# FBI Search and Seizure at Trump's Mar-A-Lago Residence, August 8, 2022, Case Dismissed July 15, 2024 **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [August 8, 2022, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329 "2022-08-08T23:18:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 16
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/301 "2022-08-10T05:54:05Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > You should ask your MAGA to resolve the paradox of a records-protection law being meaningless and unenforceable when said law was personally christened by their infallible worm-god. His or her head would explode. It would make _Scanners_ look like child’s play. Heck, over at the RWNJ message board I mentioned earlier, heads are already exploding. There are some reasonable posters there, who are refuting every argument that the RWNJs make. And doing so well, that the RWNJs are twisting themselves into pretzels, logic-wise, to try to justify their arguments. Fun to watch, but I’m not about to participate. ---
**Author:** ![Wrenching\_Spanners](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecb155/32.png) [@Wrenching\_Spanners](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wrenching_Spanners)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/302 "2022-08-10T09:19:34Z")
> [@Lance\_Turbo](#): > > My guess is that the DOJ know American law better than some random British bloke on the internet. My guess is that the DOJ knows American law better than any posters on this board who aren’t lawyers or legal system workers, and nobody on this message board knows anything about the search warrant, the affidavit behind the search warrant, or the search itself, but that hasn’t stopped anyone from speculating. Perhaps you’d like to contribute to the discussion by speculating on why the search was done and what the consequences of the search will be for Trump? Maybe add some insight or information that hasn’t appeared yet? Here, let me get you started. My post has a link to an article on violations of the Presidential Records Act. > **[Destroying Federal Documents During a Presidential Transition Is a Federal Crime](https://www.justsecurity.org/73265/destroying-federal-documents-during-a-presidential-transition-is-a-federal-crime/)** > > Presidential records and federal records belong to the United States government. Do you think the search was related to a criminal violation discussed on that web page? ---
**Author:** ![GreysonCarlisle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@GreysonCarlisle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreysonCarlisle)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/303 "2022-08-10T10:03:24Z")
Creepy, hilarious video from the Lincoln Project. > ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/304 "2022-08-10T10:20:23Z")
Oh sweet Jesus, the whispered narrative would drive him nuts if he actually saw that. “This is your legacy - your father would be ashamed.” ---
**Author:** ![iamatractorboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iamatractorboy/32/21261_2.png) [@iamatractorboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamatractorboy)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/305 "2022-08-10T10:53:53Z")
So they’re going for the OJ defence then? I’m sure Trump will be pledging to go after the real criminals (Hillary?!) very soon ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/306 "2022-08-10T11:56:29Z")
> [@Wrenching\_Spanners](#): > > Do you think the search was related to a criminal violation discussed on that web page? I think I’ll wait for the facts to come in before I do my speculating. And I certainly won’t be building a straw man around the presidential records act with an article from 2020 as its centerpiece. ---
**Author:** ![Wrenching\_Spanners](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecb155/32.png) [@Wrenching\_Spanners](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wrenching_Spanners)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/307 "2022-08-10T12:17:09Z")
> [@Lance\_Turbo](#): > > I think I’ll wait for the facts to come in before I do my speculating. > > And I certainly won’t be building a straw man around the presidential records act with an article from 2020 as its centerpiece. You’re certainly entitled to wait. That doesn’t mean the rest of us need to. As to your straw man comment, whose argument am I not addressing or refuting, but instead replacing with a false one?\* Or do you not know what the term means? \*Paraphrased from Wikipedia. > **[Straw man](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_man)** > > A straw man fallacy (sometimes written as strawman) is the informal fallacy of refuting an argument different from the one actually under discussion, while not recognizing or acknowledging the distinction. One who engages in this fallacy is said to be "attacking a straw man". > The typical straw man argument creates the illusion of having refuted or defeated an opponent's proposition through the covert replacement of it with a different proposition (i.e., "stand up a straw man") and the subsequ... ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/308 "2022-08-10T12:36:01Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > _Especially_ when the felony-level charge and multi-year incarceration associated with the crime of destruction of records was signed into law by Trump himself, as a posturing threat against one H. Clinton related to her email server. I thought the Presidential Records Act preceded TFG, no? Or was something else passed that is biting him in the ass, with severe irony? ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/309 "2022-08-10T12:48:52Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > worm-god. Please do not besmirch the good name of a perfectly honorable space tyrant by using it to refer to TFG. ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/310 "2022-08-10T12:55:31Z")
Sure, in order to issue a search warrant a federal judge would have to have make the determination there is probable cause of a crime being committed. But of all the sins Trump has committed in broad daylight many months ago, the DOJ chooses to make history pursuing what appears to be a federal documents violation??? I have the sinking feeling that this is being overblown. I hope I’m wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/311 "2022-08-10T13:00:15Z")
Exactly. Leto II had some honor and dignity. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/312 "2022-08-10T13:01:54Z")
More like: [https://flic.kr/p/2nCVjzD](https://flic.kr/p/2nCVjzD) ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/313 "2022-08-10T13:21:05Z")
Evidently the thing that Trump signed into law was an increase in the maximum penalty from 1 year to 5 years in prison. Going from memory but yes, the PRA pre-dates Trump by about 40 years. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/314 "2022-08-10T13:38:13Z")
I like this one: > > > Andy Crawford @ACrawfordAuthor ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/315 "2022-08-10T13:42:47Z")
> [@steronz](#): > > the thing that Trump signed into law was an increase in the maximum penalty Yes, this is what I was referencing — not the law itself but the ramped-up severity of the punishment. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/316 "2022-08-10T13:51:29Z")
Yeah. But it’s not like that part of the bill that he signed was his idea, and if he had a line item veto I think we can safely say he would have struck it. It was put in there by democrats (?) in anticipation of shenanigans and he was sort of stuck. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/317 "2022-08-10T13:59:45Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > ETA: Sounds to me like the FBI is getting tired of phones being mysteriously wiped at opportune times, eh? It’s a mark of how stupid some of these people are. Were I likely to be investigated for my connections to an attempted coup, wiping my phone would be step #1. How could it be otherwise? What possible reason could there be to keep that, from the criminal’s perspective? ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/318 "2022-08-10T14:03:57Z")
> [@DavidNRockies](#): > > My gut tells me that the vast majority of the non-Manson-Family types feel like _any_ policy benefit that Trump represents(ed) can be had by nominating another, and then _all_ the incessant drama disappears. That’s the part that drives me nuts. All of Trump’s “achievements” during his presidency fall into two categories: 1. Stuff any other Republican would have done (tax cuts, conservative judges, hating minorities) 2. Stupid ideas that the other Republicans had to either block or pretend to like (trade wars, pandemic response) They could have had #1, with much less #2 with almost any other candidate. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/319 "2022-08-10T14:27:42Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > They could have had #1, with much less #2 with almost any other candidate. The reason I don’t say Trump is stupid is because, in his particular field, he’s a genius like few others. His field is hucksterism, convincing people that a fabulously wealthy asshole from a long line of fabulously wealthy assholes, is looking out for their interests; that a blatantly and explicitly corrupt politician is going to end blatant political corruption; that the greatest bully in teh White House in living memory is a victim of bullies. His hucksterism founded an incredibly energetic cult following that’s been very useful for getting more Republicans elected. I don’t know that any other Republicans could have brought that cultish energy to the table. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/320 "2022-08-10T14:36:07Z")
He is also an absolute genius at self preservation. His ability to shift responsibility for his crimes and failures and then go right back to his same shenanigans is … impressive is the wrong word, but it’s definitely something. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329.md?page=15) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329.md?page=17)