# 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:** 426
**Author:** ![Airbeck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/airbeck/32/6574_2.png) [@Airbeck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airbeck)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2025, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/8526 "2025-01-07T18:26:41Z")
I know. It’s clear that they know they will get away with it too, they aren’t even trying to be cute about it. ---
**Author:** ![MikeF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MikeF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeF)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2025, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/8527 "2025-01-08T23:19:59Z")
An article on Slate claims that Cannon really has no jurisdiction over the release of the report. If that is true, why doesn’t DOJ just go ahead and release it? Why doesn’t the 11th rule on the appeal involving the claim that Smith is an unconstitutional appointment? My understanding is that this is not a difficult case and precedent is clearly on DOJs side. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2025, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/8528 "2025-01-08T23:26:07Z")
Cite: > **[Aileen Cannon has "no basis" to block Jack Smith's report: Legal analyst](https://www.newsweek.com/aileen-cannon-no-basis-jack-smith-report-trump-2011379)** > > "It's not clear to folks like me ... whether she has that jurisdiction," MSNBC legal correspondent Lisa Rubin said Tuesday. The crux seems to be: > [@](#): > > “It’s not clear to folks like me, Andrea, whether she has that jurisdiction,” Rubin said. > > She added: “That’s because earlier this year, she threw out the Mar-a-Lago documents case, explaining that from her reasoning, Jack Smith did not have constitutional authority to bring that prosecution under the appointments clause of the Constitution. And so there is no basis here to block the report, in part because it’s not clear that there’s a case or controversy in front of her.” > > Interesting 🍿 ---
**Author:** ![MikeF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MikeF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeF)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2025, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/8529 "2025-01-09T01:10:13Z")
Exactly. So why doesn’t the 11th grow a backbone (or some other body part) and make a ruling? Explain it to me like I’m five. Along with the consequences of DOJ releasing the full report on everything in spite of Cannon’s ruling. Would/could Trumps DOJ charge Garland with something? ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2025, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/8530 "2025-01-09T01:26:38Z")
> [@MikeF](#): > > So why doesn’t the 11th grow a backbone (or some other body part) and make a ruling? Explain it to me like I’m five. Has the DoJ appealed the ruling to the 11th circuit? Unless they have an appeal before them, they have no power to intervene in a lower court decision. > [@](#): > > Along with the consequences of DOJ releasing the full report on everything in spite of Cannon’s ruling. Would/could Trumps DOJ charge Garland with something? Lawyers are officers of the court. Wilfully disobeying a court order can get a lawyer disbarred. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2025, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/8531 "2025-01-09T03:05:28Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Wilfully disobeying a court order can get a lawyer disbarred. Worth it ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2025, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/8532 "2025-01-09T03:06:44Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Lawyers are officers of the court. Wilfully disobeying a court order can get a lawyer disbarred. There must be non-lawyers with access to it. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2025, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/8533 "2025-01-09T11:46:40Z")
Releasing the report will accomplish nothing other than provide fodder to the media cycle to play out the case in the court of public opinion. I really doubt that there is a smoking gun so damning to Trump that any of his supporters would give two shits about it. Sad but true. The right wing media would call out the release of the report agaisnt an (illegal) judges order as a evidence of a continuing left wing circle jerk against the choosen one. 😫 ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2025, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/8534 "2025-01-09T15:38:33Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > I really doubt that there is a smoking gun so damning to Trump that any of his supporters would give two shits about it. Sad but true. Just because he could shoot someone on 5th Avenue without losing voters doesn’t mean the public shouldn’t be made aware of it. ---
**Author:** ![excavating\_for\_a\_mind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e8c25b/32.png) [@excavating\_for\_a\_mind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/excavating_for_a_mind)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2025, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/8535 "2025-01-09T17:20:40Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > > [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > > > I really doubt that there is a smoking gun so damning to Trump that any of his supporters would give two shits about it. Sad but true. > > Just because he could shoot someone on 5th Avenue without losing voters doesn’t mean the public shouldn’t be made aware of it What Joey\_P said. If it gets released, it will be published and future historians will be able to find it. Trump is already trying to re-write history on Jan 6, and other events. Once in office, all evidence will evaporate. The object is not to show a smoking gun to his supporters, but to provide evidence for future historians, In the future, there is likely to be historians who will try to figure out what happened. Of course, they will find conflicting explanations, but we have to trust future historians will have the ability to separate the truth from the lies. They can’t do that if all that is left is lies and innuendo. ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2025, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/8536 "2025-01-09T23:00:24Z")
> [@MikeF](#): > > Along with the consequences of DOJ releasing the full report on everything in spite of Cannon’s ruling. Would/could Trumps DOJ charge Garland with something? > [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Lawyers are officers of the court. Wilfully disobeying a court order can get a lawyer disbarred. Couldn’t Biden order the DOJ to release it? And, since this would, I think, be an official presidential act, he would have immunity against Trump’s retaliation. So, wouldn’t the DOJ personnel like Garland also be protected because they followed a presidential order? If Biden says release it and the courts say no, what does Garland do? Garland works for the President in the Executive branch (even though he’s supposed to be independent). ---
