Donald Trump | FBI Photo | Confidential Documents

Aug 30, 2022:

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) released a court filing regarding the FBI's recent document search/raid at Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida.

A photograph in the filing shows what appears to be a batch of classified and/or top secret documents:

Source:

Steakin, Will; Faulders, Katherine; Mallin, Alexander; Bruggeman, Lucien. (September 1, 2022). "Here's what we've learned from the DOJ's photo of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago". ABC News. Retrieved 2022-09-03

Two days later on September 1, Trump said the following about the documents, the photograph, and the FBI search of his residence on Real America's Voice:

A lot of people think that when you walk into my office I have confidential documents, or whatever it may be, all declassified, but I have confidential documents spread out all over my floor, and ahhh, like a slob, like I'm sitting there reading these documents all day long, or somebody else would be.

It's so, it's so dishonest, when you look at it.

And so people were, were concerned because they said "gee, you know, that's a strange scene," you look at the floor and you see documents, right? They have cover sheets of documents. No, they [the FBI] put 'em there John [I assume the host of the show who Trump is talking to], and they put 'em there in a messy fashion. And then they took a picture and they released it to the public. And this is what we're dealing with, with these people.

They raided a house of a president, a former president, and setting a whole new standard for what's going to come later, I would imagine. We're like a third-world nation, and they did it for political purposes. This is all done for political purposes. It has nothing to do with anything else.

But when you look at what they've done, and you look at even something like this, when you look at what they're doing to our country it's hard to believe. And the people aren't going to stand for it John, they're not standing for it. They're really angry, they're upset, but they're really angry.

Source:

(September 1, 2022). "'They put them there!' - President Trump". Real America's Voice. Retrieved 2022-09-03

On the Fox News program "Hannity" Trump lawyer Alina Habba weighed in on the photograph of the confidential documents found at Trump's residence:

What has happened is now they [the FBI] have put this picture out so that you would assume…I am somebody who has been in his office. I've seen it. This is not the way his office looks. They give you this appearance that you walk in and there are these top-secret documents just strewn about.

It's just a joke. They [the FBI] literally must have gone in and taken out documents they wanted or cover letters as it is, and put it about so that the public believes that these are top-secret documents that were on his floor. It's ridiculous. I can tell you personally, it's ridiculous. I've never seen that.

In addition to referencing the FBI search/raid as "anti-Trump smear tactics" Sean Hannity said:

Trump's attorney stated, quote, "The government's response gratuitously included a photograph of allegedly classified materials pulled from a container and spread across the floor for dramatic effect."

Source:

Fox News Staff. (August 31, 2022). "SEAN HANNITY: Here is the very latest anti-Trump smear tactics surrounding the raid at Mar-a-Lago". Fox News | Hannity. Retrieved 2022-09-03

Here's a timeline of the U.S. government's months-long effort to retrieve documents from Mar-a-Lago:

May, 2021: The National Archives first requested missing records from the Trump team.
Jan, 2022: A batch of 15 boxes, including 184 classified documents, was sent to Washington.
May, 2022: A grand jury subpoena was issued to the Trump team requesting all other classified materials.
Jun, 2022: The FBI went to Mar-a-Lago and was given 38 additional classified documents. Trump's lawyer said there were no other documents stored on site.
Aug, 2022: The FBI conducted another search at Mar-a-Lago discovering an additional 76 classified documents in a storage room (that they were not allowed into in June) and an additional three documents in Trump's desk drawer.

Source:

(August 31, 2022). "Justice Department alleges Trump attempted to obstruct federal probe of documents". PBS. Retrieved 2022-09-05

Commentary:

It's obvious to any reasonable, rational person that the FBI released the photograph in order to show the public that some of what they found was in fact marked classified and top secret, NOT for "dramatic effect" as suggested by Trump's lawyer, and NOT to make people think that Trump had "confidential documents spread out all over" his floor and that Trump was "sitting there reading these documents all day long" as stated by Trump. Only an imbecile or someone "hell bent" on demonizing the FBI would believe that the photograph was "staged" to make Trump look culpable.

Trump called the photograph "dishonest."

Trump criticized the FBI search/raid, stating it was done strictly for "political purposes," comparing it to a "third-world nation," and complaining about "what they're doing to our country."

This is yet another example of the Trump/MAGA Republican "disinformation playbook" which goes something like this:

First, make up a story or start a conspiracy theory which has little or no basis in reality to distract public attention from the real issue at hand.
Second, criticize, vilify, and demonize the person or entity based on the story or conspiracy theory.
Third, treat the story or conspiracy theory as if it was fact and use it as justification to criticize, vilify, and demonize.

This is what Trump and MAGA Republicans do. Trump "wrote the book" on this style of political attack. It's the embodiment of what and who Trump is.

Commenting on a video clip of Trump's Real America's Voice interview, progressive "right-wing watchdog" Brian Tyler Cohen says:

Does Trump really, truly believe that his supporters are dumb enough that they'll think that the issue at hand here is that the DOJ [the FBI] laid out the stolen classified documents in a way that was messy and not the fact that he had stolen classified documents?

I've used this analogy before, but when a drug dealer gets busted and law enforcement lays out the haul for a photo, no one believes that the cops found it that way, nor does anyone care because the photo isn't the issue, the illicit drugs are the issue.

Commenting on a video clip of Trump's lawyer, Alina Habba, speaking with Sean Hannity, Cohen says:

Literally no one thinks that these documents were just found by the FBI on the floor this way. Nor would they care even if they were found on the floor this way. The issue isn't how they were stored, it's that they were there in the first place.

What I find so ironic, too, is that here's Alina Habba on national TV, demeaning herself for Donald Trump, in the immediate wake of her colleague, another Trump lawyer Christina Bobb, having signed a statement attesting that all of the sensitive material Trump had taken from the White House had been returned.

Of course, the real reason for all of this is that it's the continuation of the "Big Lie." Trump and his team know there are plenty of his supporters out there who will believe him no matter what he says. And so if he can convince enough of them that somehow the issue at hand is that the documents were sloppily laid out, and not the fact that the documents were stolen, then maybe he can create enough political pressure to get away with it. Maybe he can incite those people to take up arms or threaten violence again, just like they did on January 6,

Source:

Brain Tyler Cohen. (September 1, 2022). "Trump HUMILIATES himself, fails HORRIBLY defending himself ON AIR". YouTube. Retrieved 2022-09-05

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