# 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:** 388
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2024, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/7764 "2024-03-10T17:37:06Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > So, you brief them about some things, just so they’re more up-to-speed when they take office. > > But of course, this all breaks down when one of the candidates is a piece of shit like Trump. I remember reading an article a lifetime ago, it seems now, a couple days after Trump’s inauguration in 2017. It mentioned State Department staffers, like usual, preparing a bundle of briefings right after the election so the incoming team would be up to speed on the various hot spots and concerns when it took over. Nobody showed up to get the information. Let that sink in for a moment. Nobody in Trump’s administration was competent enough or cared enough – take your pick – to find out what was going on at the fucking State Department so they could hit the ground running when they came in. I could kind of understand that for some of the other cabinets they were planning on emasculating or eliminating all together like Energy or Education but even the chimps with hammers should be able to figure out the State Department is kind of important. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2024, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/7765 "2024-03-10T18:01:21Z")
FWIW. you are probably talking about this Vanity Fair piece that was an excerpt from Michael Lewis’s book _The Fifth Risk_. > **[Inside Trump’s Cruel Campaign Against the U.S.D.A.’s Scientists](https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/11/usda-food-stamps-school-lunch-trump-administration)** > > When Trump’s political appointees arrived at the U.S.D.A., career employees were shocked by their new bosses’ lack of qualifications. Michael Lewis explores why Americans need to care. ---
**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:** [March 10, 2024, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/7766 "2024-03-10T19:14:55Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > > [@bobot](#): > > > > It boggled my mind leading up to the 2016 contest when I heard that Trump and Clinton were going to get classified briefings. > > It’s one of those things that makes sense in the context of a normal election. You don’t know who is going to win the election, and if the candidates are kept out of the intelligence loop, when they take office, there will be an inevitable period in which the new President is unaware of critical information. That risks all sorts of bad things. > > So, you brief them about some things, just so they’re more up-to-speed when they take office. Doesn’t this normally happen during the transition period, after the election? The President-elect has a couple of months to get up to speed. Why give it to a candidate before the election? ---
**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:** [March 10, 2024, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/7767 "2024-03-10T19:21:24Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Why give it to a candidate before the election? Maybe you want to see if it will scare them off? “What do you mean, ‘Mars is planning an invasion’!?! Screw it, let Gore win!” 😄 ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2024, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/7768 "2024-03-10T19:27:51Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Why give it to a candidate before the election? You may be interested in this article, in which [Michael Morell](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Morell), an experienced intelligence analyst, who was a former deputy director and acting director of the CIA, was interviewed about this very topic. > [@](#): > > **Marchick asked Morell why giving intelligence briefings to presidential candidates is so important.** > > **Morell:** “I think it’s very important for candidates for president to have…a rough understanding…of…what the main threats are to the country…(It’s) even more important that you don’t say something during the campaign that actually undermines the national security of the United States. I think the briefing helps candidates in both of those ways.” > [@](#): > > **Marchick asked Morell when presidential candidates begin to receive intelligence briefings and what they contain.** > > **Morell:** “Historically, they’ve been done in the immediate aftermath of the conventions. So when an individual becomes their party’s nominee, the briefing is offered to them…It’s an analytic briefing, so there’s no…operations discussed, no covert actions discussed, no sources and methods discussed. It’s simply what do we see as the threats…why do we see it that way…how those threats evolved and where might they be headed?” > **[Intelligence briefings during presidential transitions](https://presidentialtransition.org/blog/intelligence-briefings-transitions/)** > > Michael Morell is a leading intelligence analyst with over 30 years of experience at the CIA, including running the agency. Before retiring from the CIA in 2013, Morell worked for six different presidents and served as former President George W.... ---
**Author:** ![Jihi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jihi/32/17768_2.png) [@Jihi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jihi)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2024, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/7769 "2024-03-10T19:54:34Z")
While reading these posts about nominees receiving intelligence briefings, a hilarious image popped in my head of trump receiving briefings about active threats to the United states. And himself and his criminal cohorts being at the top of the list. I can just imagine it… _Trump while looking at an intelligence briefing that’s a page and a half_ “Will somebody read this to me. it’s got too many big words in it!” ---
