The Trump Warrant Had No Legal Basis

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The Trump Warrant Had No Legal Basis

A former presidentā€™s rights under the Presidential Records Act trump the statutes the FBI cited to justify the Mar-a-Lago raid.

22 Aug 2022 ~~ By David B. Rivkin Jr. & Lee A. Casey

(Excerpt) ->
Was the Federal Bureau of Investigation justified in searching Donald Trumpā€™s residence at Mar-a-Lago? The judge who issued the warrant for Mar-a-Lago has signaled that he is likely to release a redacted version of the affidavit supporting it. But the warrant itself suggests the answer is likely noā€”the FBI had no legally valid cause for the raid.
The warrant authorized the FBI to seize ā€œall physical documents and records constituting evidence, contraband, fruits of crime, or other items illegally possessed in violation of 18 U.S.C. Ā§Ā§793, 2071, or 1519ā€ (emphasis added). These three criminal statutes all address the possession and handling of materials that contain national-security information, public records or material relevant to an investigation or other matters properly before a federal agency or the courts.
The materials to be seized included ā€œany government and/or Presidential Records created between January 20, 2017, and January 20, 2021ā€ā€”i.e., during Mr. Trumpā€™s term of office. Virtually all the materials at Mar-a-Lago are likely to fall within this category. Federal law gives Mr. Trump a right of access to them. His possession of them is entirely consistent with that right, and therefore lawful, regardless of the statutes the FBI cites in its warrant.
The materials to be seized included ā€œany government and/or Presidential Records created between January 20, 2017, and January 20, 2021ā€ā€”i.e., during Mr. Trumpā€™s term of office. Virtually all the materials at Mar-a-Lago are likely to fall within this category. Federal law gives Mr. Trump a right of access to them. His possession of them is entirely consistent with that right, and therefore lawful, regardless of the statutes the FBI cites in its warrant.
Those statutes are general in their text and application. But Mr. Trumpā€™s documents are covered by a specific statute, the Presidential Records Act of 1978. It has long been the Supreme Court position, as stated in Morton v. Mancari (1974), that ā€œwhere there is no clear intention otherwise, a specific statute will not be controlled or nullified by a general one, regardless of the priority of enactment.ā€ The former presidentā€™s rights under the PRA trump any application of the laws the FBI warrant cites.

Commentary:
The overreach of both Garland and Wray is astounding.
If this were done by the DOJ during the Trump administration to Obama, or VP Joe Biden this would have been reversed long ago. Instead, this is going to be milked through the midterms.
It has in effect hurt the DOJ, Merrick Garland, the FBI, Christpher Wray, Democrats overall, and especially Joe Biden.
Well, we do know that unlike Bill Clinton the Nuke Codes were not lost, nor did DJT abscond with $28,000 worth of White House furniture neither did he leave with over 3 million documents as Obama did
Obviously, the Maoist Democrats in power have gone from being merely lawless to conceiving that their interests are the very bounds in which all law must operate.
It's become that using the word ā€˜legalā€™ with anything involving Democrats produces nothing.
For them, there are no rules, regulations, laws or statutes. All of those terms are for ā€˜others.ā€™
 

The Trump Warrant Had No Legal Basis

A former presidentā€™s rights under the Presidential Records Act trump the statutes the FBI cited to justify the Mar-a-Lago raid.

