Maureen Steele, also known as the “Mother of the People’s Convoy,” had a great idea on her recent birthday; she thought about how she could extend the vicotry she had with the massive success of the global Trucker’s movement- she would have a ‘People’s Debate” sometime in October, before the 2022 mid-terms.
“At the Trucker’s rallies, we had people waiving the Rainbow flag and the American flag. This is not about political parties because if we lose our country, then they lose their country too. We are all Americans, and we will all lose our freedoms if we don’t unite under a banner of freedom, and that was my idea for the debates,” she told Pete Santilli media.
“I contacted Parler to ask them to sponsor this event because they are all about the free exchange of ideas and getting information to the People,” Steele told me.
They agreed to sponsor “The Mother of All Debates,” and then they backed out hours later with no explanation about why leaving Steele to scramble for another financial backer.
Steele is looking for a financial backer now for her event.
“We need freedom in our elections. What I noticed doing the Convoy is that people are ready for actual action, but we are only reaching a percentage of the population. I guess about a third that doesn’t have the other side of the story. They only have one side, and they’re just fed propaganda. And also, what I noticed was that the Convoy was such an international spectacle; the left had no choice but to cover it because it was a spectacle. We got everyone’s attention. These speaking events are great, you know, but many times we are just preaching to the choir. We need to reach the other side and let them decide for themselves. So I have this idea to do the people’s debate as a follow-up to the people’s Convoy in hope that we can reach the other side,” Steele said. “And we can have a free exchange of ideas and information.”
“It’s going to be the first time in world history that the people are calling out the policymakers to an open presidential-style debate. We are still doing it,” Steele said.
Pete Santilli will be interviewing Steele soon- look for updates on her event.
Americans gathered in the Springfield Expo Center to talk about getting rid of the vote tabulation machines that have remade American elections. Complaints about the machines started in 1992, when Democrats had a lot to say about their concerns- and may have had undo influence in 2020.
Remember this?
But it is ok for Democrats to be worried and go on the media- Patriots are not allowed- right?
Even though polling shows that election concerns are a major problem in the US, the mainstream media says that a huge number of American citizens are worried that the machines are “the fringe,” the lapdog media have no respect for the stories of the American people- they never ask- WHY are these people concerned?
But what is the fringe? Is it really something to be embarrassed about being called?
According to Matthew 9:21, : And suddenly, a woman who had flow of blood for twelve years came from behind and touched the hem of His garment. For she said to herself, “If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well.” But Jesus turned around, and when He saw her He said, “Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And that woman was made well from that hour.”
“The fringe is the outer most part of the hem, that is where the fringe is. It is a very special part of the hem that the woman in the Bible reached out to and was healed for touching,” Kasondra Watkins told me about a revelation she had recently about the people of the American First movement.
This weekend is a two day event focused on restoring election integrity, sponsored by Mike Lindell the CEO of My Pillow.
The Moment of Truth Summit in Springfield MO was attended by people from all over the country. On Sunday participants started the day out with Bible worship led by Pastor Hank Kunneman.
Kunneman preached about the battle of David and Goliath, which is a battle that election activists personally understand, for in the pursit of truth, like the Bible story- they all stood up for God and Country.
“We need to look at Isaiah 1,” for righteous people to rise, the Pastor told the gathering directing his speech to the government officials who have been corrupt, “you will not get away with the fraud that was committed- because of the righteousness of God, ” Kunneman said who talked about fair judges.
Isaiah 1 says:
Woe to the sinful nation, a people whose guilt is great, a brood of evildoers, children given to corruption! They have forsaken the Lord; they have spurned the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him.
That makes sense.
“We are not here in vain, is there not a cause here? That is what David said, that there was a cause. I say to people and to the church is there not a cause to fight for God and country?” Kunneman said to an enthusiastic audience who cheered on their feet.
“It’s the common people who began to engage the same battle as the people of the Lord, “that is what the Bible is about Kunneman said.
That sounds like the Vietnam Veteran I spoke to who drove from Oregan with his wife. “I went to Vietnam to fight the Communism I see going on in the United States of America now, he told me about why he made it all the way to MO this weekend.
Is his story not interesting to the American people? To the Mainstream media?
The participants of the Moment of Truth Summit were decidedly spiritual and their love of America is grounded in their faith in God.
“It takes someone like Mike Lindell to make a stand and say they are not going to take it anymore,” Kunneman said at the Lindell event that explored elections with all 50 states.
On Saturday, speakers from all 50 states talked about the problems with the elections in their states and at the end of the night the movie ‘Selection Code’ was premiered, which showed the trials and tribulations of Tina Peters an election clerk, and a gold star mother, who was barred from attending the event by her local District Attorney, after she was arrested and indicted for investigating the election machines used in Mesa Co., Colorado.
Activists and candidates were gathered together for Bible service on Sunday and to talk about saving the Republic.
“What I think is really interesting that has come from this event is that we see that while the problems are different in each state, there seems to be a coordination in general to cheat in the 2020 election, ” Scott Adam said.
