump Tower in New York and in a storage facility at Mar-a-Lago in Florida — according to The Washington Post, which first reported the story.

    It comes at a time of growing legal peril for the former president.

    The FBI seized 33 boxes of records on Aug. 8 during the execution of a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago, including records that were supposed to be in the hands of the National Archives.

    Last month, the Justice Department appointed special counsel Jack Smith to oversee the growing probe into those documents.

    Trump has downplayed the importance of the seizures, but critics say his alleged mishandling of the records could have allowed highly sensitive material to fall into the wrong hands.

    “The disregard and disdain for legal norms and rules simply cannot be accepted from anyone,” said Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal. “No one is above the law.”

  • Trump’s legal team trivialize sensitive files at Mar-a-Lago

    The storage of confidential documents at Donald Trump’s Florida residence, according to his attorneys, “should have never been cause for alarm.”

    The FBI search last month, according to his legal team, was “unprecedented, unnecessary, and legally unsupported.”

    Their filing comes on the eve of a court hearing about Mr Trump’s call for a third-party official to oversee the evidence taken from Mar-a-Lago.

    Officials say the search was necessary due to obstruction by the Trump team.

    The 19-page legal filing posted by the former president’s team on Wednesday night did not respond to the justice department’s claims of obstruction.

    Upon leaving office, US presidents must transfer all of their documents and emails to the National Archives, which maintains historic White House records.

    Mr Trump’s legal team contended he had been engaged in a “standard give-and-take” with the National Archives over the return of his files when the search warrant was executed.

    “There is no question… that the matters before this court centre around the possession, by a president, of his own presidential records,” says the court filing.

    Apparently classified files on the floor of Trump's Mar-a-Lago officeUS DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

    Apparently classified files on the floor of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago office in the 8 August search, released by the Department of Justice

    His lawyers argue: “The notion that Presidential records would contain sensitive information should have never been cause for alarm.”

    The court filing came less than 24 hours after the justice department alleged that Mr Trump’s aides had probably tried to conceal secret documents inside the West Palm Beach estate.

    A National Archives team visited the seafront golf club in January and retrieved 15 boxes of White House records that contained “highly classified reports”, said the filing.

    The justice department began investigations which found evidence that “dozens of additional boxes” probably containing sensitive material still remained at Mar-a-Lago.

    On 3 June, three FBI agents and a justice department lawyer arrived at Mar-a-Lago to collect materials but were “explicitly prohibited” by Mr Trump’s representatives from searching any boxes inside a storage room at the property, according to the 54-page filing.

    Evidence was also found that records were “likely concealed and removed” from the storage area and that efforts were “likely taken” to obstruct the investigation, officials said.

    On Thursday, a judge will hold a hearing on whether an independent legal official known as a special master should be appointed to oversee the evidence and determine whether any of it is protected under executive privilege – a rule which shields some presidential documents.

    The justice department has argued that a special master is not necessary, given that it says most of the evidence has already been inspected by investigators.

    In Wednesday’s court papers, Mr Trump’s lawyers accused the justice department of “gratuitously” including a photograph in its Tuesday filing of “allegedly classified materials” that had been “pulled from a container and spread across the floor for dramatic effect”.

    “Left unchecked, the DOJ will impugn, leak, and publicize selective aspects of their investigation,” Mr Trump’s lawyers wrote, arguing why a special master was necessary.

  • Likely hidden: Officials on documents at Donald Trump’s Florida home

    Department of Justice officials has announced that former president Donald Trump may have hidden and removed papers from his residence during an FBI visit to it in June.

    The agency claimed in a court document that “efforts were probably made to hinder the government’s investigation.”

    The document was sent in response to Mr. Trump’s lawsuit seeking the appointment of a “special master” to oversee a portion of the ongoing litigation.

    Mr. Trump asserted that the materials were declassified while denying any misconduct.

    In the filing released on Tuesday, the Justice Department’s counterintelligence chief, Jay Bratt, gives the clearest picture so far of the department’s attempts to retrieve documents from the former president.

    Those attempts led to a National Archives team visiting his Mar-a-Lago home in January, an FBI team visiting in June, and the FBI searching the mansion on 8 August.

    The FBI is investigating whether Mr Trump improperly handled records by taking them from the White House to Mar-a-Lago after he left office in January 2021.

    US presidents must transfer all of their documents and emails to the National Archives.

    Who visited Mar-a-Lago, when, and why?

    In January, the National Archives retrieved 15 boxes of White House records from Mar-a-Lago, where they found highly classified records were “unfoldered” and “intermixed with other records” – some pages had been torn up.

