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NEW: Judge Cannon Devastates Jack Smith With Order Revealing Trove Of Evidence

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7 months ago

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The federal judge overseeing former President Donald Trump’s classified documents case has ordered prosecutors to reveal incriminating coordination with the Biden administration, steps special counsel Jack Smith previously went to great lengths to shield from the public.

Based on the ruling by Florida U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, memorandums outlining Smith’s attempts to keep the White House in the loop about his investigation into President Trump have now been unredacted. The now-coherent evidence shows just how closely Smith worked with top officials in the Biden administration and U.S. Department of Justice as they lobbied Trump to return classified documents while in some cases delaying communications with the former president until they had been vetted by Biden’s attorneys.

Investigative reporter Julie Kelly produced four pages on Smith’s machinations showing before and after redactions on X.

In one document, Gary Stern, general counsel for the National Archives, admitted that “[i]t is not uncommon that [Presidential Records Act] material collection extends past the close of any presidential administration,” sometimes “well after the close of any given presidential administration.” The line was previously redacted by Smith and showcased by President Trump’s attorneys as an early indication of bias by the National Archives.

Despite claims by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland that Smith’s investigation would be “independent” from Biden’s Justice Department, other evidence reveals he upgraded the search to a “full investigation” according to Fox News.

On September 1, 2021, Stern circulated a “letter that we could consider sending to the Attorney General about missing Trump Records,” another line Smith had requested be redacted. Smith stated at the time that he had “informally reached out to DOJ counsel about the issue,” and that “White House counsel are now aware of the issue, and has asked that I keep them in the loop to the extent that we make any reference to the [White House Office of Records Management].”

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That same week, two persons involved in the matter began drafting a referral to the DOJ. On March 30th, 2022, Garland approved upgrading the probe.

“This email conveys Department of Justice (DOJ) Attorney General (AG) [Merrick Garland] approval for conversion to a full investigation,” a synopsis of the restricted document reads.

In another section, attorneys for Trump cite attempts to keep their client out of the loop as evidence that the Biden administration “weaponized” the PRA.

In late September 2021, just as a referral to the DOJ was imminent, Deputy White House Counsel Jonathan Su asked one of President Trump’s coordinators for the probe to authorize a colleague to access notes taken in the final days of the Trump administration as staffers prepared the storage of classified materials. According to the unredacted document, Su intervened when Stern, the National Archives counsel, attempted to provide a copy of the notes to Trump’s representative.

“[C]ould we discuss the process before anything is provided to him?” Su wrote to Stern, who agreed but said the request was “atypical” of most records-gathering efforts.

“[N]ormally we would have to provide the records to him per the notification/review process, before we could provide anything to you,” Stern replied. Two days later, he assured Su that the former president’s representative “[h]ad not asked to see these records.”

Additional disclosures reveal the extent to which the DOJ and FBI coordinated across intergovernmental agencies as they prepared for the August 8th, 2022 raid on Mar-a-Lago. President Trump wrote on social media that morning that his compound was “under siege” by authorities and that the effort was unnecessary as his team was fully cooperating.

“A search warrant, 22-mj-8332-BER, issued in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida on August 5, 2022, was executed at 1100 South Ocean Boulevard, Palm Beach, Florida 33480 at 10:33 a.m. on August 8, 2022,” the document reads.

“Prior to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) team’s entry onto the MAL premises, FBI leadership informed and coordinated with local United States Secret Service (USSS) leadership. Local USSS facilitated entry onto the premises, provided escort and access to various locations within, and posted USSS personnel in locations where the FBI team conducted searches,” it continued.

In total, four agents from the FBI WFO, one FBI Headquarters personnel, 25 agents from the FBI Miami Field Office, one DOJ Counterintelligence and Export Control Section attorney, and one attorney from the United States Attorneys Office Southern District of Florida all participated in the raid.



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