22 Aug 2022 ~~ By David B. Rivkin Jr. & Lee A. Casey

(Excerpt) ->
Was the Federal Bureau of Investigation justified in searching Donald Trumpā€™s residence at Mar-a-Lago? The judge who issued the warrant for Mar-a-Lago has signaled that he is likely to release a redacted version of the affidavit supporting it. But the warrant itself suggests the answer is likely noā€”the FBI had no legally valid cause for the raid.
The warrant authorized the FBI to seize ā€œall physical documents and records constituting evidence, contraband, fruits of crime, or other items illegally possessed in violation of 18 U.S.C. Ā§Ā§793, 2071, or 1519ā€ (emphasis added). These three criminal statutes all address the possession and handling of materials that contain national-security information, public records or material relevant to an investigation or other matters properly before a federal agency or the courts.
The materials to be seized included ā€œany government and/or Presidential Records created between January 20, 2017, and January 20, 2021ā€ā€”i.e., during Mr. Trumpā€™s term of office. Virtually all the materials at Mar-a-Lago are likely to fall within this category. Federal law gives Mr. Trump a right of access to them. His possession of them is entirely consistent with that right, and therefore lawful, regardless of the statutes the FBI cites in its warrant.
The materials to be seized included ā€œany government and/or Presidential Records created between January 20, 2017, and January 20, 2021ā€ā€”i.e., during Mr. Trumpā€™s term of office. Virtually all the materials at Mar-a-Lago are likely to fall within this category. Federal law gives Mr. Trump a right of access to them. His possession of them is entirely consistent with that right, and therefore lawful, regardless of the statutes the FBI cites in its warrant.
Those statutes are general in their text and application. But Mr. Trumpā€™s documents are covered by a specific statute, the Presidential Records Act of 1978. It has long been the Supreme Court position, as stated in Morton v. Mancari (1974), that ā€œwhere there is no clear intention otherwise, a specific statute will not be controlled or nullified by a general one, regardless of the priority of enactment.ā€ The former presidentā€™s rights under the PRA trump any application of the laws the FBI warrant cites.

Commentary:
The overreach of both Garland and Wray is astounding.
If this were done by the DOJ during the Trump administration to Obama, or VP Joe Biden this would have been reversed long ago. Instead, this is going to be milked through the midterms.
It has in effect hurt the DOJ, Merrick Garland, the FBI, Christpher Wray, Democrats overall, and especially Joe Biden.
Well, we do know that unlike Bill Clinton the Nuke Codes were not lost, nor did DJT abscond with $28,000 worth of White House furniture neither did he leave with over 3 million documents as Obama did
Obviously, the Maoist Democrats in power have gone from being merely lawless to conceiving that their interests are the very bounds in which all law must operate.
It's become that using the word ā€˜legalā€™ with anything involving Democrats produces nothing.
For them, there are no rules, regulations, laws or statutes. All of those terms are for ā€˜others.ā€™
Operative word, opinion.
 
Worse still is Biden himself initiated the raid on Trump. Evidence is coming out today that shows the White House was intricately involved in this action. This is not going to end well for democrats. This was a politicly driven assault on the opponents of the democrat party. Stalin style...
Trump would be dead already if it was Stalin-style.
 
Some of the best lawyers in the USA say the Justice Department broke with the Constitution with an illegal invasion of a former President.


 
Operative word, opinion.

Exactly. And when some Trump supporter publishes an OPINION, all the other Trumpers rally around that as a way to point to wrongdoing. No, I'm pretty sure that the FBI had all the requirements met (probably even more so since it was a former president), and all these blowhards with their opinions are trying as hard as they can to undermine the FBI in a desperate hope to somehow save Trump.
 
They were supposed to, but they did not. Trump was working with them on identifying any documents that needed to be returned. There was no statutory reason for this raid. IT was a political hit job.

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Aug 11, 2022 ā€” A grand jury subpoenaed former President Donald Trump for classified documents he took from the White House to Mar-a-Lago before the FBI ...


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https://www.rollingstone.com ā€ŗ politics ā€ŗ politics-news




Aug 11, 2022 ā€” Former President Donald Trump was subpoenaed for classified records he allegedly took from the White House before the FBI raided Mar-a-Lago.


FBI Reportedly Issued Subpoena And Took National Security ...​

https://www.forbes.com ā€ŗ madelinehalpert ā€ŗ 2022/08/11




Aug 11, 2022 ā€” Federal investigators served a separate subpoena for surveillance footage at Mar-a-Lago to see who had access to the documents after the June ...


Feds seized documents from Trump's Mar-a-Lago in June​

https://nypost.com ā€ŗ 2022/08/11 ā€ŗ feds-seized-docume...




Aug 11, 2022 ā€” On June 22, the Journal reported, the Trump Organization received a subpoena for security camera footage from Mar-a-Lago, which was turned over.


Trump served subpoena at Mar-a-Lago two months before FBI ...​

https://www.usatoday.com ā€ŗ news ā€ŗ politics ā€ŗ 2022/08/11




Aug 11, 2022 ā€” Two months before the FBI executed its search at Donald Trump's Florida estate, the former president was served with a subpoena seeking ...
 

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