    Upon learning the boxes contained “highly classified reports”, the Justice Department and the FBI began investigations which found evidence that “dozens of additional boxes” likely containing classified information still remained at his property.

    On 3 June, three FBI agents and a DOJ attorney arrived at Mar-a-Lago to collect materials. According to Mr Trump’s lawyers, he told them: “Whatever you need, just let us know.”

    But agents were “explicitly prohibited” by his representatives from searching any boxes inside a storage room at Mr Trump’s property, according to the latest filing.

    Mr Bratt, from the DOJ, said this gave “no opportunity for the government to confirm” that no classified documents remained at the property.

    Evidence was also found that the records were “likely concealed and removed” from the storage and that efforts were “likely taken” to obstruct the investigation, officials said.

    Following the June visit, FBI teams searched Mr Trump’s property again in August – where they found over a hundred classified documents.

    This was twice as many classified documents found “in a matter of hours” than by the “diligent search” that Mr Trump’s team claimed they had previously carried out.

    Mr Bratt said that this “casts doubt on the extent of cooperation in this matter”.

    At the time, Mr Trump rejected reports he had mishandled official records as “fake news”.

    He is suing for a detailed list of exactly what was taken from his estate and is asking for the government to return any item which was not in the scope of the search warrant.

    Mr Trump’s lawyers have asked that a “neutral” third-party attorney – known as a special master – be brought in to determine whether the seized files are covered by executive privilege, which allows presidents to keep certain communications under wraps.

    But the latest court filing said that any presidential records seized in the search warrant “belong to the United States, not to the former president”.

  • Trump search warrant: FBI took top secret files from Mar-a-Lago

    The FBI seized top secret files in a search of former US President Donald Trump’s estate in Florida this week, according to a search warrant.

    Agents removed 11 sets of documents, including some marked “TS/SCI”, a designation for material that could cause “exceptionally grave” damage to US national security.

    Mr Trump denied any wrongdoing and said the items were declassified.

    It was the first time an ex-president’s home was searched in a criminal probe.

    The list of items was made public on Friday afternoon after a judge unsealed a seven-page document that included the warrant authorising the search of Mr Trump’s Palm Beach residence, Mar-a-Lago.

    It said more than 20 boxes of items were taken on Monday, including a binder of photos, a handwritten note, unspecified information about the “President of France” and a clemency letter written on behalf of long-time Trump ally Roger Stone.

    As well as four sets of top secret files, the cache includes three sets of “secret documents” and three sets of “confidential” material.

    The warrant indicates that FBI agents were looking into potential violations of the Espionage Act, which makes it illegal to keep or transmit potentially dangerous national security information.

    The removal of classified documents or materials is prohibited by law. Mr Trump increased the penalties for the crime while in office and it is now punishable by up to five years in prison.

    The warrant notes that the locations searched at Mar-a-Lago include an area called the “45 office” and storage rooms, but not private guest suites being used by Mr Trump and his staff.

    The justice department had asked a court to make it public on Thursday, a move considered rare amid an ongoing investigation.

    It was approved by a judge on 5 August, three days before it was carried out on Monday, 8 August.

    On Friday night, Mr Trump’s office issued a statement maintaining that he had used his authority while president to declassify the documents.

    “He had a standing order that documents removed from the Oval Office and taken into the residence were deemed to be declassified,” the statement said.

    “The power to classify and declassify documents rests solely with the President of the United States.

    “The idea that some paper-pushing bureaucrat, with classification authority delegated by the president, needs to approve of declassification is absurd.”

    Legal experts have told US media it is unclear whether this argument would hold up in court. “Presidents can declassify information but they have to follow a procedure,” Tom Dupree, a lawyer who previously worked in the justice department, told the BBC.

    “They have to fill out forms. They have to give certain authorisations. They can’t simply say these documents are declassified. They have to follow a process [and it is] not clear that was followed here.”

    A spokesman for Mr Trump, Taylor Budowich, said the administration of President Joe Biden “is in obvious damage control after their botched raid”.

    Mr Budowich accused the administration of “leaking lies and innuendos to try to explain away the weaponisation of government against their dominant political opponent”.

    Mr Trump’s conservative allies have also condemned the raid as a political hit job as he considers another run for the presidency in 2024.

    Law enforcement agencies around the country are reportedly monitoring online threats against government officials that have emerged in the wake of the FBI search.

    US Attorney General Merrick Garland, who personally approved the warrant, defended federal agents on Thursday as “dedicated, patriotic public servants”.