Adam’s motto is “Integrity First,” and he he is considered an election integrity candidate running for US House of Reps for District 13 in Hawaii.
“Election Integrity is Vital to the Health of our Republic
“We will not forget 2020 and will hold out hope that the light of truth will shine in that dark corner and will pursue the two-front war to making our elections work in the future”. – Seth Keshel (an excerpt from, The Ten Points to True Election Integrity: An Epilogue).
The Summit was a chance for people to network with others from all over the state and exchange information for building unity- most people there were unifed in their love for American freedom.
Sitting near Adams was Dan Radiostyle, who has a Rumble program that shows media with a spiritual edge called ‘On The Fringe’ podcast on Rumble. Radiostyle told me about his pro-spirtual interpretation of the news people needed to hear.
“There is a global awakening going on,” Radiostyle told me, voter integrity is univying people.
Lance Wallnau also preached on David Goliath and the people on the fringe, the people who are called’ Christian Nationalism. “
“The want to brand us and smear us they want to make us sound violent, but was is so violent about loving America and wanting to preserve our Liberty? Wallnau said to the participants.
On loop before the prayer and Bible service was a popular wong, the lyrics were perfect for the audience. Mainstream media will not pay attention to the stories of these people, other than to mock them and their concerns.
That is the consequence of taking God out of the public square.
If I told you my story You would hear hope that wouldn’t let go And if I told you my story You would hear love that never gave up
And if I told you my story You would hear life, but it wasn’t mine If I should speak, then let it be of the grace That is greater than all my sin
Of when justice was served and where mercy wins! Of the kindness of Jesus that draws me in Oh, to tell you my story is to tell of Him
If I told you my story, you would hear victory Over the enemy And if I told you my story, you would hear freedom That was won for me
And if I told you my story, you would hear life Overcome the grave If I should speak, then let it be of the grace That is greater than all my sin
Of when justice was served, and where mercy wins! Of the kindness of Jesus, that draws me in Oh to tell you my story, is to tell of Him
This is my story, this is my song Praising my savior, all the day long This is my story, this is my song Praising my savior, all the day long
For the grace that is greater, than all my sin Of when justice was served, and when mercy wins! Of the kindness of Jesus, that draws me in Oh to tell you my story, is to tell
Of the grace that is reater, than all my sin Of when justice was served, and when mercy wins! Of the kindness of Jesus, that draws me in Oh to tell you my story, is to tell of Him Oh to tell you my story, is to tell of Him
This is my story, this is my song Praising my savior, all the day long
Lindell cares about the stories of the American people. Watch Santilli.com for more of them.
Tina Peters Gold Star Mom whose 27-year-old son, a Seal Team 6 member, died in service. Special Warfare Operator (SEAL) Petty Officer 1st Class Remington Jordan Peters died in 2017.
Ms. Peters was an elected elections clerk and recorder in Mesa Co., Colorado who grew concerned about the 2020 Presidential election.
At first, Peters said, she thought that the election for her county, which she oversaw, was ‘gold standard,’ however after people in her community complained to her she tried to find some answers for them and since then she has paid a hefty price- for caring about Americans in that way.
“I am an elected official; I ccould have anyone to come in and look at the process, “Peters said in the movie, describing the investigation she started into the election after she decided to listen to her community’s concerns over the vote tabulations.
She enraged the government authorities who raided her home and ransacked her belongings.
Peter’s emotionally described the moment she found a box of her son’s last effects that had been manhandled and left disheveled in a pile on the ground, after that raid on her home.
“It made me realize we all have boxes that we need to open and things we need to face,” Peters said, and that may have been a motivating moment for her to continue on with her mission to find justice for confused and hurting Americans who have grown into a giant movement of election integrity.
To them, she is a hoer, because she will not give up. But that is no acceptable to her local government.
The lapdog media has mostly ignored Peters, except to make fun of her or call her names, has reported that she is being denied the opportunity to be in fellowship with her friends for a significant occasion.
MESA COUNTY, Colo. (KKCO) – Tina Peters, embattled Mesa County Clerk & Recorder and former Secretary of State candidate, has been denied travel to a summit by District Attorney Dan Rubinstein.
As the defendant of an ongoing criminal trial, Peters is required by law to submit a request to travel out of state to the district court. Peters had previously ignored this bond requirement, resulting in a warrant being issued for her arrest that was later quashed.
According to documents from the DA, Peters sought permission to travel to Springfield, Missouri, to attend the Moment of Truth Summit. The documents state that Peters took part in a documentary film celebrating the 2020 election theft conspiracy theory and the actions she took during the election that ultimately resulted in Peters being in hot water with the law.
The documents state that Peters was seeking to attend the summit because it was “necessary to further her business interests,” but points out that Peters is still drawing a salary of $93,000 annually.
Additionally, the document states that “In summary, Ms. Peters is seeking permission to leave the state so that she can be celebrated as a hero for the conduct that a grand jury has indicted her for, and claims this is necessary to further her business interests, at a time where she continues to draw a substantial salary as the elected Clerk and Recorder, while doing no work for the county who is paying her.”
