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Trump Search Warrant for Nuclear Weapons Documents? - YouTube
Channel: LegalEagle
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the fbi raided trump's house in
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mar-a-lago well the fbi executed his
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search warrant and took a bunch of
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documents and things but
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yes this is unprecedented in america yes
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it could be the beginning of a criminal
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prosecution of the former president
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yes it could be the tip of the spear of
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a political witch hunt by the biden
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administration against a political rival
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or it could be a mundane effort to
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retrieve archival documents that leads
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to absolutely nothing else we just don't
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know the fbi and i give them a lot of
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credit because they're fighting forces
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that they're not supposed to be fighting
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but what do we know about the search
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warrant that was carried out against
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former president trump we can't make
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many assumptions about the fbi raid
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until we see the actual warrant or until
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you know we see an indictment but here's
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what we do know the justice department
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is conducting at least two
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investigations that we know of into
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trump the doj is looking at his attempt
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to overturn the result of the 2020
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presidential election and is also
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investigating the alleged mishandling of
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classified records the national archive
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is charged with collecting and sorting
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presidential material the national
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archives has publicly stated that it had
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to recover at least 15 boxes of white
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house records that trump took to his
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mar-a-lago resort the records include
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some classified material and we know
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that trump has a history of destroying
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and withholding records he was
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repeatedly warned about destroying
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documents but according to cnn politico
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and the washington post he tore them up
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and threw them in the trash or on the
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floor white house officials reassembled
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some of those records with tape the
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national archives confirmed that the
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trump administration sent the archives
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some documents that had been taped back
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together as well as records that were
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still in shreds i'll be doing a separate
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video on the presidential records act
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and the implications of the espionage
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act but multiple sources told cnn that
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in april and may the fbi interviewed
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trump's mar-a-lago aides and in june of
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2022 investigators visited mar-a-lago to
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discuss trump's removal of potentially
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classified material that had been taken
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to the florida property one of those
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investigators jay bratt is the chief of
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the counterintelligence and export
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control section at the justice
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department trump reportedly greeted the
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investigators but did not answer
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questions the investigators asked to see
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where the documents were being stored
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trump's lawyers showed them a room in
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the basement where boxes of records were
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being stored some reports said that the
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documents were marked with top secret
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on june 8 the investigators sent a
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letter to trump's lawyers telling them
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to secure the room where the secret
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documents were stored trump aides
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complied with the request and added a
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padlock to the door now i probably don't
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need to tell you just how insane it is
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that there could be top secret
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classified documents being stored in
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some basement in mar-a-lago uh or just
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how insane it is that the fbi raided the
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mar-a-lago potentially over these
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documents but i do have to say that uh
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they even broke into my safe is probably
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going to go down
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as a quote for the ages but the search
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began early monday morning and
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apparently focused on the area of the
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club where trump's offices and personal
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quarters are located the investigators
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met with two of trump's attorneys and
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trump reportedly greeted the
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investigators but did not answer
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questions investigators removed more
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than a dozen boxes of items eric trump
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told fox news that he was told the
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purpose of the raid from what they said
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was because national archives wanted to
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you know corroborate whether or not
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donald trump had any documents in his
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possession trump's lawyer christina todd
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said the fbi seized documents and trump
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cooperated with the fbi quote president
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trump and his legal team have been
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cooperative with the fbi and doj
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officials every step of the way the fbi
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did conduct an unannounced raid and
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seized paper though the bob said that
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the raid was unannounced cnn reported
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the fbi and secret service communicated
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about the raid before it happened to
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ensure that it went smoothly donald
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trump was in new york on the day of the
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raid and the biden administration was
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reportedly not aware of the raid
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according to cnn now we can assume this
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raid did not happen at the behest of a
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rogue fbi agent or a local judge acting
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without buy-in or notification of
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high-level doj officials obviously
