There is much we don’t know yet about the FBI RAID on Trump’s residence earlier this week but there is a line through the cloud of data points we do have that seems rather obvious to me. Of course, I am cursed with a long memory for such things and at least an ounce of intellectual curiosity… or, maybe this is just another silly conspiracy theory. Regardless, here is what I see…
First, some facts from Powerline:
* President Trump, like other presidents before him, took files with him when he left the White House. There is nothing necessarily wrong with this. The Presidential Records Act, passed in 1978, says that the official records of a president are public property and belong to the National Archives. But a president can take with him, when he leaves office, personal papers as well as–a point that I haven’t seen made–copies of documents, as long as they are marked as such and he leaves a copy for the Archives.
* Trump, like prior presidents, has negotiated with the National Archives about the materials he took with him. Earlier this year, he sent 15 boxes to the Archives. Subsequently, it is reported that representatives of the Archives came to Mar-a-Lago to review approximately 15 more boxes that Trump still had in his basement. While they were doing the review, Trump came downstairs to greet them. I don’t think the contents of those boxes, the apparent target of the search warrant, are a mystery to the Archives or to DOJ. Maybe they were hoping to discover something new in Melania’s closets.
[Emphasis added]
I believe I have read elsewhere that this seemingly (at least somewhat) cordial and cooperative visit “earlier this year” was back in June.
Next, via Instapundit:
FBI Raided Mar-A-Lago To Search For ‘Top Secret’ Documents On ‘Nuclear Weapons,’ Report Claims
Federal law enforcement officials were allegedly searching for highly classified documents on “nuclear weapons” when they raided former President Donald Trump’s home in Florida earlier this week, according to a report. …
“If that is true, it would suggest that material residing unlawfully at Mar-a-Lago may have been classified at the highest classification level,” said David Laufman, the former chief of the Justice Department’s counterintelligence section, which investigates leaks of classified information. “If the FBI and the Department of Justice believed there were top secret materials still at Mar-a-Lago, that would lend itself to greater ‘hair-on-fire’ motivation to recover that material as quickly as possible.”
Now, a third data point that actually comes from way back in 2013 and a target much smaller than Trump…witness the Sharyl Attkisson saga:
Sharyl Attkisson: IG’s Office Swapped Out My Hard Drive After Fed Agents Hacked My Computer
When Attkisson had her computer examined by an independent computer forensics expert, evidence was found showing that it had been “accessed by an unauthorized, external, unknown party on multiple occasions” and that “this party performed all access remotely using Attkisson’s accounts,” according to a report from CBS in 2013. Furthermore, “forensic analysis revealed an intruder had executed commands that appeared to involve search and exfiltration of data.” The traces of software left behind after the attack were shown by the expert who examined the computer to be “proprietary to a federal intel agency,” according to Attkisson.
Not only that, but buried in the system files of her operating system (where she would be almost certain never to look) were three classified government documents. Attkisson could have been charged under the Espionage Act for possessing those documents. And unlike Hillary Clinton — whom Attkisson was exposing along with Obama in her reporting on Benghazi — Attkisson would not likely have gotten a pass from the FBI.
[Emphasis added]
As a more recent follow up to this, see this report on how Sharyl Attkisson Says FBI Intended to Plant Child Porn on Husband’s Computer.
I could also add some historic background on the scary looking movie props that they planted for use on January 6, 2021 (and have now rather successfully erased from media and collective memory – see photo below) to support the shallowness of the inclusion of the “nuclear weapons” and “top secret” details in the leaked info we have this week. (It is sad that such transparently sophomoric theater is now all it takes to fool at least half a nation. But I digress.) But the simplicity of the three main data points above to demonstrate the level of integrity we are now dealing with seems sufficient and appropriate to connect the dots into a straight line pointing directly at a much more likely historic storyline than the scripted official narrative that has only served to distract from the voluntary implosion of a once great nation that continues to be orchestrated from the ruling beltway.
Only 892 looonnnnggg days left in the constitutionally mandated Biden-Harris administration. May America get every one of those to the fullest…and emerge on the other side certainly bruised and battered but also wiser. I would hope that would include a healthy learned blindness to the feeding-frenzy and cultivated mass delusional hysteria machine and a sensitized aversion to the intellectually unserious (e.g., the Biden Cabinet and administration in its entirety, Nancy Pelosi, Liz Cheney, comment section trolls…oh, hell, the list is way too long).
