An image of donald trump's florida resort Mar-a-Lago, which was raided by the FBI in august 2022.

2022-2023 Donald Trump Confidential Documents Case

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Updated Jun 14, 2023 at 10:22AM EDT by Zach.

Added Aug 09, 2022 at 11:10AM EDT by Adam.

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Overview

2022-2023 Trump Confidential Documents Case refers to charges against former President Donald Trump related to his unlawful keeping of Presidential records in his Mar-a-Lago home in Miami after the end of his Presidency. The FBI raided the Mar-a-Lago on August 8th, 2022, and charges were formally brought against Trump on June 8th, 2023. Trump faces seven felony counts, including a charge under the Espionage Act, and other charges of obstruction of justice, destruction or falsification of records, conspiracy and false statements. In mid-June 2023, Trump was then arrested and taken into federal custody in Miami.

The Raid on Mar-A-Lago

Beginning in April 2022, the Justice Department was investigating Donald Trump's handling of Presidential records.[2] Earlier in the year, they took 15 boxes of documents that should have been handed to the National Archives upon Trump leaving office in January 2021.

On August 8th, 2022, the FBI then conducted a search of Donald Trump's Florida home and resort, the Mar-a-Lago in an apparent search for classified documents Trump allegedly did not deliver to the National Archives following the end of his first term as president, including some classified documents relevant to national security. The "raid" coincided with the 38th anniversary of Richard Nixon's resignation in 1974 that was discussed and memed alongside the event.

The raid was widely reported on by media outlets (example shown below, left). Trump's son Eric said to Fox News that he was told the raid was conducted on behalf of the National Archives, who wanted to corroborate whether Trump unlawfully kept classified government documents after his time in office (shown below, right).[1]



In a statement, Trump bemoaned the search,[3] writing that the Mar-A-Lago was "under siege, raided and occupied by a large group of FBI agents." He noted that the FBI had "broken into his safe." "Such an assault could only take place in broken, Third-World Countries," he wrote, adding that he believed that the raid was a politically motivated tactic to prevent him from running in the 2024 election.


Aides for President Joe Biden stated they were not notified that the raid was going to take place and learned about it from Twitter.[3] Others noted that the head of the FBI, Chris Wray, was appointed by Trump himself, voicing doubt that the raid was politically motivated as Trump had claimed.[4] Furthermore, news publications noted that the raid would need to have been signed off on by a judge based on the potential of criminal activity.[5]

Move To Unseal And "Nuclear Documents" Report

On August 11th, 2022, Attorney General Merrick Garland made an unusual statement in which he announced he would move to unseal the search warrant that led to the raid. Later that evening the Washington Post reported that sources told them the FBI was looking for nuclear documents illegally stashed at the Mar-a-Lago.

Photographs Of Crime Scene

On August 30th, 2022, the Department of Justice submitted a court filing in response to Trump's legal team's request for a special master to review the documents found at Mar-a-Lago.[15] The filing included a photograph of some of the documents, censored by the FBI, found at the scene (shown below).


G Case 9:22-cv-81294 MC Document 48-1 Entered on FLS SERVECEPT CRE ECRET TOP SECRETISCI - SECRETISCI CONTATIVE COMMENTED O UPTOHAPT BERKENNEROSA SECRET//SCI TOP SECRETISCI OP SECRETISCI K - TOP SECRETS.C ALE 08/3 TOP SECRETISCI TOP SECRET SCI w 2A TOP SECRETISCI S STOS HOVEN BESOD NOENHERME CRETISCI TOP SECP 36 And TIME 25.692 0 BANKERS BOX

Additionally, the Justice Department also said that the documents were "likely concealed and removed" from Mar-a-Lago as part of an effort to obstruct its investigation.

On Truth Social, Trump attempted to claim the FBI had "haphazardly scattered" the documents (shown below).[16] Additionally, he reposted conspiracy theories that were also posted on 4chan's /pol/ board and posted the statement "Why are people so mean?" on his account on Truth Social on August 30th.[17]


Donald J. Trump @realDonald Trump 238 Terrible the way the FBI, during the Raid of Mar-a-Lago, threw documents haphazardly all over the floor (perhaps pretending it was me that did it!), and then started taking pictures of them for the public to see. Thought they wanted them kept Secret? Lucky I Declassified! 612 7m 1.82k

Following the image being released and garnering attention online, some people posted jokes based on the photo of the classified documents. For example, Twitter user @MarisaKabas[18] posted a thread on August 31st comparing Selena Gomez outfits to the picture, gaining over 700 retweets and 5,000 likes in 12 hours (shown below, left). That same day, user @DVSBlast[19] made a joke about how one of the documents was about "how to be handsome like DVS" (shown below, right).