**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:** [March 10, 2024, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/7770 "2024-03-10T20:19:00Z")
Trump’s team never showed for the initial briefings at the Energy Department either. Then on arrival, they demanded a list of staff working on climate change. Then proceed to bury numerous studies. search:energy department brief to trump staffers Rick Perry who kept on some senior staffers from previous administrations and this guy were totally unqualified. > **[A masseuse is let loose at Energy Department](https://www.nrdc.org/trump-watch/masseuse-let-loose-energy-department)** > > Sid Bowdidge was a conspiracy theorist who would spew out violent rhetoric against Muslims—and he had no experience in energy issues. (I give Perry some credit for understanding he didn’t know what the Energy Department even did when he was railing against it [though he couldn’t remember the name during the Republicant debates]). ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2024, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/7771 "2024-03-10T20:36:14Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > … I could kind of understand that for some of the other cabinets they were planning on emasculating or eliminating all together like Energy or Education but even the chimps with hammers should be able to figure out the State Department is kind of important. The sad fact is that some high proportion of those Trump would put into power genuinely believe that God Will Do as God Wills—so why bother mucking about with foreign policy? It’s not our place, as mere humans, to do so! Let God handle it. I wish I were exaggerating. ---
**Author:** ![Jihi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jihi/32/17768_2.png) [@Jihi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jihi)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2024, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/7772 "2024-03-10T20:58:35Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > The sad fact is that some high proportion of those Trump would put into power genuinely believe that God Will Do as God Wills—so why bother mucking about with foreign policy? It’s not our place, as mere humans, to do so! Let God handle it. This sounds like another facet of the white christian nationalism that the orange a\*\*\*\*\*\* has courted and deliberately threaded throughout his base. (I almost said “threaded itself” but I realize that wasn’t accurate. Trump has deliberately courted these people and view them as his closest supporters. And oh yeah let’s never miss an opportunity to say f\*\*\* you to Stephen Miller who is the one probably most responsible for this) ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2024, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/7773 "2024-03-10T21:02:48Z")
> [@Jihi](#): > > Trump has deliberately courted these people and view them as his closest supporters. And oh yeah let’s never miss an opportunity to say f\*\*\* you to Stephen Miller who is the one probably most responsible for this… Agreed. People of that type are fairly easy to manipulate–just convince them that any would-be dictator who gave them their jobs is Chosen By God. Easy-to-manipulate people are perfect to have in place, whether your goal is financial gain (they ignore corruption as irrelevant to God’s Plan), the personal exercise of power (whee!!), or both. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2024, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/7774 "2024-03-10T22:51:44Z")
Former CIA Director John Brennan was on MSNBC and said that briefings to presidential candidates are delivered verbally, no documents involved. ---
**Author:** ![Jihi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jihi/32/17768_2.png) [@Jihi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jihi)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2024, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/7775 "2024-03-11T00:23:36Z")
Then change my trump joke to… _Trump after receiving a short intelligence briefing that a 5 year old could understand_ “I literally understood nothing you said. Got anything I can blackmail Ukraine with?” ---
**Author:** ![Akaj](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/akaj/32/145_2.png) [@Akaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akaj)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2024, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/7776 "2024-03-11T13:29:55Z")
> [@DWMarch](#): > > As @silenus noted, the “canary trap” (aka barium meal test) from Tom Clancy’s novels is where a document goes out with something untrue on it that the enemy cannot ignore. When the enemy acts on this information or tries to confirm it, you have found the source of your leak (and/or you can mess with them). I really hope the CIA and other alphabet soup agencies canary-trapped the hell out of anything he ever saw and particularly anything they were worried he would take with him. It would be kind of hilarious if all the documents at Mar-A-Lago were canary traps. Yes, but if they had, wouldn’t it be helpful if at some point they revealed to the public that they’d exposed Trump as a major security leak? Like, for instance, when he’s about to become his party’s official nominee for President? Of course I understand that it’s useful to leave a leak in place if you know he’s a leak. But wouldn’t it be even more useful to _not let the leak become President again_? (And of course I also understand that if the CIA or NSA were to make such a formal announcement, no matter how much evidence they presented a good chunk of voters would dismiss it as a Biden-led partisan witchhunt. But those aren’t the voters we care about.) ---