    “I will not stand by silently when their integrity is unfairly attacked,” he told reporters.

    Source: BBC

  • Republican uproar over FBI raid on Trump’s home

    Furious allies of former President Donald Trump are demanding an explanation for the FBI’s raid on his Florida home, Mar-a-Lago.

    The FBI and Department of Justice have yet to comment on the search, which Mr Trump disclosed on Monday evening.

    It is reportedly linked to an investigation into his handling of classified and sensitive material.

    It was the first time a former US president’s home has ever been searched by law enforcement.

    Reports suggest the FBI activity is connected to an investigation into whether Mr Trump, a Republican, removed classified records from the White House and took them to Mar-a-Lago.

    The search was approved at the highest levels of the Department of Justice (DoJ), an unnamed US official told CBS News, the BBC’s US partner.

    Republicans have depicted the investigation as politically motivated, with leading figures demanding a briefing from Attorney General Merrick Garland, head of the DoJ.

    Mr Trump’s former Vice-President, Mike Pence, who has subtly distanced himself amid speculation they may both launch 2024 White House runs, called on the attorney general to give “a full accounting” of why the search warrant was carried out.

    “No former President of the United States has ever been subject to a raid of their personal residence in American history,” he wrote on Twitter.

    Mr Trump’s allies in Congress, meanwhile, vowed to launch an investigation if they win back control of the House of Representatives and Senate in November’s mid-term elections, when the balance of power in Washington will be decided.

    White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Tuesday that President Joe Biden was given no advance notice by the FBI of the raid, and that he “learned about this from public reports”.

    “The president was not briefed and was not aware of it. No-one at the White House was given a heads-up,” she said.

    She told reporters that Mr Biden had gone to great lengths to preserve the independence of the justice department, adding: “President Biden believes in the rule of law.”

    An anti-Trump protester outside Trump Tower in Manhattan on Tuesday
    IMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGES Image caption, An anti-Trump protester outside Trump Tower in Manhattan on Tuesday

    The raid was first announced on Monday evening in a statement by the former president, who was at Trump Tower in New York City.

    Lindsey Halligan, a lawyer for Mr Trump, said she had received a call around 10:00 local time (14:00 GMT) that the FBI had a search warrant for Mar-a-Lago and that she should come to the property.

    She said she saw 30 to 40 gloved FBI agents, some in suits and others dressed casually, and around 10 to 15 FBI vehicles, including a rental truck.

    Ms Halligan told CBS she and another lawyer for Mr Trump were barred from entering the complex, and that the search was divided into three sections: a bedroom, office and storage area.

    “Complete overkill,” she said. “If they needed documents, they could have asked.”

    The Secret Service agents protecting Mr Trump were notified shortly before the warrant was served, an unnamed law enforcement official told CBS.

    In a fundraising email to supporters on Tuesday, Mr Trump – who is currently at his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club – said he and other Republicans were being targeted because of his political influence and “my dominance in all polls”.

    “They are trying to stop the Republican Party and me once more,” he said, adding: “The lawlessness, political persecution, and Witch Hunt, must be exposed and stopped.”

    Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell released a statement on Tuesday saying the justice department “should already have provided answers to the American people and must do so immediately”.

    While many Democrats welcomed the raid, several urged the DoJ to provide more information. Some aired concerns that it could boost support for the former president.

    “This could be very useful to him as many people rally around him during this time,” Dave Aronberg, the state attorney for Palm Beach, where Mar-a-Lago is based, told the BBC. “Trump will use this to regain his martyr status.”

    Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said she first learned of the “visit” by FBI agents through public reports on her phone.

    “To have a warrant, you need justification,” she told NBC News. “And that says that no-one is above the law, not even a president or former president of the United States.”

    Source: BBC

  • Donald Trump reports that FBI officers raided his Florida home in Mar-a-Lago

    Former US President Donald Trump claimed that the FBI searched his Florida property and that a safe was forced open during the search.

    Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, according to Mr. Trump, was “occupied by a huge group of FBI investigators.”

    According to reports, the search on Monday was related to a probe into how Mr. Trump handled official documents.

    “These are dark times for our nation,” Mr. Trump’s statement said. “Nothing like this has ever happened to a President of the United States before.”

    The FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) and the justice department have not commented on the reported search.

    American presidents are required by the Presidential Records Act (PRA) to transfer all of their letters, work documents, and emails to the National Archives (NA).

    There are also other federal laws regarding the handling of classified documents.

    In February, the National Archives said it had retrieved 15 boxes of papers from Mar-a-Lago, which Mr. Trump should have turned over when he left the White House.