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serving a warrant on a former president
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is an incredibly serious thing and it's
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a decision that can't be taken lightly
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the fbi and doj must follow
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constitutional and statutory
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requirements for obtaining a warrant
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which we'll talk about in a moment but
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in addition the doj has guidelines for
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investigations of political targets in
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2020 former attorney general william
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barr issued a controversial memorandum
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stating that anyone in the justice
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department who was investigating a
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political candidate must run it by the
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attorney general for approval and
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current attorney general merrick garland
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renewed that memo on may 25 2022
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garland's memo is titled election year
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sensitivities the memo reminded doj
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employees of the department's
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long-standing policy for avoiding steps
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that could be perceived as partisan and
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designed to influence uh an election
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result quote this is particularly
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important in an election year now that
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the 2022 election season is upon us and
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as in prior election cycles i am using
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this memorandum to remind you of the
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department's existing policies with
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respect to political activities now
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barr's original memo says investigations
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including preliminary ones into
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presidential or vice presidential
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candidates their campaigns or staff
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cannot be opened without the written
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approval of the attorney general it also
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states that an investigation into a
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congressional candidate or campaign
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cannot be opened without first notifying
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the assistant attorney general and the
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respective u.s attorney in the district
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involved and if an investigation is
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initiated in line with these guidelines
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then the investigating agency has to
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provide regular updates to the deputy
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attorney general now trump has indicated
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that he will be a candidate for
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president in 2022. so the tldr version
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here is the fbi would not have applied
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for a search warrant without garland's
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consent and presumably they also would
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have gotten approval from the trump
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appointed fbi director christopher wray
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but what is the requirement for a
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federal search warrant well a search
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warrant authorizes law enforcement to
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search a location for any of the
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following evidence of a crime contraband
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fruits of crime or other items illegally
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possessed
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property designed for use intended for
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use or used in committing a crime or a
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person to be arrested or a person who
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was unlawfully restrained now usually
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those first three are lumped together
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imagine a simple burglary where jewelry
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was stolen you'd want to look at the
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burglar's house for the stolen jewelry
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cash or drugs that might have been
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traded for the stolen jewelry or
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burglary tools and so law enforcement
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has to identify two different things one
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the person or property to be searched
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and two the items to be seized now more
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to the point law enforcement has to
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establish probable cause to believe that
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the items to be seized exist and will be
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located in the person or property to be
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identified and probable cause is hard to
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define it's imprecise fluid and very
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dependent on context the u.s supreme
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court says that finding whether probable
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cause exists is quote a practical common
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sense decision whether given all the
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circumstances there is a fair
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probability that contraband or evidence
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of a crime will be found in a particular
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place and what does fair probability
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actually mean well it doesn't have a
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specific number attached to it unlike
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the standard of preponderance of the
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evidence which is just a hair over 50 or
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more that said several studies over the
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decades that involve surveys of judges
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generally agree the probable cause is
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somewhere in the high 40s but beneath 50
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and it might be worth noting that some
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jurisdictions like oregon have collapsed
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the probable cause standard and the
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preponderance standard so that probable
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cause means anything over 50 likelihood
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but that is not the federal or
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constitutional standard the
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constitutional standard is only a fair
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probability now you might ask how
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specific does a federal search warrant
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have to be well generally speaking not
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that specific we can look to the search
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warrant that was used against paul
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manafort it includes something very
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specific quote a bichon black titanium
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royal whey watch but it also includes
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general categories of items like any and
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all financial records for paul manafort
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jr now we'll get into what that means in
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practice later but let's talk about the
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practice for getting a federal search
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warrant now the applicant for a search
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warrant is generally a federal law
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enforcement officer of some kind an fbi
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agent a treasury agent et cetera
