In June, a lawyer for former President Donald Trump told the Department of Justice (DOJ) that all classified material at Mar-a-Lago had been returned. At least one member of Mr. Trump’s legal team signed a written statement earlier this summer saying that all material marked classified and stored in boxes at Trump’s private club and home in Florida had been turned over to the government, according to four people. who spoke to the New York Times. The new defense coming out of Donald Trump’s office in response to the raid on his home is that the documents found at Mar-a-Lago were already declassified. A statement defending keeping the documents at the former president’s private club was shared on Fox News on Friday by right-wing writer John Solomon. “As we can all relate, everyone ends up bringing their work home from time to time. American presidents are no different. President Trump, in order to prepare for work the next day, frequently moved documents, including classified documents, from the Oval Office to the residence,” the statement said.

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What is the espionage law under which Trump is being investigated?

What do transgender whistleblower Chelsea Manning, 1950s Soviet spy Julius Rosenberg and former President Donald Trump have in common? The answer, according to a now-public search warrant for the FBI’s emergency raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago, Florida home on Monday, is that all four were investigated on suspicion of violating the Espionage Act of 1917. Paperwork unsealed by a federal judge on Friday says the FBI was looking for evidence that might violate the law, which regulates the handling of classified documents related to national security. The Espionage Act, which is most often used against spies, whistleblowers and government officials who leak documents to journalists, carries a maximum sentence of ten years in prison. What exactly is Mr. Trump being investigated for?

What is the espionage law under which Trump is being investigated?

The former president’s home was searched under a controversial law passed in 1917 to prevent espionage and the leaking of government documents Io Dodds14 August 2022 02:30 1660437005

Gustaf Kilander August 14, 2022 01:30 1660433405

New defense from Trump team: The documents were already declassified

The new defense coming out of Mr Trump’s office is that the documents were already declassified. Some of the documents were marked “Miscellaneous Classified/TS/SCI documents,” according to The Wall Street Journal. A statement defending keeping the documents at the former president’s private club was shared on Fox News on Friday by right-wing writer John Solomon. “As we can all relate, everyone ends up bringing their work home from time to time. American presidents are no different. President Trump, in order to prepare for work the next day, frequently moved documents, including classified documents, from the Oval Office to the residence,” the statement said. “He had standing orders that documents removed from the Oval Office and moved to the residence were deemed declassified.” Gustaf Kilander 14 August 2022 00:30 1660429805

Former president addresses attorney general to say country ‘on fire’ over Florida estate raid

Attorney General Merrick Garland said Thursday that he had authorized the Mar-a-Lago investigation and hinted that the DOJ would not have done so without first attempting less intrusive actions. Shortly before Mr. Garland’s statement, a person in Trump’s inner circle contacted a Justice Department official to relay a message from Mr. Trump to Mr. Garland. The former president wanted the attorney general to know that he was talking to people in the US and that they were furious about the raid. “The country is on fire,” Mr. Trump reportedly said, according to a person familiar with the message, The New York Times reported. “What can I do to reduce the heat?” Gustaf Kilander August 13, 2022 11:30 pm 1660426253

Conspiracies complicate the Louisiana voting machine debate

Louisiana’s need to replace its voting machines is not in doubt. They are very outdated — they were developed in 2006, the year after Hurricane Katrina hit — and do not produce paper ballots that are critical to ensuring the accuracy of election results. What to do about them is another story. The long-running drama includes past allegations of bid-rigging, polling firms claiming favoritism and a secretary of state who won’t commit to a new system for the 2024 presidential election. Local election officials are also concerned about the influence of conspiracy theorists who have made unsubstantiated claims about election equipment and become welcome in the debate about the new machines.

Conspiracies complicate the Louisiana voting machine debate

There is no question that Louisiana needs to replace its voting machines The Associated Press August 13, 2022 10:30 p.m 1660422653

Cinema took money from Wall Street while taxing investors

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, the Arizona Democrat who single-handedly overturned her party’s longtime goal of raising taxes on wealthy investors, has received nearly $1 million in the past year from private equity professionals, hedge fund managers and venture capitalists. whose taxes would have increased plan. For years, Democrats have promised to raise taxes on these investors, who pay a significantly lower interest rate on their earnings than ordinary workers. But just as they completed that goal last week, Sinema pushed through a series of changes to her party’s $740 billion election-year spending package, eliminating a proposed increase in the “carried interest” tax on private equity profits while ensuring a $35 billion exemption that will save much of the industry from a separate tax hike other huge companies must now pay. The bill, with Sinema’s amendments intact, was finally approved by Congress on Friday and is expected to be signed by President Joe Biden next week.

Cinema took money from Wall Street while taxing investors

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema has received a wave of $1 million in campaign cash over the past year from private equity professionals, hedge fund managers and venture capitalists whose interests she has vigorously championed in Congress. The Associated Press August 13, 2022 9:30 p.m 1660419053

Monkey pox? Climate? Deciding what is a national emergency

In November 1979, just over a week after student militants seized control of the US Embassy in Tehran and took 52 American citizens hostage, President Jimmy Carter issued Executive Order 12170 declaring a state of emergency against Iran. That order remains in place today, most recently renewed in the weeks before last Thanksgiving by President Joe Biden, who noted at the time that “our relations with Iran have not yet been normalized.” The Biden administration’s Aug. 4 declaration of a public health emergency for monkeypox frees up federal money and resources to fight a virus that has already infected more than 10,000 people in the United States. However, public health emergencies expire every 90 days unless extended by the Department of Health and Human Services. These differ from national emergency declarations, which give presidents wide latitude to make policy and tap federal funds without congressional approval. That’s what activists have been clamoring for to better fight climate change, but Biden has held on despite energy shortages across much of the world and high gas prices at home. “This is really the true test of whether President Biden is taking the climate crisis seriously,” said Karen Orenstein, climate director for Friends of the Earth. “There couldn’t be a more critical move.”

Monkey pox? Climate? Deciding what is a national emergency

Climate activists are pushing President Joe Biden to declare a climate emergency, something the White House has yet to do The Associated Press August 13, 2022 8:30 p.m 1660415453

Marjorie Taylor Greene files articles of impeachment against Merrick Garland for ‘blatant attempted impeachment’ of Trump

Marjorie Taylor Greene filed articles of impeachment against Attorney General Merrick Garland over the Mar-a-Lago raid. The Georgia Republican announced the resolution Friday after Republicans expressed outrage over the investigation into former President Donald Trump. Ms. Greene’s resolution states that “Mr. Garland’s personal approval of seeking a search warrant to raid the home of the 45th President of the United States, Donald J Trump, constitutes a blatant attempt to prosecute a political opponent.” The search warrant, authorized by a federal judge, was unsealed on Friday after both the Justice Department and Mr. Trump’s legal team approved the measure. The warrant revealed that the FBI had located classified documents that had been taken to Mar-a-Lago and indicated that the former president is under investigation for possible violations of the Espionage Act.

Marjorie Taylor Greene filed articles of impeachment against Merrick Garland

Unsealing the search warrant is an attempt to “intimidate, harass and potentially disqualify a political challenger” to Joe Biden, Green claims Gustaf Kilander 13 August 2022 19:30 1660411853

Did Trump leak Mar-a-Lago warrant to name FBI agents as threats against bureau mount?

Donald Trump is under fire for allegedly leaking the entire unredacted warrant and “endangering” FBI agents searching his Mar-a-Lago home as part of an investigation into the removal of official White House records. A judge unsealed a redacted version of Mar-a-Lago search warrant documents that show the Justice Department recovered 11 sets of classified documents, including some with the highest levels of…