Trump catches two breaks in PR battle with agencies over Mar-a-lago raid

by mcardinal

Willie R. Tubbs, FISM News

 

Monday, the Justice Department and FBI each gave former President Donald Trump ammunition to use in at least his public relations battle with the federal agencies over both the Mar-A-Lago raid and Trump’s belief the agencies have become politicized. 

In a court filing, the DOJ revealed that “a limited set” of documents seized from Trump’s Florida home could be subject to attorney-client privilege, while the public learned of the resignation of the FBI agent who had been in charge of the initial investigation of the Hunter Biden laptop.

U.S. Attorney Juan Antonio Gonzalez and Justice Department counterintelligence chief Jay I. Bratt wrote that the department was “is in the process” of addressing “potential privilege disputes, if any.”

“Additionally, the Department of Justice and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (‘ODNI’) are currently facilitating a classification review of materials recovered pursuant to the search,” the filing reads. “As the Director of National Intelligence advised Congress, ODNI is also leading an intelligence community assessment of the potential risk to national security that would result from the disclosure of these materials.”

It is unclear just how many documents this pertains to or the nature of the information, but what is clear is that whatever information was revealed is fully known to investigators now. 

The AP reported Monday that the Justice Department’s review of the confiscated documents has already concluded, and that Trump’s request for a special master to oversee the review of the documents had come too late.

It would be pure speculation to hazard a guess as to what could come of such a revelation in an actual court case, but in the court of public opinion, the confiscation of potentially protected documents will no doubt feature heavily in Trump’s messaging. 

The former president has long accused the FBI and Justice Department of targeting him for political reasons and being overzealous in their investigation. 

That case was undoubtedly strengthened with news of Timothy Thibault, an FBI special agent in charge who had been accused of shielding Hunter Biden from prosecution and of posting anti-Trump remarks on social media. 

As first reported by the Washington Times and expanded upon by the New York Post, Thibault either resigned or was forced out over a determination he operated with political bias in his handling of the Biden investigation. 

On Truth Social, Trump intimated that Thibeault, who was the head of the FBI’s public corruption unit, was the agent who opened the investigation that eventually led to the raid on Mar-A-Lago, 

Importantly, Thibeault would not have been the agent in charge of the raid. He had been on leave for about a month following pressure from Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who cited whistleblower complaints that the FBI was obstructing its own investigation over the Biden laptop. 

“Wow, I assume this ends the Fake Witch Hunt?” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “The “Special Agent” In Charge has been removed from his post based on his concealing the partisan nature of evidence presented to secure the FBI’s corrupt investigation into the 45th President of the United States, me, which culminated in their unprecedented and unnecessary Raid and Break-In of my home, Mar-a-Lago. Thank you to the FBI for taking this important step toward sanity!”

It is not yet known if Thibeault was fired outright or simply resigned.

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