PETERS IS BEING INDICTED FOR TRYING TO FIX THE MESSED-UP ELECTIONS
My son described me in 3 words, “she fixes things,” Peters said in the movie- that the DA didn’t want Peters to see live at Mike Lindell’s Summit- saying he denied her because she might be treated like a hero- remember.
The integrity of American elections are the topic of concern for all of the attendees of the Summitt. Peters is not alone in wanting the Government to go back and address the problems with the tabulation machines used in elections.
Peters, who said she has never even had a speeding ticket to that point, was harassed and intimidated by government officials and got kicked out of her office and then called her a criminal.
“I couldn’t unsee what I saw, we needed an investigation,” Peter said about her investigation in her government role as an election worker.
Her story is that of one American Mom who refuses to give up until the American people have some answers.
The movie of her story is accessible on their website and was shown at the Movement of Truth Summit.
“We found a lot of irregularities through an activist Sherrona Bishop” Peters. Bishop is also a large part of the movie and was on the scene to view the movie live at it’s Moment of Truth, premier in Springfield MO.
Peters questions the machines and the government’s authority over them.
And that is when her trouble started.
That troubled story is highlighted in the movie- Selection Code.
“Uncovering a secret so critical to the survival of America it transcends political parties. It is not about correcting the past. It’s about correcting the future. You’ll never again let a machine near your vote.”
You’ve heard it said “Those who vote decide nothing. Those who count the votes decide everything.”
What about those who code the vote?
What if our leaders aren’t actually being elected by us, but instead… selected?
[S]ELECTION CODE follows the story of Tina Peters the County Clerk in Mesa Colorado, who made a backup of her counties Dominion Voting System server, only to stumble across evidence of manipulation in a recent local city council election…. and also the 2020 general election. Tina’s discovery ignites a chain reaction upending her life. And upending the world.
You will not be able to unsee what you see.
We stand at an apex in human history. Are we handing too much power to technology – and those that program it?
[S]ELECTION CODE is a political thriller uncovering a secret so critical to the survival of America it transcends political parties. It is not about correcting the past. It’s about correcting the future.
Once you see [S]ELECTION CODE you’ll never again let a machine near your vote.
Ceo of My Pillow, Mike Lindell, kicked off his event called the Moment of Truth Summit and was recognized by his audience for his activism on the topic of election integrity, which he started after the 2020 presidential election exposed several huge problems with voter tabulation.
” I was given a platform from God; it is all over your voices that I want people to hear, ” Lindell said about the purpose of the events. “I am showing the American dream on steroids.”
The event included a giant hospitality room with a buffet and gave participants an opportunity to meet, network, socialize, and pray together with other concerned citizens. As a result, there was a lot of goodwill and fellowship happening at the event.
The event started with the pledge, prayer, and clips of Democrats complaining about their concerns over voter fraud, highlighting the decade-long concerns of Democrats- over the same things that Democrats were now calling people ‘conspiracy kooks’ for being concerned about. That sort of hypocrisy is something that has been noticed by the lapdog media.
Lindell has been accused of trying to overturn the 2020 election in favor of President Donald J. Trump. However, Lindell and his guest repeatedly emphasized that what he was looking for was “the truth” about how votes are tabulated in elections, specifically focusing on the machine.
And it is not just the Dominion machines that he is targeting, saying we will get more information on that throughout the weekend.
Pete Santilli was on scene to talk to participants and to live stream the programming.
Numerous other independent news outlets were on the scene to report on the details of the event and were posting on social media. In addition, right Side Broadcasting, Real America’s Voice, and Gateway Pundit had media teams to get the news from lawmakers, activists, and others- for the American people.
Mike Lindell is single-handedly doing more for election integrity than all of congress combined
One event participant had a front-row seat to the first hours and days of the tabulation of votes being validated, a Trump’s legal team, former Senior adviser & counsel Jenna Ellis, who calls herself “relentlessly truthful.”
“Mike Lindell needs to be recognized for his push for the truth and surviving attacks against him for his tireless calls for us to have the truth about elections, ” Ellis said to the audience, who jumped to their feet to show their support.
The Moment of Truth Summit is being held in Springfield, MO, on Saturday and Sunday for two full days of presentations on election integration, and Lindell says that the problems didn’t start in 2020.
The Moment of Truth Summit banner proudly displayed at Times Square! YOU DON’T WANT TO MISS THIS, it will be one of the most crucial events in our nations history!The world will hear the truth. Tell everyone you know to watch on FrankSpeech THIS WEEKEND Aug 20th & 21st! pic.twitter.com/Kks2FodTfm
“The machines have to go, and people need the courage to stand up and talk about what they have seen and get involved to expose the problems,” Lindell said.
While Lindell recognized that the machines had been a problem for a long time, he was pleased he was at a place and time to reveal many more details than anyone had ever had before.
Lindell’s presenters had legal documents that pointed out extraordinary numbers of votes and how the tabulations were reached and pointed to the machines.