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and as of 2016 federal agencies employed
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about 132 000 full-time law enforcement
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officers and every federal search
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warrant is reviewed by an assistant u.s
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attorney of some kind now that's not
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required by law but it's a policy
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decision by the department of justice
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now the application itself is a one-page
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template and federal law enforcement
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generally attaches three documents to
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that application the first is the
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affidavit by the investigating officer
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attachment a includes the property to be
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searched and attachment b lists uh the
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items to be seized now the affidavit is
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a sworn declaration by the law
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enforcement officer that sets forth the
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officer's knowledge of the investigation
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it can include hearsay and even
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information from anonymous or
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confidential sources though the officer
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needs to establish the reliability of
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that information the purpose of that
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affidavit is to establish probable cause
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to the reviewing magistrate but the
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affidavit is all there is the magistrate
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does not get to consider any additional
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information just what's contained within
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the four corners of that document now
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that said the magistrate judge has to
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issue the warrant if there is probable
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cause it's not optional the judge does
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not have discretion to say well there is
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probably probable cause but i don't
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think you need it for your investigation
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it's looking pretty good on its own
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once the magistrate judge has found
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probable cause the warrant must issue
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and what this means in practice is that
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the magistrate judge signs the
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application the one-page template and
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issues it to another officer authorized
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to execute it the warrant must be
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executed within 14 days and during the
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day time unless there's good cost to
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execute it at some other time and this
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should go without saying but i'm gonna
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say it again anyway just because a judge
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signs off on it doesn't mean a crime has
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been committed and just because you have
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received a federal search warrant
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doesn't mean that you are a criminal or
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have done really anything wrong
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see contra all of the legal bad takes on
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twitter and as a reminder
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just because a search warrant was
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executed on a particular person's
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property that doesn't mean that
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particular person is the target of an
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investigation now it is very common for
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that to be the case but search warrants
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are frequently served on google and meta
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for information and data that they keep
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on their servers that are relevant to an
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investigation they're not the target of
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that investigation now and it's rare but
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occasionally search warrants are
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executed on members of the media who
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have information or lawyers who
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represent the targets of an
[595]
investigation nor does it mean there
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absolutely will be a prosecution just
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because there is probable cause doesn't
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mean that the government can prove a
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case beyond a reasonable doubt in a jury
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trial that's a completely separate
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consideration in light of all the
[608]
evidence including
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whatever evidence comes out as a result
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of the search warrant the beyond
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reasonable doubt standard is much much
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higher than the probable cause or even
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the preponderance of the evidence
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standard though it's always good to
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remind people that just because you
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aren't convicted beyond a reasonable
[622]
doubt doesn't mean you didn't commit a
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crime also you know so it goes both ways
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now there are some differences between
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state and federal courts when it comes
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to search warrants for one the states
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don't have a single uniform procedure
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like the federal courts do now they all
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basically get you to the same place but
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they certainly won't look as uniform as
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they do in the federal system and state
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judges have a reputation for rubber
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stamping applications for search
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warrants the federal system uh has the
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department of justice that acts as a
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gatekeeper for search warrants even
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though that's not required by federal
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law so state judges are more likely to
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get warrants to contain plenty of
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grammatical and formatting issues and
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might not have quite as much uh evidence
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as far as probable cause goes but in any
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event the end result is that officers
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will show up to a location knocking on
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the door notifying the people inside of
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the search warrant and then searching
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the scene that means getting everyone
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out of the place so that they can't
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tamper with evidence or present a threat
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the officers then search the place in
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accordance with what's allowed in the
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warrant they can search for the items
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authorized by the warrant and open any
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containers that could reasonably contain
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the items including safes block boxes
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and the like and using the paul manafort
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search warrant as an example
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we saw that there was a pretty big
