Some of the most interesting documents in the exhibit released with President Trump's motion for discovery yesterday involve a review of the originals of 15 documents returned in January 2022. . This email thread within NARA describes the initial review of the document. And these tables explain what the FBI found in its initial investigation.
Together, these go a long way toward explaining why the FBI had to pursue a criminal investigation rather than just a counterintelligence investigation.
The first review was written on January 18th, and 15 boxes arrived in DC that day. That initial investigation and follow-up confirmed that NARA had received what it had originally asked for: an accordion-style folder containing Trump's altered weather maps and other documents they were looking for.
Among the clutter, there was one accordion folder that stood out. It included, among other things, the Obama letter and North Korean communications. You need to make sure all your communications are there. But I think we're in good shape.
But even before discovering it, the person who wrote the memo had discovered that the first glance revealed classified documents, and that a closer look after moving the box to SCIF revealed that the person who wrote the memo dated the news after Trump's inauguration. He explained that the clippings have been revealed.
My plan was to take a quick look at each box before putting them on the shelf so I could give you guys an overview. As I fanned through the pile of newspapers at the top of the first box, I found some classified documents unfolded between the newspapers. So I took all the boxes to SCIF. The first box I picked up at SCIF had newspapers from January 20, 2021 onwards. At that point, I decided to take a closer look at each box to see if there were any other issues that the three of you, David and Deb, might want to know about ASAP.
NARA knew from the beginning that someone at Mar-a-Lago had access to classified information after the president's term ended.
For comparison, the FBI found that there was a post-Vice President. folder It was in a box containing the Afghan documents that are central to Robert Hur's Biden secrets investigation, but they were in separate folders.
The official said most of these classified documents were “national reports or report cards” that Trump's lawyers claim were used to prepare Trump for meetings with foreign leaders. Ta. But they “saw some documents that appeared to be PDB” and “also found highly sensitive SAP.” [Special Access Program] document. “
This person also discovered several things that Congress had requested.
I saw some material related to 1/6 and COVID. And if you look closely, I believe that one of the classified documents was in response to his third Congressional request. So you need to check all these boxes.
In other words, there were two reasons from the beginning for NARA to take a closer look. It was not only a classified document, but one that Congress had already requested.
An FBI report produced a month later includes three tables classifying the classified documents found in these boxes. For example, the single SAP document of his found by NARA personnel is his six-page memo dated 2019.
In Box 3, the FBI discovered three FRD (formerly Restricted, Atomic Energy Act designations that the president cannot personally override) documents totaling 57 pages.
The FRD documents are all from November 12, 2019, so they may be related to Iran's decision to resume enrichment at the Fordow facility, announced on November 6.
Behruz Kamalvandi, spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said on November 6 that 696 of the centrifuges licensed at Fordow contained 4.5 percent uranium-235, slightly above the Iranian limit of 3.67 percent for uranium-235. He said it will be used to enrich 235. transaction. The remaining 348 machines will be used to manufacture medical isotopes, he said.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) acknowledged in a November 11 report that Iran began enrichment at the facility on November 9.
This is the fourth step taken by the Iranian government in the past six months in violation of its JCPOA commitments. President Rouhani announced in May 2019 that Iran would “reduce compliance” with its nuclear obligations under the nuclear deal after the Trump administration withdrew from the deal in May 2018 and reimposed sanctions in violation of the agreement. said. (look activity, June 2019. )
Other parties to the nuclear deal – China, France, Germany, Russia, the UK and the European Union – criticized Iran's decision but said they remained committed to upholding the deal.
In a joint statement on November 11, the foreign ministers of France, Germany and the United Kingdom, as well as the EU's foreign chiefs, said the Fordow decision “suggests that Iran's withdrawal from its commitments under the nuclear deal is unfortunately accelerating.” Ta.
The FBI noted that a single NATO document, a slide dated two days after the FRD document, could trigger treaty obligations.
I wrote in October 2022 that Trump's strategy with these 15 boxes, personally handpicked by Trump, appears to reflect his overall disinformation strategy, both literal and figurative. He claimed to hide his crimes behind fake news clippings. It appears that these initial documents actually contained a higher proportion of press clippings than the documents ultimately seized in the Mar-a-Lago raid.
But Trump stumbled. By including post-presidential clippings in the nuclear documents, Trump gave investigators more reason to look, not less.