Marisa Kabas @MarisaKabas selena gomez as trump's stolen top secret documents MOSTRA INTERNAZIONALE ARTE CONEMATOGRAFICA 569 TRA INTERNAZIONALE ITE CINEMATOGRANKA 59 MOSTRA INTERNAZIOARD PARTE CINEMATOGRAFIC 69% A INTERNAZIONALE CATEL 59 MOSTRA INTERNAZIONALE PARTS ONEMEN 59 OSTRA INTERNATIONALE ATE CINEMATOGRAFICA & 11 DE Codi MOSTRA INTERNAIN FAITS CINEMATOGR nale di Vene 59 . 59 MOSTRA INTERNAZIONALE PARTE CREMATOGRAFICA 59 AUTOWENT FOR LA MOSTRA 021 12:18 AM. Aug 31, 2022 Twitter for iPhone ... DVS @DVSblast TOP SECRETISCI OK I GET WHY HE STOLE THIS ONE THO. FAIR IS FAIR How To Be Handsome Like DVS TOP SECRET//SCI : 10:45 AM. Aug 31, 2022 Twitter for Android ...


Online Reaction

The raid was decried by many conservative politicians on social media following the news breaking on August 8th, 2022. Marco Rubio stated the raid was proof that the U.S. was "corrupt at a level not seen before."[6] Marjorie Taylor Greene posted similar sentiments and tweeted "DEFUND THE FBI,"[7] which some on the left humorously agreed with.[8] Andrew Yang voiced his concerns that the raid might inadvertently help Trump gain political support (shown below, left). In an interview with CNN, NBC News reporter Ben Collins highlighted how the raid angered the Trump base, comparing the online sentiments to those the day before the January 6th, 2021, Storming of the Capitol.


Andrew YangQ=♥ @AndrewYang ... I'm no Trump fan. I want him as far away from the White House as possible. But a fundamental part of his appeal has been that it's him against a corrupt government establishment. This raid strengthens that case for millions of Americans who will see this as unjust persecution. 8:53 AM. Aug 9, 2022 Twitter for iPhone the Ben Collins Retweeted 11th Hour @11th Hour Hour STEPE .@oneunderscore_ on the online reaction from the far- right to Mar-a-Lago's search: "This is the worst I've seen it since January 5th... of 2021." 0:00 75.5K views Watch again BEN COLLINS NBC NEWS SENIOR REPORTER TOMORROW 6AM ET morning joe HOUSE SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI MSNBC : LIVE > 10:37

Social media users were largely divided as to how to interpret the raid. Many on the right took it gravely seriously, echoing some conservative politicians' sentiments that the move was politically motivated, with some going so far as to call for "Civil War."[10] On August 8th, 2022, following the raid, Steven Crowder posted "Tomorrow is war. Sleep well," which concerned some users thinking it could be a call to violence (shown below).[9]


Steven Crowder @scrowder Tomorrow is war. Sleep well. 10:33 PM Aug 8, 2022 Echofon 1,752 Retweets 222 Quote Tweets 14.7K Likes

Some on the left seemed hopeful the case could lead to an indictment of Trump. On August 8th, Twitter user @skgreen[11] joked "Don't mess with librarians," referring to the National Archives being the cause of Trump's potential demise, which was a common theme in the discourse around the event (shown below, left). That same day, Twitter user @joncoopertweets[12] interpreted the raid to mean that the chances of a Trump indictment had gone up "exponentially" (shown below, right).


Sarah Green Carmichael @skgreen I would really love it if it turns out the FBI raided Trump's house over the documents he refused to give to the National Archives. Don't mess with librarians. 7:35 PM. Aug 8, 2022. Twitter for iPhone : ... Jon Cooper @joncoopertweets With the FBI having raided Mar-a-Lago, the likelihood of a Trump indictment following has gone up exponentially. 7:12 PM. Aug 8, 2022 TweetDeck ...

Others posted memes regarding the raid. For example, on August 8th, Twitter user @jawnmike[13] posted a BeReal parody of the raid, gaining over 1,600 retweets and 24,000 likes in one day (shown below, left). On August 9th, Twitter user @MNateShyamalan[14] posted a Whatcha Got There parody of the raid, gaining over 90 retweets and 980 likes in one hour (shown below, right).


