Topline
While most attention may have been focused on the FBI’s Monday evening search at Mar-a-Lago, the past week has seen a stunning series of legal setbacks and developments for former President Donald Trump and those in his orbit—culminating Friday with the revelation that Trump is under investigation for potentially violating the Espionage Act.
The FBI searched former president Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate on Aug. 9, reportedly as part of an ... [+]
Timeline
Digital World Acquisition Corp., the special purpose acquisition company seeking to merge with Trump’s Truth Social platform, requested in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that it have another year to close the deal due to investigations by the SEC and the Department of Justice, potentially derailing the plan to take the platform public.
CNN reported that a lawyer representing the plaintiffs in a defamation suit against Infowars host Alex Jones had turned over two years of Jones’ texts to the January 6 committee, which is investigating Jones’ potential role in the attack on the Capitol and whether he was in contact with those in Trump’s orbit.
Former president Trump announced that the FBI, in what he called “political persecution,” had raided his home at Mar-a-Lago in Florida in connection with an investigation into documents that should have been turned over to the National Archives when Trump left office.
Reuters reported that Matthew DePerno, the Trump-endorsed presumptive Republican nominee in Michigan’s attorney general race, was allegedly implicated in a scheme to tamper with voting machines while trying to uncover evidence to overturn the 2020 election results — a charge, brought by Michigan’s current Democratic attorney general, that a representative for DePerno’s campaign called “an incoherent liberal fever dream of lies.”
Lawyers representing Trump’s 2016 campaign announced in a legal filing that all campaign staff would be released from non-disclosure agreements they signed following litigation by Jessica Denson, a former staffer.
The House Ways and Means Committee announced that it will be able to obtain Trump’s long-hidden tax returns after a favorable ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, but the ruling may be appealed again.
A Georgia judge ruled that Trump attorney Rudolph Giuliani must testify in person for the Fulton County district attorney’s investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in the state, something Guiliani had attempted to delay, citing health problems.
Rep. Scott Perry (R-Penn.), a major Trump backer who reportedly sought a pardon after the events of Jan. 6 (he denies it), told Fox News that the FBI seized his cell phone, and CNN reported later that the warrant was related to an investigation by the Justice Department inspector general, citing a “person familiar with the matter.”
Trump was set to testify in a New York attorney general’s office investigation into his business and announced in a post on Truth Social this morning that he would invoke his Fifth Amendment rights to not answer questions, calling the case “an unfounded, politically motivated Witch Hunt.”
According to PennLive, which cited “multiple sources,” the FBI subpoenaed or visited the offices of multiple GOP Pennsylvania state representatives on Aug. 9 and 10 seeking information on attempts to create an alternate slate of electors to back Trump’s efforts to stay in office.
Following the Aug. 8 raid on Mar-a-Lago, the New York Times, CNN, and the Wall Street Journal all reported developments in the case, including that the FBI had subpoenaed and successfully taken some documents from Mar-a-Lago in June and that afterwards, a confidential source informed the FBI that there were still more classified documents at the opulent club.
Attorney general Merrick Garland announced at a press conference that the Department of Justice had filed to unseal the Mar-a-Lago search warrant and property receipt “absent objection by former President Trump,” and also confirmed that he personally approved the search.
In New York, a state judge ruled that a criminal case against the Trump Organization and former CFO Alan Weisselberg for fraud and tax evasion could proceed, rejecting attempts by the company and Weisselberg to dismiss the charges.
The Wall Street Journal reported based on anonymous sources that the FBI removed 11 sets of classified records from Mar-a-Lago, including documents marked as “top-secret” or that were only supposed to be kept in special government facilities.
A federal judge in Florida unsealed the search warrant that the FBI received to raid Mar-a-Lago, showing that the former president is under investigation for potentially violating the Espionage Act, as well as removal or destruction of records and obstruction of an investigation—charges Trump pushed back on by claiming that all the documents were declassified.
Big Number
36: that’s the number of active investigations into, lawsuits against and other legal matters involving Donald Trump and his business, according to Forbes’ tracker. They include his efforts to look into his attempts to overturn the 2020 election and the January 6 insurrection, suits against social media companies for banning him and whether his business inflated its properties’ values for economic gain.
Contra
Even as a blizzard of legal action surrounds the former president and those around him, Trump-aligned candidates are still scoring wins in GOP primaries in states all over the country. On Tuesday night, for example, Trump’s pick for Senate won in Connecticut, his pick for governor won in Wisconsin, and a six-term Washington congresswoman who voted for Trump’s impeachment lost her race for reelection. A week earlier, Arizona voters backed a full slate of election-denying, largely Trump-endorsed candidates in races for Senate, House, governor, secretary of state and attorney general, even as an impeachment-supporting Michigan congressman was ousted in his primary by another Trump endorsee.
Crucial Quote
In a statement posted on Truth Social Wednesday morning, Trump blasted the various investigations into him in his explanation for why he would invoke the Fifth Amendment in the New York AG case: “I once asked, ‘If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?’ Now I know the answer to that question. When your family, your company, and all the people in your orbit have become the targets of an unfounded, politically motivated Witch Hunt supported by lawyers, prosecutors, and the Fake News Media, you have no choice. If there was any question in my mind, the raid on my home, Mar-a-Lago, on Monday by the FBI, just two days prior to this deposition, wiped out any uncertainty.”
Further Reading
Here’s What To Know About Trump’s Document Controversy That Led To Mar-A-Lago Raid (Forbes)
Trump Refuses To Answer Questions In Deposition By N.Y. Attorney General (Forbes)
How Much Has Trump Made From Mar-A-Lago, His Palm Beach Estate Under Siege? (Forbes)
Tracking Trump: A Rundown Of All The Lawsuits And Investigations Involving The Former President (Forbes)
At Least 120 Republican Nominees Deny The Results Of The 2020 Election (FiveThirtyEight)
‘The 800-pound gorilla’: Trump boosts endorsement record with Arizona and Michigan wins (NBC)