But the mainstream media was not interested in any of that either. Likely because people searching for legal interventions on the machines are being called ‘insane,’ as one other presenter from PA talked about.
“It all had to happen just this way, or we wouldn’t be here to get rid of the machines and get our country back; you had all these anomalies that couldn’t explain before,” Lindell said hinting at more calls to action that would come for people to get involved.
BREAKING EXCLUSIVE: Trump Got’em – Huge Concerns About Peter Strzok Working for the CIA Are Likely at the Heart of Mar-a-Lago RAID
The brazen raid of President Trump’s home in Florida, Mar-a-Lago, likely has its roots in the Russia collusion story with a particular focus on Peter Strzok and his affiliation with the CIA.
We reported back in May 2020 that Peter Strzok was somehow connected to the CIA. General Michael Flynn’s attorney Sidney Powell even said so on Hannity’s show on FOX News at that time:
Sidney Powell was on Hannity last night on FOX News after the breaking news that her client, General Michael Flynn, had his case dismissed by the DOJ earlier in the day. Powell shared:
This was a deliberate, malevolent, concerted effort to destroy an honest man and thereby get to the President of the United States to destroy him. There’s no doubt about it whatsoever. I would encourage people to read the actual documents themselves. The governments own reports, the agents own notes, they’re all attached as exhibits to the government’s filing today and our filings in the last 10 days or so. It’s important for people to see it for themselves, the actual evidence in the government’s own handwriting and documents….
Hannity asked what did Obama know and when did he know it, to which, Powell replied:
Probably Susan Rice and Peter Strzok, who was working for both Mr. Brennan in the CIA and the FBI on the quote ‘counterintelligence investigation’. We have to go back to at least August 15, of 2016 when Strzok and Page text each other about the insurance policy they discussed in McCabe’s office.
It’s the very next day, August 16, 2016, before the election when they opened the file on General Flynn.
The day after that they slipped an agent [believed to be Joe Pientka] into the Presidential briefing to spy on General Flynn.
Could Peter Strzok have worked for both the FBI and CIA, or only one entity? If that entity was the CIA, how could Peter Strzok have been fired from the FBI if he never worked for the FBI?
These are HUGE questions. Did the Deep State lie to President Trump when they claimed they fired Peter Strzok from the FBI because he never worked for the FBI? How could he have been fired from the FBI if he worked for the CIA?
There is no evidence that Peter Strzok ever worked or served in any FBI field office. Nor is there any evidence that Strzok attended the FBI academy in Quantico, Virginia. There is no evidence Strzok ever graduated from Quantico. Any of these would indicate his attachment to the FBI but they cannot be found.
Strzok’s history shows that he left the Army and was immediately assigned to the White House. (See picture above of Strzok in the late 1990’s in the Clinton White House.) When did Strzok have time to attend the FBI academy if he went directly to the White House?
Another indication of Strzok’s connection to the FBI is that he signed a document with the title not of an FBI employee but with a CIA title.
It appears Peter Strzok was under the FBI to allow the CIA to operate in the US and that Crossfire Hurricane was a political operation by the CIA disguised as an FBI operation.
August 17, 2022 at 06:40AM Trump foe Liz Cheney defeated in Wyoming GOP primary
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, Donald Trump’s fiercest Republican adversary in Congress, was defeated in a GOP primary Tuesday, falling to a rival backed by the former president in a rout that reinforced his grip on the party’s base.
The third-term congresswoman and her allies entered the day downbeat about her prospects, aware that Trump’s backing gave Harriet Hageman considerable lift in the state where he won by the largest margin during the 2020 campaign. Cheney was already looking ahead to a political future beyond Capitol Hill that could include a 2024 presidential run, potentially putting her on another collision course with Trump.
Cheney described her loss as the beginning of a new chapter in her political career as she addressed a small collection of supporters, including her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, on the edge of a vast field flanked by mountains and bales of hay.
“Our work is far from over,” she said Tuesday evening, evoking Abraham Lincoln, who also lost congressional elections before ascending to the presidency and preserving the union.
The results — and the roughly 30-point margin — were a powerful reminder of the GOP’s rapid shift to the right. A party once dominated by national security-oriented, business-friendly conservatives like her father now belongs to Trump, animated by his populist appeal and, above all, his denial of defeat in the 2020 election.
Such lies, which have been roundly rejected by federal and state election officials along with Trump’s own attorney general and judges he appointed, transformed Cheney from an occasional critic of the former president to the clearest voice inside the GOP warning that he represents a threat to democratic norms. She’s the top Republican on the House panel investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters, an attack she referenced in nodding to her political future.
“I have said since Jan. 6 that I will do whatever it takes to ensure Donald Trump is never again anywhere near the Oval Office — and I mean it,” she said.
Four hundred miles to the east of Cheney’s concession speech, festive Hageman supporters gathered at a sprawling outdoor rodeo and Western culture festival in Cheyenne, many wearing cowboy boots, hats and blue jeans.
“Obviously we’re all very grateful to President Trump, who recognizes that Wyoming has only one congressional representative and we have to make it count,” said Hageman, a ranching industry attorney who had finished third in a previous bid for governor.