JMⒸ @JawnMike ! ITS TIME TO BEREAL : The FBI Um...whatcha got there? Classified white house documents Donald Trump A smoothie. E

Charges Brought Against Donald Trump

On June 8th, 2023, Donald Trump posted on his Truth Social account that his lawyers informed him that charges would be brought against him in regards to the case, which he described as the "Boxes Hoax."[20] Notably, he accused Joe Biden of having confidential documents "strewn" about his garage floor "where he parks his Corvette," and the security for those documents is only a "paper thin" garage door that he often leaves open.


D Donald J. Trump @realDonald Trump · 14h Page 2: I have been summoned to appear at the Federal Courthouse in Miami on Tuesday, at 3 PM. I never thought it possible that such a thing could happen to a former President of the United States, who received far more votes than any sitting President in the History of our Country, and is currently leading, by far, all Candidates, both Democrat and Republican, in Polls of the 2024 Presidential Election. I AM AN INNOCENT MAN! 3.39k 10.2k 34.5k Donald J. Trump @realDonald Trump . 14h Page 1: The corrupt Biden Administration has informed my attorneys that I have been Indicted, seemingly over the Boxes Hoax, even though Joe Biden has 1850 Boxes at the University of Delaware, additional Boxes in Chinatown, D.C., with even more Boxes at the University of Pennsylvania, and documents strewn all over his garage floor where he parks his Corvette, and which is "secured" by only a garage door that is paper thin, and open much of the time.

The charges were confirmed by news outlets later that evening.[21] He faces a charge under the Espionage Act and charges of obstruction of justice, destruction or falsification of records, conspiracy and false statements.

On June 9th, CNN[22] obtained a transcript of Trump talking to an unknown group about classified documents, seemingly showing the group some secret documents, which he acknowledges are classified in the transcript. CNN writes:

The transcript of the audio recording suggests that Trump is showing the document he’s discussing to those in the room. Several sources have told CNN the recording captures the sound of paper rustling, as if Trump was waving the document around, though is not clear if it was the actual Iran document. “Secret. This is secret information. Look, look at this,” Trump says at one point, according to the transcript. “This was done by the military and given to me.”

Once again, news of the charges split reactions down party lines, as conservative media, politicians and social media users chalked the charges up to liberal bias and conspiracy to hinder Trump's 2024 election bid, while more left-wing posters reveled in and joked about the charges. Among the former was Congressman Steve Scalise, whose Twitter[23] post implied the charges were the work of Joe Biden weaponizing the Department of Justice against a political rival (shown below, left). On the other side, Twitter[24] user @JeetHeer quipped that Trump loves describing his crimes in detail on tape (shown below, right).


Steve Scalise @SteveScalise Let's be clear about what's happening: Joe Biden is weaponizing his Department of Justice against his own political rival. This sham indictment is the continuation of the endless political persecution of Donald Trump. 9:27 PM Jun 8, 2023 : Jeet Heer @HeerJeet Honestly one of the best things about Trump is he loves describing in detail, on tape, his crimes. Kelly @cornax. 1h This is like one of those incredibly unrealistic scenes in a movie where the bad guy narrates his crimes instead of just quietly doing them "All sorts of stuff - pages long, look. Wait a minute, let's see here. I just found, isn't that amazing? This totally wins my case, you know. Except it is like, highly confidential. Secret. This is secret information. Look, look at this." 10:07 AM Jun 9, 2023 Former President Trump in 2021 audio recording Transcript obtained by CNN CAN BREAKING NEWS CNN THIS MORNING CNN OBTAINS TRANSCRIPT OF TRUMP SAYING ON TAPE HE DIDN'T DECLASSIFY 'SECRET INFORMATION' ...

Classified Documents Stored In Mar-A-Lago Bathroom

Classified Documents Stored In Mar-A-Lago Bathroom refers to a photograph taken of a bathroom at Mar-a-Lago where former President Donald Trump stored highly classified and top secret government documents. The photograph was included as evidence in the indictment of Trump and published on June 9th, 2023 by Special Counsel Jack Smith's investigation, and filed in federal court in Florida.


Patrick Monahan @pattymo Jun 9 I know nothing sums up the presidency better than the McDonald's feast photo but this is getting close 487 Pride Mec Beckbon t 5,946 • 71.9K ₁3.9M 33250 33250 ↑

Arrest

On June 13th, 2023, Donald Trump appeared in the Federal Courthouse in Miami where he was arrested and taken into federal custody.[25] Trump pleaded "not guilty" to the 37 counts against him by Special Counsel Jack Smith. His aide, Waltine Nauta, also faces six counts related to the mishandling of Presidential documents and is expected to plead "not guilty." A mug shot was not taken, and he will be allowed to walk free as the proceedings before the trial begins, as he is not considered a flight risk.[27]



The event marks the second time in 2023 that Trump has been arrested, following an arrest in March related to allegedly paying $130,000 in hush money to adult actress Stormy Daniels.

