Trump news – latest: FBI boss reveals ‘deplorable’ Mar-a-Lago threats as former president pleads Fifth Amendment in NY

The potential criminal violations at issue in the FBI’s Mar-a-Lago search could be more severe than simple breach of records law, John Bowden writes.

One possibility that has begun to be discussed by analysts familiar with presidential records procedures is an alleged breach of the Espionage Act, a World War I-era law most known for dealing with the theft of information that could harm national security.

While the law typically is thought to involve acts of spying against the United State (hence the name), it also contains one provision that could very well deal with the situation that has arisen at Mr Trump’s resort home: the handling of classified documents related to US defense policy or capabilities, and the punishments for negligent management of such files.

The Act specifically states that anyone who “through gross negligence permits [such documents] to be removed from [their] proper place of custody” can face a fine or imprisonment of up to ten years.

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The former president either does not have the warrant, is hiding its potentially damaging allegations, or is using the political firestorm to his advantage as 2024 looms, Oliver O’Connell writes.

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With each passing day, it becomes harder for a casual observer to distinguish between the post-presidential life of Donald Trump and that of late-season Tony Soprano.

In the past week alone, Mr Trump’s home has been searched by the FBI as part of an investigation into his handling of classified documents, he has pleaded the Fifth in a separate case into his business dealings in New York, and now, according to several reports, he is trying to flush out a rat in his orbit.

Read more from The Independent‘s Richard Hall.

After a string of “good news” for the Biden agenda, White House officials elevated a meme from terminally online obscurity, reclaiming ironic images of a tired and gaffe-prone president cast as a demi-god-like figure.

Alex Woodward reports on the “Dark Brandon” phenomenon.

Hardcore right-wing Arizona Congressman Scott Perry saw the FBI seize his cell phone on Tuesday, with the precise reason still unclear. However, it is reported to be in connection with the bureau’s probe into plans to overturn the 2020 election via the deployment of fake voters in Congress on 6 January 2021.

Mr Perry was outraged by the seizure of his phone, and appeared on Fox News last night to discuss it. But when asked whether the FBI has got his phone back, he went eerily silent:

Mr Perry’s name has come up in the 6 January hearings, where it was revealed that he sought a blanket pardon from the Trump White House after the Capitol attack – this having been an enthusiastic participant in efforts to subvert Joe Biden’s victory.

Graeme Massie has more on the still-mysterious phone incident.

FBI Director Christopher Wray spoke publicly on Wednesday afternoon for the first time about his bureau’s search of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence. I couldn’t offer much.

FBI Director Christopher Wray called threats circulating online against federal agents and the Justice Department “deplorable and dangerous.”

“I’m always concerned about threats to law enforcement,” Mr Wray said. “Violence against law enforcement is not the answer, no matter who you’re upset with.”

Mr Wray spoke on Wednesday afternoon for the first time about the FBI’s search of former president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence – though he declined to go into details.

“As I’m sure you can appreciate, that’s not something I can talk about,” Mr Wray told reporters in Omaha, Nebraska.

Comedian and activist Jon Stewart received a standing ovation as President Joe Biden signed into law the PACT Act, which will provide life-saving care to veterans who have been exposed to burn pits.

Mr Biden personally thanked Mr Stewart for his advocacy on the issue during Wednesday’s White House signing, saying: “What you have done, Jon, matters, and you know it does. You should know it really, really matters.

“You refused to let anybody forget, you refused to let them forget, and we owe you big man, we owe you big.”

An insider with knowledge of what government records former president Donald Trump still possessed more than 18 months after he left the White House reportedly tipped off FBI officials to a cache of classified documents at the ex-president’s Palm Beach, Florida home and office.

According to Newsweek, two “senior government officials” have said the Monday search of Mr Trump’s rooms at Mar-a-Lago — the mansion turned private club where he spends most of his year — came after a confidential FBI source provided agents with information on “what classified documents [Mr Trump] was still hiding and… the location of those documents”.

The officials also said the search for the ex-president’s property was based on concerns that Mr Trump was unlawfully holding on to classified national defense information.

Fox News has not been enamored of the FBI’s raid on Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence as the former president’s legal troubles rapidly mount.

Fox News hosts and other leading figures in the Republican Party and conservative movement have decried the FBI’s raid on Mr Trump’s motivated residence as a politically overreach of government power. but as a DailyShow video juxtaposing Fox News commentary on the FBI investigation of the Hillary Clinton’s email scandal with footage of Mr Trump shows, the network’s hosts have not always been so opposed to FBI intervention.