The advisors of the former president even scrutinize members of his family and employees of the mansion in search of the informer who disclosed the existence of secret documents in his possession
The United States Department of Justice does not want the details of the scope of the investigation it is carrying out on former President Trump to be known and for this reason has asked a judge not to make public the sealed search warrant at the residence of Mar- a-Lago that he turned over to the FBI. This order is what allowed investigators to enter the mansion more than a week ago, inspect it and seize up to twenty boxes full of official documents that the Republican leader had taken after losing the presidency. At least eleven files are classified as top secret and should never have left the White House.
The department argues that the search warrant contains confidential information about witnesses, and its disclosure could harm their cooperation, as well as that of other potential witnesses who may in the future provide crucial information to ongoing investigations. The document, which includes an affidavit, is equivalent to summary secrecy in judicial proceedings in Spain. The Department of Justice considers it necessary because it contains sensitive information and specific details about the probable cause (leads) of the crimes under investigation.
However, this decision has increased mistrust in Trump’s legal team and added frustration to the already tense atmosphere within the small group of advisers who deal daily with the former president. The tycoon has demanded through his social platform the return of some of the seized documents, although his team has not used the appropriate legal channels for the claim. Justice has returned three passports that federal agents also seized. Two of them had expired and the third, the diplomatic passport, was active.
The search at the mansion has revealed that the FBI was aware in advance of the existence of classified national security documents in the possession of the former president, and that someone ‘inside’ had to have provided that information to the feds. Suspicions that a person close to the Republican leader has become an FBI informant have skyrocketed in Trump’s inner circle and generated a frantic “mole hunt” within his own ranks.
According to multiple sources, the initial suspicions fell on Nicholas Luna, the former personal assistant to the former president, who left the post in March, and who is also expected to leave the circle of close friends soon. On the other hand, Molly Michael, the former chief of operations of the Oval Office of the White House. Luna received a subpoena to testify in the investigation of the commission that studies the assault on the Capitol, but it is not believed that he has spoken with the FBI about this other case.
Mar-a-Lago employees and Palm Beach members-only resort staff familiar with the resort’s facilities have also come under suspicion because the FBI knew exactly which rooms to search and the specific places where the documents were. The investigations have been further expanded after the former president’s team learned that the FBI knew the exact location of the safe. The scrutiny has thus been extended to members of the Trump family themselves.
Thus, the search for the ‘informant’ has precipitated a crisis of confidence within the circle of relatives that reaches levels of paranoia, even higher than the episodes of his presidency characterized by the fierce struggle of rival interests and political stabbing.
New trio of lawyers
Following registration, the tycoon has reorganized his defense team in the public sphere with a trio of new lawyers. It is made up of three women, former Oan presenter Alina Habba, Lindsey Halligan and Christina Bobb, in charge of propagating the public arguments in favor of Trump. Still, the trio have failed to impress anyone so far in their numerous appearances in the right-wing media, where they have tried to plant more conspiracy theories and questionable (and even contradictory) speculation about the record in Sea-To-Lake. Bobb and Halligan were present on the day of the search, but were prevented from entering the building during the federal inspection.
The narrative of Trump’s public apologies for the documents in his possession, which included folders of top-secret nuclear information, continues to shift as new data emerges: from denying their existence, later declaring they had been declassified, later blaming the former president Obama and the FBI –which he accuses of deliberately planting the classified documents to trap him– until they ensure that the entire operation is false in order to prevent him from running for office.
Still, the Mar-a-Lago search has accelerated Trump’s fundraising operation, taking advantage of the anger of his supporters to ask for contributions to finance his political campaign. Despite acknowledging that the temperature of violent rhetoric must be reduced, the truth is that the registry has inflated its collection account with steroids.
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