What's in the Unsealed FBI Warrant?
Some non-alternative facts and figures from the 8th August Mar-a-Lago raid
On 8th August 2022, Federal Bureau of Investigation agents carried out a raid at 1100 South Beach Avenue, Palm Beach, Florida.
FBI raids are probably not newsworthy, most of the time — but this one definitely was, for 1100 S. Beach Ave. is the address of former President Donald J. Trump’s “beautiful home”, Mar-a-Lago.
Why I am starting this blog
I really wanted to get to grips with this particular incident. I felt that I needed to understand it properly, and critically analyse it.
Something really stood out about this FBI raid — perhaps it’s the Watergate of our time.
Like most people who are interested in politics, I have been keeping track of a lot of the goings-on in the US since the unexpected Trump victory in 2016.
However, I have been trying to live something resembling a life, and it’s hard to do that when you’re constantly being overloaded with information about the multifarious machinations of political system that would seem too far-fetched if seen in an Armando Iannucci satire or an episode of House of Cards.
I never got around to writing anything about the Mueller investigation, or the impeachments, or the Big Lie about the “stolen” election, but I am now in a position to be able to write a lot more about the things that interest me — and this FBI raid on Trump’s beachside hideaway certainly does interest me.
Where to begin?
As is usually the case with any kind of news article on such an incident, one might read edited highlights on the web. But the information is presented in different ways on different websites, whether it is CNN, The Guardian, or, if they have dared to publish anything about it, Fox News.
That’s understandable. Every journalist has a different writing style, and all journalists seek to present facts and figures in a way that can be understood by their readership.
Even when there is an original document available, it is tempting to give it a quick glance and just read the article so that you can find out a bit about what it means.
However, this can lead to the reader becoming misinformed, at worst, or in possession of less than the essential points that are needed to understand the content. This is particularly apparent in some of the churned-out, typo-littered offerings that many supposedly respected publications put out on a daily basis.
I used to be a freelance copywriter, and I quickly learned the value of going to the source and actually looking at the facts and figures to make sense of an issue so I could write about it in an informed way, instead of just interpreting an interpretation.
That’s all very well, but what about the raid?
Apologies for the rather long-winded introduction, but I considered it necessary to provide you with my rationale.
Now that’s done, here is the first piece of information I am going to share with you: it is the inventory from the unsealed search and seizure warrant.
Receipt Item Description of Item
# #
1 4 Documents
1 29 Box labeled A14
1 30 Box labeled A26
1 31 Box labeled A 43
1 32 Box labeled A13
1 33 Box labeled A33
2 1 Executive Grant of Clemency
re: Roger Jason Stone, Jr.
2 1A Info re: President of France
2 2 Leatherbound box of documents
2 2A Various classified/TS/SCI documents
2 3 Potential Presidential Record
2 5 Binder of photos
2 6 Binder of photos
2 7 Handwritten note
2 8 Box labeled A-1
2 9 Box labeled A-12
2 10 Box Labeled A-15
2 10A Miscellaneous Secret Documents
2 11 Box Labeled A-16
2 11A Miscellaneous Top Secret Documents
2 12 Box labeled A-17
2 13 Box labeled A-18
2 13A Miscellaneous Top Secret Documents
2 14 Box labeled A-27
2 14A Miscellaneous Confidential Documents
2 15 Box Labeled A-28
2 15A Miscellaneous Secret Documents
2 16 Box labeled A-30
2 17 Box labeled A-32
2 18 Box labeled A-35
2 19 Box labeled A-23
2 19A Confidential Document
2 20 Box Labeled A-22
2 21 Box labeled A-24
2 22 Box Labeled A-34
2 23 Box Labeled A-39
2 23A Miscellaneous Secret Documents
2 24 Box labeled A-40
2 25 Box Labeled A-41
2 25A Miscellaneous Confidential Documents
2 26 Box Labeled A-42
2 26A Miscellaneous Top Secret Documents
2 27 Box Labeled A-71
2 28 Box Labeled A-73
2 28A Miscellaneous Top Secret Documents
A quick breakdown
Number of receipts
I don’t know why there should be two receipts. As far as I can make out from the unsealed warrant, both receipts are for the same FBI operation. Perhaps two distinct areas were searched, which gave rise to there being two receipts. Both receipts were signed at 6.19 p.m. EST by Christina Bobb, a lawyer for Trump.
Number of items
In total, there are 45 (how apposite!) separate items in the inventory. As can be seen in the list above, many of the item numbers have “A” appended. I am not sure why this is the case. Normally, when I am putting together an inventory, I tend to group things together using alphabetical suffixes when there are similar items, in terms of type or theme. For example, because I am a science teacher, I might list two different worksheets on the same topic as “Forces 1” and “Forces 1A”. Doubtless, in the fullness of time, the reason for this numbering system will become clear.
Top secret or not so top secret?
The term “top secret” appears four times, always as part of the phrase “miscellaneous top secret documents” in relation to items 11A, 13A, 26A, and 28A.
There are two other similar terms: “secret” and “confidential”.
“Secret” (without the “top”) appears three times, as part of the phrase “miscellaneous secret documents” (items 10A, 15A and 23A).
“Confidential” also appears three times: twice in the phrase “miscellaneous confidential documents” (items 14A and 25A) and once in the phrase “confidential document” (item 19A).
These terms have specific legal meanings, which I shall expand upon in another post.
Anything else?
Oh, yes. Lots more. There will be many further posts about this document. I just wanted to make the list available to everyone in a fairly easy to read form. Unfortunately, Substack doesn’t make it possible to paste Word tables or Excel workbooks, so the lovely Excel spreadsheet that I had put together was unable to be shared with you in all its glory. Instead, I had to resort to using the “code” function, even though I cannot code. Perhaps I had better learn.
Oh, come on…just give us something to go away with!
OK, OK. Here you go. There is one thing that caught my eye and elicited a chuckle, and that was the date by which the warrant needed to be executed: 19th August. That’s Bill Clinton’s birthday.
Sources: