(Compiled from news stories and commentaries)
Let’s start here: The Presidential Records Act requires presidents to turn over any and all written materials related to their official duties, so there’s a law on the books that prevents Trump from hoarding any official records from his administration at his private residence, whether classified or not.
Trump was initially contacted about classified documents at Mar-a-Lago in May 2021, by the same person in the White House Counsel’s Office who was designated before he left office. There followed months of negotiations, communications, and dialogue between the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) and Trump’s lawyers.
Finally, in January 2022, NARA retrieved 15 boxes from Mar-a-Lago, and made public that those boxes contained classified documents, and some showed evidence of attempted destruction.
On February 18, 2022, National Archivist David Ferriero advised the House Oversight Committee in writing that “classified national security information” was found in the 15 boxes and NARA contacted DoJ about potential violations of the Presidential Records Act without telling the public or media. NARA continued to negotiate with Trump for the return of other records still at Mar-a-Lago.
In April 2022, to pressure Trump to cooperate, NARA informed the media about the DoJ referral and disclosed that FBI agents had interviewed Trump staffers involved in transferring records from the Whie House to Mar-a-Lago, and Mar-a-Lago staff.
In May 2002, NARA informed the media that DoJ issued a subpoena in April for the records still at Mar-a-Lago.
By June 2022, a criminal grand jury was empaneled; and on June 3, 2022, DoJ and FBI officials went to Mar-a-Lago with a grand jury subpoena, were shown a basement room with boxes of White House records, and handed top-secret documents by a Trump lawyer who attested in writing there were no more classified records at Mar-a-Lago.
On June 8, 2022, DoJ’s counterintelligence chief ordered a stronger lock be put on the storage room door, and preservation of the records “in their current condition until further notice.
On June 22, 2022, the grand jury subpoenaed Mar-a-Lago surveillance video of where the classified documents stored, which showed boxes being moved in and out of the storage room.
On Friday, August 5, 2022, the FBI obtained a search warrant from a federal magistrate in Florida. Obtaining the search warrant required the FBI to show the magistrate “probable cause” that a crime had been committed.
On Monday, August 8, 2022, the FBI seized boxes of documents at Mar-a-Lago pursuant to a search warrant while Trump was in New York. The search caught the public and news media off guard, but Trump was served the search warrant beforehand, and he or members of his family watched it on surveillance video. A Trump lawyer was on scene during the search, but was kept off the premises per standard FBI procedure.
Within a day or two, the federal magistrate who signed the search warrant was publicly named and immediately began receiving abusive messages and death threats, including against his children, prompting the judicial district to remove his biography and picture from its website. Some liberals claimed he was appointed by Trump, but this is incorrect; federal magistrates are hired by the district judges. Meanwhile, Trump began exploiting the FBI search for fundraising purposes.
On Thursday, August 11, 2022, the DoJ asked a federal court to unseal the search warrant in the interest of transparency; Trump did not object. That evening, the Washington Post reported the seized boxes contained documents related to nuclear weapons and information about human intelligence sources (i.e., spies) on America’s payroll.
On Friday, August 12, 2022, a federal judge unsealed the search warrant, and the media and public learned it listed three crimes as the basis for the search, including unlawful removal of government records, destroying or concealing government records to obstruct an investigation, and violation of the Espionage Act.
On Saturday, August 13, 2022, CNN reported about the letter a Trump lawyer signed on June 3, 2022, attesting that no more classified information was at Mar-a-Lago. However, the FBI receipt for items seized during the August 8 search listed 11 sets of classified documents, some highly classified, including one classified for viewing only in a secure compartmented information (SCI) facility.
On Sunday, August 14, 2022, Raw Story reported the Russians were bragging that if there were nuclear documents at Mar-a-Lago, they’ve “already seen them;” and a Trump biographer speculated that Trump kept the materials (e.g., letters from Kim Jung Un) because he’s a “7-year-old grownup” fascinated by souvenirs, or to bury information that could damage his reputation, or to sell them.
Republicans mostly reacted to the search by circling the wagons, promising retaliation, and attacking the FBI; although notably, former vice president Dick Cheney condemned Trump’s actions and called him unfit to serve as president again.
Groping for talking points, Republicans grasped at absurd straws. For example, they pointed fingers at Obama’s presidential library, not realizing presidential libraries are NARA facilities, and run by NARA; and NARA issued a statement that no Obama administration classified records are open to the public. Another talking point is, “Why doesn’t the FBI go after Sandy Berger,” who stole a classified report on terrorism and lied to investigators. The short answer is Berger was prosecuted, punished, and today is dead.
They allege Trump declassified the records, but if he did, it wasn’t by normal declassification procedures; which raises legal questions about whether they were actually declassified. Even if they were, the records are government property and NARA is entitled to take custody of them. But what destroys this argument is that if Trump had the power to declassify them and did so before leaving office, then Biden upon taking office had the power to reclassify them and did so, as evidenced by the fact the current government is treating them as classified.
At this point, speculation swirls around two questions: Will anyone be charged with a crime? And how will this impact the fall elections?
Some media pundits called the search a “dramatic escalation” of DoJ’s Mar-a-Lago probe, while others suggested it shows the investigation is much farther along than previously believed. Moreover, in a recent TV interview, Attorney General Merrick Garland reiterated “no one is above the law,” signaling he isn’t afraid to prosecute Trump. But he didn’t indicate that’s in the works. However, even if Trump isn’t prosecuted, other individuals working for him may be in trouble.
Early polling reported by Five-Thirty-Eight indicates the public reaction is along familiar partisan lines, although recent special election results suggest some shift to Democrats, but that’s more likely a result of the Jan. 6 hearings. Fox News, which had seemed to be drifting away from Trump (the Murdochs don’t like him), has joined the conservative outrage over the search; and on Friday, August 12, 2022, Fox personality Sean Hannity stated (correctly) that Trump could run for president from jail if he wanted to, implying conservatives would continue to support him for the nation’s highest office even if he becomes a convicted criminal.
This is where things stood as of Sunday evenng, August 14, 2022.
A brief history of Mar-a-Lago
Mar-a-Lago was built in the Roaring 20s for America’s richest woman, breakfast cereal heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post, and her husband, stockbroker E. F. Hutton. Like many ostentatious mansions of that period, it was eventually donated to the government and repurposed as a conference center. However, the government found it costly to maintain and difficult to provide security for, so returned it to the Post Foundation, which sold it to Trump who renovated it into a private members-only club.