# 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:** 271
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2023, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/5401 "2023-06-10T05:01:14Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > On what grounds does she recuse herself though? She doesn’t need to state any grounds, although she could pull a shim of plausibility around it by giving some BS reason. She could say that her courtroom facility isn’t easy to secure. She could say that she’s mindful of the appearance of impropriety due to Trump having appointed her. (I know. Ha ha.) The truth is, she doesn’t have the chops to run a trial like this. High profile cases are like driving a team of Clydesdales on methamphetamine. The security, the classified nature of the evidence, the media interest… it’s a job for a super experienced judge, not Aileen Cannon. As pointed out by the Midas Touch youtube posted earlier in the thread by @Son_of_a_Rich, Cannon has already been slapped down by the Eleventh Circuit – twice – for showing bias in favor of Trump and for inserting herself into a criminal case without having jurisdiction to do so. Their rulings against her clearly stated she was showing bias in favor of Trump. So her own prior actions will make it easy for the Eleventh to remove her from trying the case due to the bias for which she was earlier chastised by them. Maybe showing her hand before wasn’t such a smart move after all. While unusual, I think Smith has a solid basis to make a motion for her removal from the case. ---
**Author:** ![DWMarch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwmarch/32/1010_2.png) [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2023, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/5402 "2023-06-10T05:05:56Z")
Would he do that in advance of the trial or would he need to wait until she did something obnoxious? ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2023, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/5403 "2023-06-10T05:08:44Z")
It would be one of the first things he’ll do. You have to make these motions before anything gets underway. If Smith doesn’t make such a motion, it means he believes his case is so strong, it can defeat her shenanigans. He’s got an ironclad case, but I doubt he’s going to trust it to a demonstrated loon like Cannon. ---
**Author:** ![tripthicket](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripthicket/32/297_2.png) [@tripthicket](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tripthicket)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2023, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/5404 "2023-06-10T06:16:13Z")
It likely goes without saying, but I think we’re not going to see even a hint of a plea deal. One, Smith seems to have such a strong case, with all the various plays gamed out, that he believes he can win no matter what happens during the trial. And two, trump is too mentally twisted to even consider a plea deal; it would mean admitting he’s guilty or that he knows he’s going to otherwise lose. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2023, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/5405 "2023-06-10T06:37:56Z")
> **[So It's A Crime Now To Have Boxes Full Of Cool Folders With Various Words...](https://defector.com/so-its-a-crime-now-to-have-boxes-full-of-cool-folders-with-various-words-printed-on-them)** > > About the most that can be said for Donald Trump, as a politician and as a person, is that he didn’t let being President of the United States change him. This is not really a compliment, to be clear. Trump’s public persona was grandiose enough that... > [@](#): > > Breaking laws in an oafish, overt, seemingly arbitrary way is absolutely Some Donald Trump Shit. But what Trump was doing with all those secret and confidential documents, the indictment reveals, was _also_ Some Donald Trump Shit. While he is certainly one of the most bribe-able individuals of his generation and unquestionably unbound by any higher or finer concerns whatsoever, and while that would not really be the sort of person you’d want having a bunch of sensitive documents in their possession, it is equally salient that Trump is fundamentally an absolutely _whopping bitch_ whose deepest personal desire and abiding life’s passion has always been showing off in weird ways and pursuing vinegary personal feuds. > > The indictment bears this out, too, revealing that Trump mostly used those highly sensitive documents—which he knew it was illegal for him to possess, and which he was actively hiding from the FBI—to impress upon people visiting him in his quarters at that banquet facility/event space how important he was. The indictment shows Trump shuffling through a stack of papers in front of some people ghostwriting the autobiography of one of his former Chiefs of Staff to prove a point about how dishonest and unfair a third person, unrelated to the subject of that autobiography, was being about him. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2023, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/5406 "2023-06-10T07:00:59Z")
> [@tripthicket](#): > > It likely goes without saying, but I think we’re not going to see even a hint of a plea deal. One, Smith seems to have such a strong case, with all the various plays gamed out, that he believes he can win no matter what happens during the trial. And two, trump is too mentally twisted to even consider a plea deal; it would mean admitting he’s guilty or that he knows he’s going to otherwise lose. Yeah, I can’t see Trump taking a plea bargain in return for a shorter sentence, or to save the government and country the trauma of a trial. But I could imagine him being so backed into a corner, so convinced he’ll be found guilty, that he pleads guilty and then makes a speech (or a tweet) about how the deep state was just too powerful and the trial was rigged against him. He’d probably even believe it, himself. I joked in another thread that Trump could accept a plea agreement in exchange for his testimony against Walt Nauta, but I think that’s unlikely. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2023, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/5407 "2023-06-10T08:58:08Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > As I read through the indictment I notice that Trump is referenced as TRUMP in all caps and bolded, Sheesh, it’s like they want to call attention to the fact that they don’t know how to spell _America-hating fuckstick_. ---