Echoing Trump’s conspiracy theories, she falsely claimed the 2020 election was “rigged” as she courted his loyalists in the runup to the election.
Trump and his team celebrated Cheney’s loss, which may represent his biggest political victory in a primary season full of them. The former president called the results “a complete rebuke” of the Jan. 6 committee.
“Liz Cheney should be ashamed of herself, the way she acted, and her spiteful, sanctimonious words and actions towards others,” he wrote on his social media platform. “Now she can finally disappear into the depths of political oblivion where, I am sure, she will be much happier than she is right now. Thank you WYOMING!”
The news offered a welcome break from Trump’s focus on his growing legal entanglements. Just eight days earlier, federal agents executing a search warrant recovered 11 sets of classified records from the former president’s Florida estate.
Cheney’s defeat would have been unthinkable just two years ago. The daughter of a former vice president, she hails from one of the most prominent political families in Wyoming. And in Washington, she was the No. 3 House Republican, an influential voice in GOP politics and policy with a sterling conservative voting record.
Cheney will now be forced from Congress at the end of her third and final term in January. She is not expected to leave Capitol Hill quietly.
She will continue in her leadership role on the congressional panel investigating the Jan. 6 attack until it dissolves at the end of the year. And she is actively considering a 2024 White House bid — as a Republican or independent — having vowed to do everything in her power to fight Trump’s influence in her party.
With Cheney’s loss, Republicans who voted to impeach Trump are going extinct.
In all, seven Republican senators and 10 Republican House members backed Trump’s impeachment in the days after his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol as Congress tried to certify President Joe Biden’s victory. Just two of those 10 House members have won their primaries this year. After two Senate retirements, Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska is the only such Senate Republican on this year’s ballot.
Cheney was forced to seek assistance from the state’s tiny Democratic minority in her bid to pull off a victory. But Democrats across America, major donors among them, took notice. She raised at least $15 million for her election, a stunning figure for a Wyoming political contest.
Voters responded to the interest in the race. With a little more than half of the vote counted, turnout ran about 50% higher than in the 2018 Republican primary for governor.
If Cheney does ultimately run for president — either as a Republican or an independent — don’t expect her to win Wyoming’s three electoral votes.
“We like Trump. She tried to impeach Trump,” Cheyenne voter Chester Barkell said of Cheney on Tuesday. “I don’t trust Liz Cheney.”
And in Jackson, Republican voter Dan Winder said he felt betrayed by his congresswoman.
“Over 70% of the state of Wyoming voted Republican in the last presidential election and she turned right around and voted against us,” said Winder, a hotel manager. “She was our representative, not her own.”
___
Peoples reported from New York. AP writers Thomas Peipert in Cheyenne and Jill Colvin in new York contributed.
August 16, 2022 at 07:22AM Trump warns ‘terrible things are going to happen’ in US after ‘sneak attack’ FBI raid
Former President Donald Trump warned Monday that “the temperature has to be brought down in the country” or “terrible things are going to happen” before accusing the FBI of a “sneak attack” raid on his Florida estate last week.
“The country is in a very dangerous position,” Trump told Fox News Digital in his first interview since the Aug. 8 search. “There is tremendous anger, like I’ve never seen before, over all of the scams, and this new one — years of scams and witch hunts, and now this.”
“If there is anything we can do to help, I, and my people, would certainly be willing to do that,” the 45th president continued.
More than two dozen boxes of items, including 11 sets of classified documents, were seized from Mar-a-Lago.Marco Bello/REUTERS
According to an inventory that was unsealed by a federal judge Friday, four sets of documents were marked “Top Secret,” the highest level of classification the government can give information; three were marked “Secret,” the second-highest level, while the remaining three were marked “Confidential,” the lowest classification level.
Another set was marked “Various classified/TS/SCI documents,” which is the abbreviation for “top secret/sensitive compartmented information,” a special category meant to protect the nation’s most important secrets.
Four sets of seized documents were marked “Top Secret,” three were marked “Secret,” and the remaining three were marked “Confidential.”Jon Elswick/APA member of former President Donald Trump’s legal team signed a written statement contending that all classified material once held at Mar-a-Lago had been returned to the government.Jon Elswick/AP
News of the raid caused outrage among the former president’s supporters, with the FBI and Department of Homeland Security warning this weekend of a spike in threats to law enforcement.
“The people of this country are not going to stand for another scam,” said Trump, who claimed that he and his legal team had contacted the Justice Department and offered to assist in their investigation into whether the former president violated three federal laws dealing with government information.
The former President told Fox News Digital that his team “has not heard yet” from the DOJ.
“I think they would want the same thing—I’ve never seen anything like this,” he said. “It is a very dangerous time for our country.”
Elsewhere in the interview, the former president contended: “There has never been a time like this where law enforcement has been used to break into the house of a former president of the United States, and there is tremendous anger in the country—at a level that has never been seen before, other than during very perilous times.”
Trump then lamented “years of fake witch hunts and phony Russia, Russia, Russia schemes and scams.”