**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:** [January 10, 2025, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/8537 "2025-01-10T03:51:27Z")
The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed Cannon’s challenge to keep Jack Smith’s election-interference report from being released, though there likely still will be delays: > [@](#): > > The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals turned down a emergency challenge aimed at keeping under wraps the report expected to detail unflattering revelations about Trump’s failed effort to cling to power in the election he lost to President Joe Biden. > > A separate volume of the same special counsel report — related to Trump’s hoarding of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate — will not become public while the case against two co-defendants of the president-elect remains pending, the Justice Department has said. > > Even with the appeals court ruling, though, the election interference report will not immediately be released, and there’s no guarantee it will be as more legal wrangling is expected. A lower court ruling from Trump-appointed U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon in Florida [temporarily blocking the Justice Department](https://apnews.com/article/trump-jack-smith-maralago-jan-6-justice-department-e73a42b03cc6dc807de32c42dc824f3d) from releasing the report remains in place for three days. > **[Appeals court denies bid to block public release of special counsel's report...](https://apnews.com/article/trump-special-counsel-report-election-interference-4ef4ba2508baf3bb269abd4bcdc8e102)** > > A federal appeals court has denied a bid to block the public release of special counsel Jack Smith’s report on President-elect Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss. ---
**Author:** ![Toxgoddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Toxgoddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxgoddess)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2025, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/8538 "2025-01-10T18:46:55Z")
Good. Now cue Trump asking the Supreme Court to block the release in five…four…three… And I’m not hopeful they won’t. ---
**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:** [January 10, 2025, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/8539 "2025-01-10T18:51:40Z")
> [@dasmoocher](#): > > If Biden says release it and the courts say no, what does Garland do? Garland works for the President in the Executive branch (even though he’s supposed to be independent). I’m pretty sure Biden could request a copy for Presidential review, and then give that copy to the press. He’s the President, he can do anything he wants (according the the Supreme Court). That lets Garland and the rest of the DoJ off the hook. ---
**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:** [January 10, 2025, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/8540 "2025-01-10T20:50:07Z")
I really hope somebody leaks it, I’m not particular as to who it is. If Trump is trying this hard to stop it, you can guarantee it doesn’t say flattering things about him. ---
**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:** [January 10, 2025, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/8541 "2025-01-10T23:31:51Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > I’m pretty sure Biden could request a copy for Presidential review, and then give that copy to the press. He’s the President, he can do anything he wants (according the the Supreme Court). I shared that on Xitter, tagging Biden’s and POTUS’s handles, and shared _that_ on FB. > ---
**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:** [January 11, 2025, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/8542 "2025-01-11T23:19:50Z")
And now, this: (Gift link.) > **[Jack Smith, Who Led Prosecutions of Trump, Resigns](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/11/us/politics/jack-smith-special-counsel-resigns.html?unlocked_article_code=1.oU4.ZChX.76Skyt_utF8I&smid=url-share)** > > Mr. Smith, a special counsel appointed by Attorney General Merrick B. Garland, had signaled that he would step down before Donald J. Trump’s inauguration. From the article: > The special counsel departed after his efforts in the courtroom were essentially rendered moot by Mr. Trump’s political victory in November. Under a Justice Department policy prohibiting the pursuit of prosecutions against a sitting president, Mr. Smith was compelled to [drop both of the cases](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/25/us/politics/jack-smith-trump-election-documents-charges.html) he had filed against Mr. Trump in 2023 — one in Florida, accusing him of mishandling a trove of classified documents, and the other in Washington, on charges of plotting to overturn the 2020 election. > > Mr. Smith’s final week was marked by one more legal setback at the hands of Judge Aileen M. Cannon, the Trump-appointed jurist presiding over the Florida documents case: She temporarily blocked public release of his final report until at least Monday. Applicable to both this case and the January 6th Insurrection case. Heartbreaking. ---
**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:** [January 11, 2025, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/8543 "2025-01-11T23:29:20Z")
From the OP… > [@Aspenglow](#): > > The only surprise to me is that it has happened so soon. … but, apparently, not soon enough. ---
**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:** [January 11, 2025, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/8544 "2025-01-11T23:31:55Z")
Nothing would have stopped what Cannon and the Supreme Court were willing to do in order to stop these cases. You can imply that this was a failure of the DOJ, but it wasn’t. It was a failure of our justice system further up, in places that are frankly terrifying. The judiciary is corrupt in some pretty important places now. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2025, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-search-and-seizure-at-trumps-mar-a-lago-residence-august-8-2022-case-dismissed-july-15-2024/969329/8545 "2025-01-12T00:30:19Z")
Jeff Tiedrich always called him “Jack Smith, who prosecuted war criminals in the Hague”, and it gave me hope that there would someday be justice. Anyway, goodbye Mr. Smith. [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=425) [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=427)