Into the abyss…
the philo t. custis institute 
Yes, this raid was unwarranted thus it is apparent that some malign mischief is afoot. We didn’t hear about “nuclear weapons” data until after the pundits were pointing out that President Trump had declassification powers. The only data that President Trump could not declassify was nuclear weapons information that are classified by statute, not under the authority of the President. So, conveniently, the “classified” documents trope was salvaged if it was nuclear weapons information, not documents under the Presidents classification authority. We’ll see if the warrant specified such or generally referred to classified information and the nuclear weapons information is a post facto assertion. But the real game is the access and plant. Of course certain “plants” can be done remotely, but you have a lot more options if you gain physical access to the premises including inserting listening devices.President Trump would be well served by getting a good security sweep by someone knowledgeable about the latest surveillance equipment.
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Rodin: “We didn’t hear about “nuclear weapons” data until after the pundits were pointing out that President Trump had declassification powers. The only data that President Trump could not declassify was nuclear weapons information that are classified by statute, not under the authority of the President. So, conveniently, the “classified” documents trope was salvaged if it was nuclear weapons information, not documents under the Presidents classification authority.”
A perfect example of the “narrative cultivation” process. This is the stuff that gets lost to history once the official narrative matures and solidifies into the form that gets repeated in shorthand by MSNBC and unthinking comment section stoolies forever. Thanks for pointing that out.
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August 14 Update…
Regarding that “narrative cultivation process”…it continues. See this from yesterday:
“No one’s saying any longer that the documents contained national defense (nuclear production) information….the argument has been changed by the government once again. This no longer has anything to do with classified documents but espionage and someone’s idea of obstruction of justice.”
(See:https://ricochet.com/1299040/president-trumps-high-noon/#comment-6375180)
Now, this morning, all I’m hearing is how this was all about getting surveillance footage from Mar-a-Lago:
New Media Conspiracy Drops Surrounding Trump Raid, This Time About ‘Surveillance Footage’
https://redstate.com/bonchie/2022/08/14/new-media-conspiracy-drops-surrounding-trump-raid-this-time-about-surveillance-footage-n611995
As I have overheard various main stream media reports in passing the last three days, I have noticed a word that has been glaring omitted: “allegedly.” A local station had a national security “expert” from (I think ) SMU on and he talked about the investigation into “what Trump has done and what he is hiding.” Shameless…and conveniently persistent across media. This will end up getting a full week or more of drilling unchallenged guilty proclamations and innuendos into the unthinking masses…as intended. I so do hope it backfires spectacularly.
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UPDATE: From Scott Adams:
‘Before you decide how “extreme” the Right wing rhetoric is about the Mar-a-Lago raid, take a moment to consider how extreme the raid itself was. It has every tell for being the thirteenth hoax, and if so, it is a pre-emptive insurrection.”
(Note: The missing #12 (“Trump tried to grab the steering wheel of The Beast.”) is added in a follow on tweet.
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RE: There is much we don’t know yet about the FBI RAID on Trump’s residence earlier this week
Two weeks later:
The Great Disappearing Raid Story
https://taibbi.substack.com/p/the-great-disappearing-raid-story
“Two weeks ago, the FBI raid on Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home was the biggest story on earth and seemingly one of the most consequential American news events since 9/11. The search inspired a few hours of social media jubilation, followed by roughly a week of frenzied leaking as a parade of national security soothsayers unspooled sinister scenarios on TV, and then — nothing. The line went dead. …
“Has a story this big ever receded to the back pages this quickly? …”
Modern media is not about facts and truth, it is all about establishing and solidifying “feelings” among the lemming consumers with a shallow, carefully crafted narrative and then shifting focus to the next narrative. In most cases, 48 to 72 hours after the original story breaks, 80% or more of the reporting has been fully debunked and the narrative exposed as the complete hackery is was…but the focus has moved on and the real mission has been accomplished. No need to correct.
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My first thoughts when the raid occurred was that it was a desperation move that was connected to the Jan 6 committee going so badly and the hope of “fishing” up something that could be twisted their way, or trying to suppress what he had declassified and had copies of connected to all the activities (Crossfire Hurrican, Hillary’s server etc) against him since 2015 or all of the above. With agent Timothy Thibault being tossed onto the alter yesterday it might mean that the whole thing drew a blank and he will be the fall guy to give the leading actors some room to deny, deny, deny. All of this is classic authoritarian behavior from any period of history you care to name.
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