“And then they break into a president’s house— a sneak attack where it was totally—no one ever thought a thing like this would happen,” he added.
The FBI operation occurred as Trump is publicly mulling a third consecutive run for the White House in 2024.
The 45th president reacted angrily to the raid, even suggesting that agents may have planted evidence during their search. On Monday, he claimed that the searchers told his team to turn off security cameras and remain outdoors while the raid took place.
“They could take anything they want, and put anything they want in,” Trump told Fox News Digital Monday. “My people were asked to stand outside.”
On Sunday, the former president called on the Department of Justice to return the seized documents, citing a Fox News report that at least five of the 27 boxes removed from Mar-a-Lago contained information covered by attorney-client or executive privilege.
“Oh great! It has just been learned that the FBI, in its now famous raid of Mar-a-Lago, took boxes of privileged ‘attorney-client’ material, and also ‘executive’ privileged material, which they knowingly should not have taken,” Trump said on his Truth Social site.
“By copy of this TRUTH, I respectfully request that these documents be immediately returned to the location from which they were taken. Thank you!,” he wrote.
The three statutes at issue ban the gathering, transmission or loss of defense information (a law commonly known as the Espionage Act); the concealment, removal or mutilation of documents; or the destruction, alteration or falsification of records in federal probes.
Trump’s team is arguing that the documents were in fact declassified, citing a “standing order” the former president had while in office that deemed sensitive documents “declassified the moment he removed them” from the White House.
Despite the claim, the New York Times reported this weekend that a member of Trump’s legal team signed a written statement during a visit by Justice Department officials in early June — two months before the raid — contending that all classified material once held at Mar-a-Lago had been returned to the government.
August 15, 2022 at 06:42AM Feds see American anger over Trump raid, insecure border as posing increased terror threat
Americans angry about the FBI raid on Donald Trump’s Florida estate and insecurity at the southern border pose an increased risk of domestic terrorism, the Biden administration warned in a series of bulletins sent to federal and local law enforcement over the weekend.
The warnings from the Justice Department, the Homeland Security Department, the FBI and Customs and Border Protection used nearly identical language and were issued after one man tried to attack an FBI office in Cincinnati and a driver crashed into a barrier with his car on fire at the U.S. Capitol before committing suicide.
“Last night, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice issued a Joint Intelligence Bulletin, accessible via the Homeland Security Information Network, providing information on the potential for domestic violent extremists to carry out attacks on federal, state, and local law enforcement and government personnel or facilities,” CBP Commissioner Chris Magnus wrote in a memo to 60,000 employees.
The warnings were being “shared in light of an increase in threats and acts of violence, including armed encounters, against law enforcement, judiciary, and government personnel, in reaction to the FBI’s recent execution of a court authorized search warrant in Palm Beach, Florida,” Magnus wrote. “Since the search, the FBI and DHS have observed an increase in violent threats posted on social media against federal officials and facilities.”
A senior law enforcement official told Just the News that some federal police agencies were asked last week to monitor social media accounts of known political influencers for signs of agitation and FBI officials reached out to some social media platforms frequented by conservatives in the aftermath of Cincinnati attack, in which the perpetrator was killed.
Most of the warnings cited the Aug. 8 FBI raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago compound as a possible motivation for violence. Some, like Magnus’ memo, also mentioned concerns about illegal immigration, suggesting such concerns weren’t warranted even though scores of members of Congress have expressed concern about border security under President Biden, officials said.
“As described in the June 7 National Terrorism Advisory System Bulletin, some domestic violent extremists have expressed grievances related to the false perception that the U.S. government is not working to maintain security along the U.S.-Mexico border,” Magnus wrote. “And there remains increased risk of domestic violent extremists relying on these grievances to justify violence against law enforcement officials involved in the enforcement of border security.”
The memos said they had no specific or credible threats but urged federal and local law enforcement to use heightened awareness.
“Out of an abundance of caution and to ensure the safety of our workforce and the security of federal facilities, we are encouraging you to remain vigilant and aware of your surroundings and to exercise caution as you go about your daily routine,” one memo said.
BREAKING: Garland Speaks LIVE for First Time Since FBI Raid on Mar-a-Lago
https://ift.tt/agWBiE6
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland is scheduled to speak to the media LIVE for the first time since the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago:
Below is a transcript of Garland’s speech:
Since I became Attorney General I have made clear that the Justice Department will speak through its court filings and its work. Just now the Justice Department has filed a motion in the Southern District of Florida to unseal a search warrant and property receipt relating to a court-approved search that the FBI conducted earlier this week.
That search was a premises located in Florida belonging to the former President. The department did not make any public statements on the day of the search.
The former president publicly confirmed the search that evening as is his right. Copies of both the warrant and the FBI property receipt were provided on the day of the search to the president’s counsel who was on-site during the search.
The search warrant was authorized by a federal court upon the required finding of probable cause.
The property receipt is a document that federal law requires law enforcement agents to leave with the property owner.
