The raid on Mar-A-Lago was a pretextual search using the National Archive rules and mischaracterize classified document laws to justify an unlawful search warrant.

This raid is only a part of an ongoing criminal conspiracy (RICO) or silent coup by the Deep State to take down Trump, first before his election in 2016, to prevent his reelection in 2020, and now to torpedo his possible re-election in 2024.  Trump is a direct threat to the coup's survival.  The Deep State is protected by the DOJ and FBI that have gone full Stasi.

I have written and served hundreds of search warrants in my career as a police detective.  I investigated complex criminal conspiracies -- crimes of many types, including thefts and frauds, financial crimes, and political conflicts of interest.

I am biased in favor of law enforcement.  Nevertheless, the DOJ and the FBI have been politically weaponized.  We have no equal justice for all. We now have a two-tier justice system.

The American colonists were fed up with general search warrants issued by the King that led to the adoption of the 4th Amendment of the US Constitution.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

The Raid on Mar-a-Largo was no ordinary search warrant.  Instead, the raid was to intimidate anyone who would dare stand in opposition to the Deep State, to disqualify Trump in 2024, and to recover incriminating evidence against the coup.

Because of its pattern and practice of lying in search warrant affidavits and demonstrated political bias without accountability, the FBI is no longer credible.  The FBI lied in the FISA search warrant affidavits to spy on President Trump by knowingly using the Russian Collusion narrative that was false. The FBI knowingly violates the civil rights of citizens under the guise of criminal investigations, ruining them financially -- the January 6 defendants, Roger Stone, Paul Manafort, Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, reporter Sheryl Attkisson, and others. 

Judges rely on sworn officers' integrity to tell the truth in seeking warrants.  Violating this trust is sacrosanct.  When officers lie to the judge, the warrant can be quashed, and the evidence seized ruled inadmissible.  If I had done that, my ass would have been thrown out the door. 

The prissy attitude of FBI Director Christopher Wray in the recent Senate oversight hearing tells all.   Wray ducked out early, claiming he had to catch a plane to avoid a second round of questions – to travel to his vacation spot on a government plane at his disposal.  There are severe issues with the FBI running amok both before and under Wray's watch, i.e., the Gov. Whitmer kidnapping entrapment case.  Who the hell does Wray think he works for – not the American people?

The Mira-a-Lago search warrant is overly broad regarding the items to be searched for, i.e., Presidential Records during his term of office.  Media reports say that FBI agents searched areas not described on the warrant, i.e., the safe and other areas of the property.  Typically, the safe would be described on the search warrant as an item to be searched.  If there were no prior knowledge of the safe, an additional warrant would be sought.  Otherwise, this would be an unlawful search and seizure.

The FBI and DOJ are admitting some items were seized outside the warrant's scope -- the passports and privileged records.  The FBI should have sought a special master. The FBI uses taint teams, but I lack confidence in their ability to serve as an impartial arbitrator for the court.

The crimes alleged are debatable whether there was probable cause that Trump committed any of them.  The Presidential Records Act has no criminal penalty.  Some argue its enforcement is by civil action that could involve obstruction of justice (18 USC 1519) regarding “conceals, removes, mutilates [records]” and (18 USC 2071.

Unauthorized removal and retention of classified material . . . (18 USC 1924) is another alleged section.  The Espionage Act (18 USC 793) is a big stretch implying that President Trump was giving classified defense information, including nuclear weapons (42  USC 2162), to our enemies as was implied in leaks to the media.  Presidents Bush and Obama still have many outstanding such records.

The sitting President is categorically exempt from these laws and administrative policies regarding classified documents, including nuclear, under the absolute or plenary powers of Article II of the US Constitution (See discussion Navy v. Eagan), including being barred from holding office as touted by the media.  The remedy is impeachment.

As in the Russian Collusion narrative, selective leaks again are occurring by the government. So much for the need for secrecy. The media has seized on these leaks with reckless abandon.

The sections above were likely mischaracterized to apply to Trump, and the DOJ and FBI failed to mention the contention that the President is categorically exempt from these sections.  Instead, the DOJ and the FBI conveniently rely on sealing the affidavit to conceal their lying.  See The Daily Signal “The Mar-a-Lago Raid: What Happened and What’s Next,” and Kash Patel (See bio), a former Assistant US Attorney who has extensive experience in this unique area of the law:

“Nothing these guys do is inadvertent.  Everything they do is intentional, including this intentional raid on President Trump's home," argues Kash Patel.

“Jurisdiction is supposed to be blind,” says Kash Patel.  "They are selectively applying federal jurisdiction by going to a magistrate judge that they know hates President Trump as much as they do, and applying their political bias to what's supposed to be an apolitical investigation.”

“It’s the same individuals that ran Russiagate [Author’s link].  It's the same individuals that said Hunter Biden's laptop was Russian disinformation.  It's the same individuals [FBI DC Field Ofc] that falsified FISA warrants.  These people are running this investigation.  When is it going to be enough?” [My emphasis - the Epoch Times transcript]

Cutting to the chase.  I smell rotting fish.

The DOJ and FBI were after the Russiagate Case file that Trump created, exposing the criminality of the coup.  Trump, while in office, clearly declassified these documents.  These documents may have marks of classification that were not removed yet. The DOJ did not then or since carry out Trump’s order and thought they had run the clock out.

The raid was an unlawful pretextual search.  The public’s right to know greatly outweighs the necessity to keep the affidavit sealed based on the past pattern and practice of the DOJ and FBI of lying to mislead the courts.  The DOJ and FBI are not innocent parties and may have violated the law based on their pattern and practice of lying in affidavits.  The DOJ and FBI have no right to conceal their criminal activity under the cloak of a sealing order. 

Based on my education, training, and experience, there is more than enough probable cause to believe that the DOJ and FBI lied or lied by omission in this affidavit violating 18 USC 242 if not more.

This affidavit must be unsealed immediately with only minimal redactions.

These are the questions that need answers.

Did the DOJ and FBI disclose Trump's ongoing negotiation with the National Archives and the cooperation with Trump?

What were the exigent circumstances requiring a search warrant issuance when some lesser means were available?

Why wasn’t the safe listed on the places to be searched?  Was the safe mentioned in the affidavit? If not, bringing a safecracker along shows intention to search beyond the scope of the warrant.

Did the DOJ and FBI judge shop to get a sympathetic judge?  I would argue the FBI waited for this magistrate to be the duty judge.  This magistrate should have recused himself because of his prior recusal in a Trump matter.

Did the DOJ and FBI mislead the magistrate, alleging crimes committed by the President without saying that a sitting President categorically is exempt?

Was the magistrate misled as to the dual purpose of this warrant?

Ron Wright is a retired detective from the Riverside PD, CA serving thirty-five years.  He has a BA in political science CSUF & M. Adm. University of Cal, Riverside.  Facebook at Ron T. Cop.

Photo credit: tommietheturle CC BY 2.0 license