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category any and all financial records
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for paul manafort jr so let's say that
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you're one of the fbi agents on the
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scene you would basically look for
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documents and papers and let's say that
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you find a manila folder that contains
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100 or so pages you might skim through
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it and as you do you see a couple of
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financial records that pertain to paul
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manafort you would then likely seize the
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entire manila folder there are two
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reasons for this one
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people typically keep financial records
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with other financial records or related
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records and those related records might
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be needed to make sense of the specific
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financial records that they're kept with
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and second you don't have time at the
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scene to fully understand how all the
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documents link together in other words
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you don't understand the import of those
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documents at the scene so you'd probably
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take the entire manila folder and notate
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on an inventory form something like
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manila folder containing financial
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documents located in the lower
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right-hand desk drawer in the office now
[744]
agents keep an inventory of what items
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they seize and where they found those
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items they are required by law to do
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this when they're done executing the
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search warrant they will leave a copy of
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the search warrant as well as a copy of
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the inventory of things seized now it's
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important to note
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they do not leave a copy of the
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affidavit all they will leave is the one
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page application along with the two
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attachments listing the property to be
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searched and the items to be seized
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after that the investigating officers
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would then return the search warrant to
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the magistrate and it would specify the
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date and time the warrant was executed
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and include the inventory of item seized
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so what's next well trump has a copy of
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the search warrant but not the
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supporting affidavit he could release it
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if he chose to there's no legal reason
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why he couldn't release it
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and it's interesting that he has chosen
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not to and additionally there are
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reports of a mole or informant inside of
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mar-a-lago which might explain the
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exigency of the fbi search of mar-a-lago
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additionally the florida times union
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judicial watch and the new york times
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have filed a motion to unseal the
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records the supporting affidavit is
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sealed to protect the investigation and
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generally the doj doesn't comment on
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ongoing investigations because it could
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jeopardize the investigation and tip off
[814]
other targets or the target who is the
[816]
initial target 12 seconds later except
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of course when the doj chooses that it's
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going to make a statement about an
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ongoing investigation like when you're
[825]
trying to get a freaking youtube video
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out and the attorney general for the
[829]
united states chooses to give a press
[831]
conference
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attorney general merrick garland
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confirmed in a press conference that
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indeed he did have personal supervision
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over the search warrant that was
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executed over the former president's
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estate at mar-a-lago and in fact because
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former president trump did confirm the
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search warrant was executed and publicly
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stated information about it the doj is
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going to move to unseal the records
[854]
related to the the search warrant itself
[857]
one gets the sense that the doj was
[859]
trying to keep this quiet and in fact
[860]
this comes on the heels of a report from
[862]
the new york times that
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a subpoena was issued against former
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president trump to return
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some or all of the documents in question
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and that may have not been complied with
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which might have forced the doj's hand
[875]
to execute a search warrant to get these
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documents and now we're facing the
[879]
incredibly interesting situation where
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it's the doj that is moving to disclose
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this information
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and it may be former president trump who
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doesn't want it disclosed he of course
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always had the ability to disclose uh
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the receipt and the the other pages of
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the warrant uh other than the the
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probable cause affidavit and now he may
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be in a situation where he wants to keep
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that secret but at least that's likely
[902]
to be the last bombshell that we have to
[903]
deal with in this particular case for a
[905]
while 12 seconds later are you freaking
[909]
kidding me so the washington post is now
[911]
reporting that the documents at issue
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here uh concern nuclear weapons uh which
[916]
explains a whole lot about why this
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search warrant was executed uh why the
[922]
exiting circumstances um and why
[924]
everyone is freaking out uh it also
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throws a huge curveball in the people
[928]
that were saying that the president
[930]
could just declassify documents on the
[932]
way out of the white house when it comes
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to nuclear weapons related documents
[937]
often that has to go through a separate
[939]
regulatory agency often the the
[941]
president is in charge of
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declassification but when it comes to
[944]
these kinds of documents that is not
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necessarily the case uh it also raises
[948]
all kinds of questions as to why former
[951]
president trump took these documents out
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of the white house and why he might have
[955]
refused to turn them back over uh when
[957]
multiple requests were made which is
[960]
what has been alleged uh so we'll uh
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we'll cover all of the potential
[964]
criminal implications of this in a
[965]
separate video
[966]
but this whole situation is raising all
[968]
kinds of questions but one thing is for
[970]
sure keeping a bunch of classified
[972]
documents in a basement would be a
[974]
pretty stupid move but they could
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quickly get their brains back to
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functioning correctly with a logic or
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