    The agency later told Congress the boxes included “items marked as classified national security information”.

    Mr. Trump’s lawyer, Christina Bobb, told NBC News that some papers had been seized during the search.

    The dramatic escalation of law enforcement scrutiny of Mr. Trump comes as the Republican prepares for possible another presidential run in 2024.

    News of the search has mobilized some of Donald Trump’s supporters. A group of fans gathered outside Mar-a-Lago to wave flags and express their anger.

    House of Representatives Republican minority leader Kevin McCarthy said: “I’ve seen enough. The Department of Justice has reached an intolerable state of weaponized politicization.”

    Meanwhile, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, a Republican, tweeted: “Using government power to persecute political opponents is something we have seen many times from 3rd world Marxist dictatorships.”

    Mr. Trump said he had co-operated with all relevant government agencies and so the “unannounced raid on my home was not necessary or appropriate”.

    He said it amounted to “prosecutorial misconduct” and “the weaponization of the justice system” to prevent him from running for the White House again.

    “Such an assault could only take place in broken, Third-World countries,” he said. “Sadly, America has now become one of those countries, corrupt at a level not seen before.

    “They even broke into my safe!”

    According to CBS News, the BBC’s US partner, Mr. Trump was in Trump Tower in New York City at the time of the reported raid.

    Eric Trump, the president’s second-oldest son, told Fox News that the FBI’s execution of the search warrant on Mr. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate was related to an investigation into the handling of National Archives records.

    In February, the NA asked the justice department to investigate Mr. Trump for his handling of official papers.

    NA officials say the former president illegally ripped up many documents. Some of them had to be taped back together, they said.

    Mr. Trump at the time rejected reports that he had mishandled official records as “fake news”.

    A senior Trump adviser in Palm Beach told CBS the new search by federal agents on Mar-a-Lago was about the presidential records.

    “This is about the PRA,” said the Trump source, who only agreed to speak on condition of anonymity.

    “When have you ever heard about a raid because of PRA?”

    The source added: “They [the FBI] just left and they left with very little.”

    A federal search warrant must be signed by a judge. Though such a warrant does not suggest that criminal charges are expected, law enforcement agencies must first demonstrate they have probable evidence of illegality.

    An unnamed law enforcement official told CBS that the Secret Service was notified shortly before the warrant was served around 10:00 local time on Monday (14:00 GMT) and that agents protecting Mr. Trump helped the FBI investigators.

    Several boxes were taken away, the source said, adding that no doors were kicked down and that the raid had concluded by the late afternoon.

    In a forthcoming book, Confidence Man, New York Times journalist Maggie Haberman reports that staff at the White House residency sometimes found wads of paper clogging a toilet and that they believed Mr. Trump was the flusher.

    Ms. Haberman has posted photos that she says show paper in a toilet bowl at the White House.

    A senior White House official has told CBS that President Joe Biden’s administration was given no notice of the FBI search.

    “No advance knowledge,” said the senior official, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter. “Some learned from old media, some from social media.”

    The White House has said it is limiting its interactions with top justice department officials to avoid any hint of political pressure or impropriety.

    Mr. Biden pledged during his White House campaign to stay out of justice department affairs. The Democratic president and his family are also waiting to see whether federal prosecutors will indict his son, Hunter Biden, on tax evasion or other federal charges.

    There is a school of thought that the timing of this search is designed to avoid the long-held maxim that the justice department does not engage in actions that are deemed politically sensitive, near the time of an election.

    We are exactly three months away from the poll that will determine the makeup of the next Congress and rarely has there been such a sensitive time in American politics.

    Mr. Trump certainly believes the motives behind the “raid” were entirely political, a move designed to scupper his chances of running for the White House in 2024.

    There is much that we do not know, but Trump’s supporters are apoplectic with rage at what’s happened.

    It is an open question why a search warrant was needed to enter Mar-a-Lago when the former president said he had been cooperating with the relevant government agencies, but it is a hugely significant move by the justice department.

    In addition to the NA inquiry, a US House of Representatives select committee is investigating Mr. Trump’s actions surrounding the US Capitol riot on 6 January 2021 – when a horde of his supporters rioted at Congress as lawmakers met to certify Mr. Biden’s election victory.

    The US justice department is examining Mr. Trump’s challenge to the results of the 2020 presidential election. Attorney General Merrick Garland has said he intends to hold “everyone” accountable.

    And a prosecutor in Fulton County, Georgia, is also investigating whether Mr. Trump and his associates tried to interfere in that state’s results from the 2020 election.