**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:** [June 10, 2023, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/5408 "2023-06-10T10:03:49Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Blaming the FBI was the first response on Twitter to the AP (Associated Press) announcement of the charges. Republicans: “The FBI is investigating Hillary, which proves that Hillary is corrupt!” Also Republicans: “The FBI is investigating Trump, which proves the FBI is corrupt!” ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2023, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/5409 "2023-06-10T10:16:45Z")
[![](https://mediacloud.theweek.com/image/upload/f_auto,t_single-media-image-desktop@1/v1660831789/lk081822dAPR.jpg) ](https://mediacloud.theweek.com/image/upload/f_auto,t_single-media-image-desktop@1/v1660831789/lk081822dAPR.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2023, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/5410 "2023-06-10T11:32:09Z")
> The Lost Ark is discovered in a new place!?!?! ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2023, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/5411 "2023-06-10T11:59:48Z")
> [@tripthicket](#): > > And two, trump is too mentally twisted to even consider a plea deal; it would mean admitting he’s guilty or that he knows he’s going to otherwise lose. Trump’s MO for decades has been to settle out of court with two important terms: - No public admission of guilt. - A hefty donation from his “charity,” which was funded by people other than him. I think he’s capable of understanding when he can’t win a lawsuit on its merits. He absolutely knows he’s a criminal. He just can’t handle losing, and he can’t handle the perception that he’s not getting away with it. So he grinds people down in court until they accept whatever bullshit terms he throws at them. He “wins” even if settling is a tacit admission of guilt. None of that shit will fly here. He’s in Big Boy court now. I guarantee that he asked at least one set of disposable lawyers to offer that kind of deal, though. “Make this go away, you idiot! Tell Jack Smith that we’ll donate a million dollars to something! That always works!” ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2023, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/5412 "2023-06-10T12:11:44Z")
I think his defense (such as it is) is to a) ask his crony judge to set the trial for after the election; b) get elected; c) pardon himself and everyone else, ignore the political firestorm and stoke more violent resistance to those who would hold him accountable. ---
**Author:** ![slicedalone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slicedalone/32/12515_2.png) [@slicedalone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slicedalone)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2023, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/5413 "2023-06-10T12:37:55Z")
What sort of damage can Judge Cannon do? I’m thinking “A lot.” ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2023, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/5414 "2023-06-10T12:41:53Z")
From what I have read, she can set the timing of the trial and that could help Trump immensely, if he is running for president and a trial is after the election, he can use it to motivate his violent base to take actions. If his trial is while he’s running for president, he will have to split attention, plus be careful what he says on the trail because of the trial. ---
**Author:** ![slicedalone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slicedalone/32/12515_2.png) [@slicedalone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slicedalone)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2023, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/5415 "2023-06-10T12:45:25Z")
Also if she supervises voir dire, she could pack the jury with Trump-friendly jurists which is what scares me the most. ---
**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:** [June 10, 2023, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/5416 "2023-06-10T12:51:09Z")
Lol… imagine being charged by the Feds because you wanted to impress Kid Rock: [![Imgur](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52963328142_4b3252c49c_b.jpg "20230610\_072200") ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/68782016@N08/52963328142/) [![Imgur](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52963328147_da6a000b29_b.jpg "20230610\_072205") ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/68782016@N08/52963328147/) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2023, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/5417 "2023-06-10T12:52:11Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > As I understand it, it’s a random assignment. The clerk enters the case into the system, and it gets assigned to a judge. That can’t be all of it, though, if cases are usually assigned to judges that have some prior connection to the case. Which requires at least some level of human involvement to determine who has prior connection. So who was the human who had that involvement? ---
**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:** [June 10, 2023, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/5418 "2023-06-10T12:54:56Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > So who was the human who had that involvement? Jay Bratt. He chose this venue to file the indictment. How do I know this? Because it says so on the indictment! > [@FBI Search and Seizure at Trump's Mar-A-Lago Residence (August 8, 2022)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-08-08-22/969329/5338): > > Maybe I’m reading this wrong, but page 45 of the indictment clearly shows Jay Bratt selecting West Palm Beach (Cannon’s division) as the court division to handle this. So this wasn’t random, it appears to me. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2023, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/5419 "2023-06-10T12:57:01Z")
Sorry if it’s already been asked: since both Trump and Nauta are named in the indictment, does that mean they will be tried together? (Assuming Nauta doesn’t take a plea deal.) Or would there be separate trials for each? ---
**Author:** ![slicedalone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slicedalone/32/12515_2.png) [@slicedalone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slicedalone)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2023, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/5420 "2023-06-10T13:00:09Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > they will be tried together Yes…with separate lawyers, both paid for (or not) by Trump. IANAL, but this is how it’s done on TV. [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=270) [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=272)