#TrumpArraignmentDay and #TrumpArrested trended on Twitter[26] as the news spread. Some online, including Twitter user @kirawontmiss who earned over 50,000 likes on June 13th (seen below), commented on the lack of a mugshot or other images from the arrest and made memes about the event.[28]


kira @kirawontmiss how the f--- did trump get arrested TWICE and we haven't got any mugshots 10:04 PM. Jun 13, 2023 5M Views 1,215 Retweets 58 Quotes 50.8K Likes 448 Bookmarks : 19

Others joked about the coverage which Trump's arrest received, particularly the Fox News coverage. For example, on June 13th, 2023, Twitter user @oliverdarcy commented not the chyron about Biden being a "wannabe dictator," earning over 6,200 likes in less than a day (seen below, left).[29] After the arrest and courtroom proceedings, Trump went to a Cuban restaurant called Versailles, where he was greeted by supporters, as covered by Newsmax (seen below, right).[30]


Oliver Darcy @oliverdarcy This is a real Fox News chyron. NEWS ***** TEXT TRUMP TO 88022 WANNABE DICTATOR SPEAKS AT THE WHITE HOUSE AFTER HAVING HIS POLITICAL RIVAL ARRESTED FOX NEWS ALERT MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAI . 3:04 AM Jun 14, 2023 1.4M Views BEDMINSTER, NJ 8:59 PM ET 1,390 Retweets 394 Quotes 6,326 Likes 269 Bookmarks : N NEWSMAX NEWSMAX @NEWSMAX "We have a country that is in decline like never before, and we can't let it happen." Donald Trump visits Versailles, a Cuban restaurant in Miami, after pleading no guilty to 37 charges in federal court. MORE:youtu.be/P3n8EXDyeoU M BREAKING NEWS CHRIS SALCEDO TRUMP MAKES A STOP AT MIAMI RESTAURANT AFTER PLEADING NOT GUILTY SHOW 1:07 5 CT LIVE IT MAY PAUSE NEW YORK, GEORGIA CASES... DERSHOWITZ: 'HYPOCRISY' TO SEEK WATCH: Trump visits Versailles Miami Cuban restaurant Via The Chris Salcedo Show, weekdays at 4 PM ET on Newsmax. 11:00 PM Jun 13, 2023 170.1K Views MIAMI 1,481 Retweets 45 Quotes 6,968 Likes 17 Bookmarks :

Search Interest

External References

[1] NPR – Trump says FBI agents searched his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida

[2] NPR – Justice Department is investigating Trump's possible mishandling of government secrets

[3] New York Times – F.B.I. Searches Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Residence in Florida

[4] Twitter – @SawyerHackett

[5] Politico – Trump's Mar-a-Lago home searched by FBI in unprecedented move

[6] Twitter – @MarcoRubio

[7] Twitter – @MarjorieTaylorGreene

[8] Twitter – cloptinothe

[9] Twitter – @oneunderscore_

[10] Twitter – @oneunderscore_

[11] Twitter – @skgreen

[12] Twitter – @joncoopertweets

[13] Twitter – @jawnmike

[14] Twitter – @MNateShyamalan

[15] AP – Feds cite efforts to obstruct probe of docs at Trump estate

[16] Yahoo – Donald Trump's Truth Social Posts Reached a New Level of Hysteria Amid New Photos From FBI Raid

[17] Independent – Trump mocked for asking followers on Truth Social ‘Why are people so mean?’

[18] Twitter – MarisaKabas

[19] Twitter – DVSBlast

[20] Truth Social – RealDonaldTrump

[21] CNN – Donald Trump indicted on 7 counts in classified documents probe

[22] CNN – Donald Trump admits on tape he didn’t declassify ‘secret information’

[23] Twitter – Steve Scalise

[24] Twitter – HeerJeet

[25] Insider – Trump pleaded not guilty in federal court for his blockbuster Mar-a-Lago documents case

[26] Twitter – #TrumpArraignmentDay

[27] New York Times – Trump Arraignment Trump Pleads Not Guilty in Documents Case

[28] Twitter – @kirawontmiss

[29] Twitter – @oliverdarcy

[30] Twitter – @NEWSMAX

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