The department filed the motion to make public the warrant and receipt in light of the former president’s public confirmation of the search, the surrounding circumstances and the substantial public interest in this matter.
Faithful adherence to the rule of law is the bedrock principle of the Justice Dept. and of our democracy. Upholding the rule of law means applying the law evenly without fear or favor. Under my watch that is precisely what the Justice Dept. is doing.
All Americans are entitled to even-handed application of the law, the due process of the law and the presumption of innocence. Much of our work is by necessity conducted out of the public eye. We do that to protect the constitutional rights of all Americans and to protect the integrity of our investigations. Federal law, long-standing department rules and our ethical obligations prevent me from providing further details as to the basis of the search at this time.
There are, however, certain points I want you to know.
First, I personally approved the decision to seek a search warrant in this matter.
Second, the department does not take such a decision lightly. Where possible it is standard practice to seek less-intrusive means as an alternative to a search and to narrowly-scope any search that is undertaken.
Third, let me address recent unfounded attacks on the professionalism of the FBI and Justice Dept. agents and prosecutors. I will not stand by silently when their integrity is unfairly attacked. The men and women of the FBI and Justice Dept. are dedicated patriotic public servants. Every day they protect the American people from violent crime, terrorism and other threats to their safety, while safeguarding our civil rights. They do so at great personal sacrifice and risk to themselves. I am honored to work alongside them.
This is all I can say right now more information will be made available in the appropriate way and at the appropriate time.
Notably, Garland never mentioned former president Trump by name and only referred to the raid as a “search.”
35 min wait for:
1. doj will unseal the warrant and property receipt barring an objection from trump
August 10, 2022 at 05:15PM Exclusive: An informer told the FBI what documents Trump was hiding, and where
The raid on Mar-a-Lago was based largely on information from an FBI confidential human source, one who was able to identify what classified documents former President Trump was still hiding and even the location of those documents, two senior government officials told Newsweek.
The officials, who have direct knowledge of the FBI’s deliberations and were granted anonymity in order to discuss sensitive matters, said the raid of Donald Trump‘s Florida residence was deliberately timed to occur when the former president was away.
A confidential informer told the FBI what documents Donald Trump was hiding at Mar-a-Lago, and where. The former president at a rally on August 05, 2022 in Waukesha, Wisconsin.
Scott Olson/Getty Images
FBI decision-makers in Washington and Miami thought that denying the former president a photo opportunity or a platform from which to grandstand (or to attempt to thwart the raid) would lower the profile of the event, says one of the sources, a senior Justice Department official who is a 30-year veteran of the FBI.
The effort to keep the raid low-key failed: instead, it prompted a furious response from GOP leaders and Trump supporters. “What a spectacular backfire,” says the Justice official.
“I know that there is much speculation out there that this is political persecution, but it is really the best and the worst of the bureaucracy in action,” the official says. “They wanted to punctuate the fact that this was a routine law enforcement action, stripped of any political overtones, and yet [they] got exactly the opposite.”
Both senior government officials say the raid was scheduled with no political motive, the FBI solely intent on recovering highly classified documents that were illegally removed from the White House. Preparations to conduct such an operation began weeks ago, but in planning the date and time, the FBI Miami Field Office and Washington headquarters were focused on the former president’s scheduled return to Florida from his residences in New York and New Jersey.
“They were seeking to avoid any media circus,” says the second source, a senior intelligence official who was briefed on the investigation and the operation. “So even though everything made sense bureaucratically and the FBI feared that the documents might be destroyed, they also created the very firestorm they sought to avoid, in ignoring the fallout.”
A “Florida For Trump” flag being displayed outside Mar-a-Lago following the FBI search.
Eva Marie Uzcategui/GETTY
On Monday at about 10 a.m. EST, two dozen FBI agents and technicians showed up at Donald Trump’s Florida home to execute a search warrant to obtain any government-owned documents that might be in the possession of Trump but are required to be delivered to the Archives under the provisions of the 1978 Presidential Records Act. (In response to the Hillary Clinton email scandal, Trump himself signed a law in 2018 that made it a felony to remove and retain classified documents.)
The act establishes that presidential records are the property of the U.S. government and not a president’s private property. Put in place after Watergate to avoid the abuses of the Nixon administration, the law imposes strict penalties for failure to comply. “Whoever, having the custody of any such record, proceeding, map, book, document, paper, or other thing, willfully and unlawfully conceals, removes, mutilates, obliterates, falsifies, or destroys the same, shall be fined” $2,000, up to three years in prison or “shall forfeit his office and be disqualified from holding any office under the United States.”
The act, and concerns about the illegal possession of classified “national defense information” are the bases for the search warrant, according to the two sources. The raid had nothing to do with the January 6 investigation or any other alleged wrongdoing by the former president.
The road to the raid began a year-and-a-half ago, when in the transition from the Trump administration to that of President Joe Biden, there were immediate questions raised by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) as to whether the presidential records turned over to the federal agency for historical preservation were complete or not.
