BOMBSHELL: FBI Staged Fake Photo of Classified Documents for PR Purposes

[Sam]

Yup. They wanted to create the impression that OMB not only had the documents, but rather they were all clearly marked as being classified which the bad man simply ignored anyway. This was designed to mislead the public but now may be part of what gets the case tossed (although I doubt it if the judge knows what's good for her)

If Trump retained Top Secret documents, they were clearly marked as classified. I believe you can even make out the "SECRET" classification in red at the top of some of the material in the picture.

-Sam

[Sparko]

I'm seeing redactions on cover folders that were recovered (meaning the documents are or should be inside — some documents were found outside their cover folders and some folders did not have corresponding documents) and FBI-provided cover sheets for documents that are outside their cover folders (i.e., "naked" documents). What are you seeing?

Again, I don't think anyone here has actual citations of LEO or prosecutors "claiming that is what they found". I think y'all are making an inference from the provided photo and backfilling quotations or claims that probably don't exist.

-Sam

ETA: I'll have to look for a higher resolution photo but if those are redacted documents and not cover folders then I really don't see the complaint. If anything, I'd suggest that taking photographs of the content of classified documents to redact later would be a problem. The argument "The government took a photo of classified documents next to classification cover sheets they had to use" absolutely doesn't get you anywhere.

I see actual documents with the text whited out (redacted). The redactions were likely created in an image editing program (photoshopped) before releasing it to the press.

Here is one with the cover page flipped behind it and all you can see is a letterhead logo.
The rest is redacted.


doc-1.jpg

Here are others where you can see the letterhead and see various portions redacted

These are obviously pages not folders.

doc-2.jpg

I know this is not evidentiary, it was a photo created by the FBI for a newspaper. But the impression they give with the cover sheets creates a false impression of what they found. Even to the point that the public might look at them and say "There is no way Trump could not have known these were classified! The coversheets are very explicit" - so it does give a false impression of what they found, and they fed that to the public with photos such as this.

[Sparko]

If Trump retained Top Secret documents, they were clearly marked as classified. I believe you can even make out the "SECRET" classification in red at the top of some of the material in the picture.

-Sam

Then why did they need to add cover sheets?

[Sam]

OK; NYT has the biggest photo I can find and, based on the size and the folded-back document above "2A", I agree that these are the redacted documents themselves, with other documents having already been paperclipped under cover sheets.

30dc-investigate-3-superJumbo.jpg

So that leaves us without the theory that FBI brought in a bunch of cover sheets to splay above non-classified documents in a ham-fisted attempt at planting evidence. Aside from the objection that the cover sheets make clear what classification level content the documents contain and thus make Trump look bad, what is the legal complaint?

-Sam

[Sam]

Then why did they need to add cover sheets?

Because there is content on the page. Documents that remained in their proper folders supposedly were not in need of cover sheets.

-Sam

[Ronson]

That photo was always inexplicable. It wasn't meant as evidence to show the documents were secured at Mar-a-Lago since there is no reference included (except maybe a piece of carpet). Redacted photos show nothing. So, all you really have are folders with those 'top secret' headers. I can see such photos perhaps having some value in court, but releasing them to the media? Completely political. Have we seen any FBI photos of Biden's documents from his garage?

[rogue06]

Have we seen any FBI photos of Biden's documents from his garage?

Or in multiple locations in his library.

Or in his office at the university that paid him to do nothing.

Or the notes in the beach house.

[Sam]

Or in multiple locations in his library.

Or in his office at the university that paid him to do nothing.

Or the notes in the beach house.

Maybe read the Hur report, which contains numerous photos of documents taken from Biden's residence.

-Sam

[Mountain Man]

Yup. They wanted to create the impression that OMB not only had the documents, but rather they were all clearly marked as being classified which the bad man simply ignored anyway. This was designed to mislead the public but now may be part of what gets the case tossed (although I doubt it if the judge knows what's good for her)

Cannon is a smart lady. She has methodically given the prosecution all the rope they want to hang themselves.

[Mountain Man]

If Trump retained Top Secret documents, they were clearly marked as classified. I believe you can even make out the "SECRET" classification in red at the top of some of the material in the picture.

-Sam

At this point, it's reasonable to ask which documents were there originally, and which were planted by the FBI agents.

[Mountain Man]

I know this is not evidentiary, it was a photo created by the FBI for a newspaper.

Are you sure about that? Reports indicate the photo and a description of it was submitted as evidence to counter the defense's request that a special master be assigned to review the documents.

Jay Bratt, who was the lead DOJ prosecutor on the investigation at the time and now is assigned to Smith’s team, described the photo this way in his August 30, 2022 response to Trump’s special master lawsuit:

“[Thirteen] boxes or containers contained documents with classification markings, and in all, over one hundred unique documents with classification markings…were seized. Certain of the documents had colored cover sheets indicating their classification status. (Emphasis added.) See, e.g., Attachment F (redacted FBI photograph of certain documents and classified cover sheets recovered from a container in the ‘45 office’).”

https://hotair.com/david-strom/2024/...oogle_vignette

The image may have originally been created for public consumption, but it eventually found its way into an official court filing.

[Sparko]

Are you sure about that? Reports indicate the photo and a description of it was submitted as evidence to counter the defense's request that a special master be assigned to review the documents.

Jay Bratt, who was the lead DOJ prosecutor on the investigation at the time and now is assigned to Smith’s team, described the photo this way in his August 30, 2022 response to Trump’s special master lawsuit:

“[Thirteen] boxes or containers contained documents with classification markings, and in all, over one hundred unique documents with classification markings…were seized. Certain of the documents had colored cover sheets indicating their classification status. (Emphasis added.) See, e.g., Attachment F (redacted FBI photograph of certain documents and classified cover sheets recovered from a container in the ‘45 office’).”

https://hotair.com/david-strom/2024/...oogle_vignette

The image may have originally been created for public consumption, but it eventually found its way into an official court filing.

Hmm. Yeah if they were using that photo as evidence, then it is a problem. The defense can get it rejected because of spoliation. But that doesn't mean that other documents in the boxes didn't have classified markings or cover sheets.

Besides, Trump never denied he had classified documents, he just claimed that as POTUS he declassified them.

[Mountain Man]

Hmm. Yeah if they were using that photo as evidence, then it is a problem. The defense can get it rejected because of spoliation. But that doesn't mean that other documents in the boxes didn't have classified markings or cover sheets.

Besides, Trump never denied he had classified documents, he just claimed that as POTUS he declassified them.

That's where Smith's confession that his team continued to tamper with the documents afterwards rears its ugly head.

[RumTumTugger]

Yup. They wanted to create the impression that OMB not only had the documents, but rather they were all clearly marked as being classified which the bad man simply ignored anyway. This was designed to mislead the public but now may be part of what gets the case tossed (although I doubt it if the judge knows what's good for her)

What Sam is ignoring is that the fact FBI did this to pretend that Trump was not keeping them in a secure area when he was.

[Sam]

What Sam is ignoring is that the fact FBI did this to pretend that Trump was not keeping them in a secure area when he was.

Where's the SCIF at Mar-a-Lago?

The complaint here is that classified documents were covered with boldly-labeled cover sheets, not that the documents were initially in one room or box and removed to another before photographing.

-Sam