**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:** [March 11, 2024, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/7777 "2024-03-11T13:35:04Z")
> [@Akaj](#): > > Yes, but if they had, wouldn’t it be helpful if at some point they revealed to the public that they’d exposed Trump as a major security leak? Like, for instance, when he’s about to become his party’s official nominee for President? I’d be very surprised if they’d given him false information _when he was president,_ as you really, really want the president to have accurate information when they make decisions, even if it’s an idiot like Trump. But Trump the Candidate? Screw that guy, let’s find out if he’s leaking. So we probably don’t have evidence of him leaking yet, but we may soon. ---
**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:** [March 11, 2024, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/7778 "2024-03-11T13:58:59Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > we probably don’t have evidence of him leaking yet What about all the reports regarding his terrible odor? Oh, you meant leaking _information._ Carry on. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2024, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/7779 "2024-03-11T14:45:00Z")
As above, they aren’t going to give candidates specific, actionable information but rather general high level information, delivered verbally. And if he really is leaking that sort of information to Russia, it’s going to be hard to point it out exactly - it’s most likely the sort of stuff they probably already suspect in broad strokes. And if they want specific details, well, Trump is hardly known for his ability to repeat factual data verbatim or for a firm grasp on objective reality. They’d have to filter anything they got from him anyway and most of what he attempted to repeat would likely be garbage. The idea that such verbal, high level briefings could be used to conclusively suss him out as a leak borders on fantasy. That is, unless he is specifically fed material in an attempt to entrap him, but that has its own issues, especially if the briefings are delivered verbally. If and when he would have access to actual physical intelligence information, i.e. winning the election, especially information that could be passed on or exposed to foreign nations, well this whole thread is already about his cavalier attitude towards the secure handling and storage of such data. ---
**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:** [March 11, 2024, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/7780 "2024-03-11T15:11:20Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > As above, they aren’t going to give candidates specific, actionable information but rather general high level information, delivered verbally. Well, there’s the tried and true, “Oh no, my briefing document slipped out of the folder as I was leaving” trick. You know Trump would fall for it. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2024, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/7781 "2024-03-11T15:32:59Z")
I guess so? But that sort of entrapment has loads of issues, not least of which is if I were a Russian intelligence officer, I would have issues trusting it, much less using it. Why would a no longer sitting President, albeit a candidate, get that sort of thing? And why should it be trusted when it was obtained in such a fashion? It assumes, contrary to everything we know, that the Russians are basically the Keystone Cops and will be unknowing and unwilling stooges to a scheme so blatantly obvious as to call their fundamental intelligence and capability into question. ---
**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:** [March 11, 2024, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/7782 "2024-03-11T15:34:56Z")
Moderating: Let’s please take the discussion regarding entrapment and daily briefings to a different thread. This one is for the narrow purpose of discussing the pending charges against Trump for retaining classified documents. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2024, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/7783 "2024-03-11T20:40:10Z")
> **[Legal expert thinks Judge Cannon may be “looking to toss the case” against...](https://www.yahoo.com/news/legal-expert-thinks-judge-cannon-153747603.html)** > > Why did Cannon choose to focus on two of Trump's seven motions? MSNBC analyst thinks she's looking for a way out. > The hearing will focus on “Trump’s motion to dismiss classified docs counts 1-32 on unconstitutional vagueness claims and Trump+Nauta motion to dismiss superseding indictment on the Presidential Records Act,” … > > Special counsel Jack Smith on Thursday rejected Trump’s claim that he was allowed to deem government records as personal under the Presidential Records Act. … > > MSNBC legal analyst Lisa Rubin on Sunday questioned why Cannon selected the Presidential Records Act motion as well as another on the constitutional vagueness of the first 32 counts in the indictment out of the seven motions Trump’s team submitted. > > “Why did she choose those?” Rubin questioned. "One possibility is she’s looking to toss the case, and she’s looking to toss it on something other than constitutional immunity grounds, because there is a fear that if the Supreme Court were to uphold, for example, the DC Circuit, she can’t go against that. She’ll be overturned. > > “So, she’s looking for, potentially, another reason to throw out the case,” Rubin continued. "The Presidential Records Act argument is entirely frivolous. … Given that the PRA does not apply to stealing classified documents, refusing to surrender them, and obstructing justice, how can Cannon _possibly_ dismiss the case? What if she does? Does Smith have any recourse? Would such a blatant move demonstrating her loyalty to her leader instead of the Constitution be grounds for her impeachment or dismissal? If so, could Smith’s case be reinstated? [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=387) [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=389)