Raid on Maro Lago

I think Christina Bobb is in serious trouble.

We also know why the FBI took (temporarily) the passports they found. First, it shows how Trump commingled the documents with unrelated documents in an unsecured location (his desk). It also shows control over the area where the documents were found. He’s going to have a lot of difficulty scapegoating someone else.

What we haven’t heard yet is why he did this. I’m sure the witness(es) ratting him out will fill in the details.

 

Why? is THE million dollar question. The only reasonable possibility I see is Donald is simply trying to enrich himself. Now Donald might have told folks around him some excuse but I'm not sure that would be the truth. Perhaps Donald told his true plans to Vladimir Putin in his meetings when no other Americans were in the room?

 

43 empty Top Secret, Secret, and Confidential folders found without their accompanying documents. My guess, it appears that Trump has maybe already sold many of the documents that he stole when he left office.

 

Perhaps. But not necessarily. It will be hard to determine if the documents that were covered by those sheets are gone or mixed in with the other detritus that passes for his personal effects. Also, the cover sheets themselves are not classified, so having extras lying around isn't actionable.

I don't think there will be any way to determine what has been copied and provided to foreign entities, if anything, and what is missing, if anything. One possible exception: eyewitness testimony to that effect.

And that's the thing. We only know what we've been shown. Trump stole government documents, classified and non-classified. He refused repeated attempts by the government to retrieve them. He turned over some documents while retaining others. He failed to comply with a subpoena to return the documents. He was in illegal possession of these documents, found in a search of his home. His attorneys falsely claimed to have returned them to the government. He stored them in an unsecure manner. He comingled classified documents with other, non-classified information and with personal effects.

All of that is criminal. But it is hardly the entire story. What was in those documents? What did he transfer, if anything, to unauthorized recipients? What do the eyewitnesses have to say?

I suspect, at this point, he will be indicted. We will know much more--but not all--about the government's case and evidence against him then. (Some things might be so sensitive that they cannot be discussed in open court--we might not ever know about those.)

I held a Top Secret/SCI clearance when I did work for the CIA back in the day, and have held Secret and Top Secret clearances during other parts of my career. I can comfortably say that what Donald Trump did is a huge national security debacle that likely put personnel, operations, and sources in grave danger. We might not ever know the extent of the actual damage, but as a minimum it will require changing methods, programs, and people to protect them all.

There is simply no excuse, which is why you haven't heard even one cogent argument explaining it all. There isn't one.

 

I hope that secrets haven't been sold. Unfortunately the risk assessment is probably going to have to assume the worse and assume that everything stolen has been compromised. Another concern is that there may be missing documents that we don't even know about.

 

One thing about the risk assessment I forgot to add: it is likely the government will know which documents are missing and what they contained. For content, backups. For which documents, know that when documents get classified, they get stored. That storage facility has logging procedures to note which documents are being stored and when they're taken out and returned.

 

It's very nice that you know what you're talking about. It's a very comforting counterbalance to my wild speculations.

 

I don't think you've said anything inaccurate. I'm just filling in details.

 

I appreciate that.

I just read an article that covered the excellent points you made. It also added the unknown possibility that Trump may have corrupted the classified document record keeping in his White House so that the record trail that you mention may be incomplete and difficult or impossible to follow.