The FBI’s released their heavily redacted affidavit that led to the bureau’s unprecedented raid on President Trump’s Mar-A-Lago Florida family home, the affidavit states that the Trump team turned over nearly 200 documents with classifications markings on it to the National Archives and Records Administration earlier this year.
According to one US Rep, Mike Turner (R0OH), ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, it also shows that the raid was not necessary and was not grounded in any national security concerns, but was in fact something more like a bookkeeping issue. He wants to know why, and if Republicans re-take the US House in November, he is going to use his powers to find out.
So the documents that Trump turned over weren’t enough for the FBI therefore…
The FBI claimed it had probable cause to believe additional classified documents were at Trump’s home. Many are speculating that the FBI search will likely find evidence of obstruction, despite Trump saying that he Declassified all of the documents found in Mar-A-Lago.
Turner appeared on the Maria Bartiromo show on Sunday and talked about the raid, saying:
“I think this is what’s interesting about the affidavit even absent the redactions what’s missing in the allegations are that there’s some eminent national security threat, that would justify raiding the president’s home in the most invasive manner in which the FBI could have brought about.
They had other options like they could have gone to court and try to have the subpoena that they had enforced by the court. Instead, they chose to raid Trump’s home.
In the affidavit itself they cite the archivist. They don’t cite the Intelligence Community, they don’t cite the director of CIA, Department of Defense or even the Director of National Intelligence as opening, that these documents, or the situation is a national security threat.
They cite the archivist, it sounds more like a bookkeeping issue than it is of a national security.
It didn’t rise to the level of justifying raiding Trump’s home.
“So in other words, the FBI did not ask the Intelligence Community for any assessment, from the Director of National Intelligence. We have that letter here. And what this says is that they were unaware of it before this and the Director of National Intelligence, not aware to the FBI, did not ask the intelligence community at all about these documents before pulling off this raid,” Turner told Bartiromom on Sunday.”
On Saturday, the director of National Intelligence Avril Haines sent a letter to the US House Intelligence and Oversight committee and is investigating the damage, and then gave the letter to CNN.
Turner went on about how suspicious that letter was and what it revealed:
“When you look at Director Haynes’s letter, she says will begin the process will be in to look at these records and she cites both the records that had been surrendered by President Trump voluntarily and those that were taken in the rate itself. So clearly she saying they have not looked at these they’ll go look at them will do an assessment.
Well, that means that the FBI is flying alone here supposedly, that they’re looking for classified documents but they’re not talking to anybody who deals with classified information and that would seem to indicate that this is very, very suspect as to why it would rise to the level of needing to raid. They had Other options, they should have taken them.”
Turner is hopeful that if he gets the power to do so, there will be investigations from the US House and there are already some positive signs that Trump will be validated in the end:
“There was a win in court this weekend when President Trump won in federal court, at least the court said, they have a initial intent to award a special Master authority to go over these documents and to return some of them to President Trump which should not have been taken from his home and also demanding that there be a more inclusive accounting of what was taken.
Because when we they release their inventory, for example, Trump’s passports weren’t there. So there’s a number of items that we don’t even know that they’ve taken.
Once again, a court is very skeptical of what the FBI Department Department of Justice is doing.
We know that’s really interesting Maria because if you look at what director Haynes has said, the director of the DNI, that she’s going to review these documents and tell us what the risk would be at these documents. – were released, you know, you can certainly identify any threat to National Security with any information is released was out here. “
Turner also had concerns that Trump was being treated differently than Biden, who just recently gave away national security information in public:
“President Biden’s Administration released information on the killing of an Al-Queda leader, and about how he was found, how he was tracked and how he was killed.
All of what Biden said which makes it more difficult for us to do those things in the future. And the payoff for them was really just bragging, you know, as they were claiming credit for what had occurred, that certainly diminishes overall National Security.”
And about the future of oversight, Turner told Bartiromo:
“So in all we’re going to look at, these statements.. We look at these documents that I’ve called for all the documents to be given to the intelligence committee. So we can review them ourselves. We have to be very cautious as we go through this process. There’s a lot more to learn. I certainly think that the Court’s order to initially indicates that they have the inclination to issue a special Master for the President. So President Trump’s documents would go to the special Master for review and for disposition, I think that that certainly helps the former president.
They are, this is gonna be a fact-based issue. Certainly, there’s going to be some substantiation of this, but along the way, you know, it’s not, you know, it’s no one is questioning the President. Trump had full authority to do that as president.
The question is going to be, you know, how can they document that it occurred? So, who directed the FISA? I mean, who is in charge? Here is this the same group that oversaw Crossfire Hurricane and the efforts to take Trump down.
Do we know who directed the FBI to do this raid?
That’s what’s going to be so important about this upcoming election, in November if the Republicans win the House.
Obviously with that, that’s going to include the investigatory powers that we’re going to need to get to the bottom of this. We need to know who’s directing these things at the FBI who decided not to use other options to obtain these documents?
Who decided on the raid of President Trump’s home, who decided to go to the media and say that there’s disinformation from Russia coming out in the election and to stop reporting on these issues?
All of these things that we’re seeing, they’re coming from somewhere and we need to get the bottom of who is this, and how do we root this out of the FBI so we can get back to an organization to an institution that we trust.”