In February, Archivist David Ferriero testified before Congress that his agency began talking with Trump’s people right after they left office and that the Trump camp had already returned 15 boxes of documents to the Archives. Ferriero said that in those materials, the Archives discovered items “marked as classified national security information,” unleashing further inquiries as to whether Trump continued to possess classified material.
The basic outlines of the facts surrounding this timeline have been confirmed by the former president. He has previously said that he was returning any official records to the Archives, labeling any confusion in the matter as “an ordinary and routine process to ensure the preservation of my legacy and in accordance with the Presidential Records Act.” He also claimed the Archives “did not ‘find’ anything” in what he had already been returned, suggesting that there was nothing sensitive. He said the documents had inadvertently shipped to Florida during the six-hour transition period in which his belongings were moved.
According to the Justice Department source, the Archives saw things differently, believing that the former White House was stonewalling and continued to possess unauthorized material. Earlier this year, they asked the Justice Department to investigate.
In late April, the source says, a federal grand jury began deliberating whether there was a violation of the Presidential Records Act or whether President Trump unlawfully possessed national security information. Through the grand jury process, the National Archives provided federal prosecutors with copies of the documents received from former President Trump in January 2022. The grand jury concluded that there had been a violation of the law, according to the Justice Department source.
In the past week, the prosecutor in the case and local Assistant U.S. Attorney went to Florida magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart in West Palm Beach to seek approval for the search of Donald Trump’s private residence. The affidavit to obtain the search warrant, the intelligence source says, contained abundant and persuasive detail that Trump continued to possess the relevant records in violation of federal law, and that investigators had sufficient information to prove that those records were located at Mar-a-Lago—including the detail that they were contained in a specific safe in a specific room.
“In order for the investigators to convince the Florida judge to approve such an unprecedented raid, the information had to be solid, which the FBI claimed,” says the intelligence source.
According to experts familiar with FBI practices, Judge Reinhart reviewed the prosecutor’s evidence and asked numerous questions about the sources and the urgency. The judge signed a search warrant allowing the FBI to look for relevant material and the FBI then planned the operation, wanting to conduct the raid while Trump was spending time at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey. A Secret Service source who spoke on background said the Secret Service director was given advance warning and was later told the specifics of the raid.
Because the Secret Service is still responsible for protecting the former president, his family, and his property, the FBI had to coordinate with the Secret Service to gain access to the grounds.
A convoy of unmarked black SUVs and a Ryder rental truck filled with about three dozen FBI special agents and technicians entered the gates in the early evening. Heavily armed Secret Service agents were also visibly present at the gates. The Palm Beach Police Department was also present at the scene.
The entire operation was conducted relatively stealthily. No FBI people were seen in their iconic blue windbreakers announcing the presence of the Bureau. And though local law enforcement was present, the Palm Beach Police Department was careful to tweet on Tuesday that it “was not aware of the existence of a search warrant nor did our department assist the FBI in the execution of a search warrant.”
According to news reports, some 10-15 boxes of documents were removed from the premises. Donald Trump said in a statement that the FBI opened his personal safe as part of their search. Trump attorney Lindsey Halligan, who was present during the multi-hour search, says that the FBI targeted three rooms—a bedroom, an office and a storage room. That suggests that the FBI knew specifically where to look.
“This unannounced raid on my home was not necessary or appropriate,” former President Trump said in a statement. He called the raid “prosecutorial misconduct, the weaponization of the Justice System, and an attack by Radical Left Democrats who desperately don’t want me to run for President in 2024.”
Though Trump and his Republican Party allies are portraying the raid as politically motivated, it is likely the unprecedented nature of the raid on the property of a former president will have the greatest reverberation. Even Trump’s political rivals have rallied in condemning the FBI.
Former Vice President Mike Pence tweeted that “no former President of the United States has ever been subject to a raid of their personal residence in American history.” Mike Pompeo, Trump’s Secretary of State and CIA director, tweeted that Attorney General Merrick Garland “must explain why 250 yrs of practice was upended w/ this raid. I served on Benghazi Com[mittee] where we proved Hillary possessed classified info. We didn’t raid her home.”
The Biden White House says the president was not briefed about the Mar-a-Lago raid and knew nothing about it in advance. “The Justice Department conducts investigations independently and we leave any law enforcement matters to them,” Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Tuesday afternoon. “It would not be appropriate for us to comment on any ongoing investigations.”
As U.S. President Joe Biden, appearing via teleconference, looks on, Attorney General Merrick Garland attends a meeting of the Task Force on Reproductive Healthcare Access during an event at the White House complex August 3, 2022 in Washington, DC.
Win McNamee/Getty Images
The senior Justice Department source says that Garland was regularly briefed on the Records Act investigation, and that he knew about the grand jury and what material federal prosecutors were seeking. He insists, though, that Garland had no prior knowledge of the date and time of the specific raid, nor was he asked to approve it. “I know it’s hard for people to believe,” says the official, “but this was a matter for the U.S. Attorney and the FBI.”
FBI director Christopher Wray ultimately gave his go-ahead to conduct the raid, the senior Justice official says. “It really is a case of the Bureau misreading the impact.”
