The DOJ has filed a response to the motion by President Trump for the court to appoint a special master to review the seized material from the DOJ/FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago. [Court pdf Here] Additionally, the outside government Lawfare group has filed an amicus brief supporting the DOJ-NSD position [Amici court pdf Here]

Essentially the position of the DOJ boils down to… They have already reviewed the material. Yes, there was attorney-client privilege material seized; but they swear the internal team segregated the legally confidential material and the DOJ investigators & prosecutors didn’t see it – double pinkie swear, yer honor.

Additionally, in a nice lawfare maneuver, the DOJ claims President Trump never formally evoked ‘executive privilege‘ on any material at Mar-a-Lago; therefore, despite his position as a former President, he was/is legally considered an ordinary citizen for the purpose of raiding his home to seize material the government considers vital to national security.

To complement the created DOJ narrative for media consumption, and to assist the media effort for direct distribution of the DOJ position, Main Justice released a picture as an example of the documents seized.  The DOJ literally staged and created this photo for media to use, then released it in the court filing. Slick lawfare:

The cover sheets are essentially non sequitur as they do not necessarily describe or affirm the nature of the documented material underneath. “HCS-P/SI/TK” looks all officially looming; however, it doesn’t necessarily mean any of the information is classified as HCS (HUMINT Control System, or human intelligence), SI (special intelligence), or TK (talent keyhole), or SCI (Sensitive Compartmented Information), aka the silos.

One word or paragraph could be considered ‘special intelligence’. Example “FISA” or “FISC”. You might remember our prior discussions that every document that contains the designation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, FISA or FISC, literally those words or abbreviations, is considered classified special intelligence.

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On Sunday evening the New York Post reported, “An unforeseen tragedy forced Governor DeSantis to reschedule his trip to New York,” Zeldin spokeswoman Katie Vincentz said, declining to elaborate. “While we’re rescheduling with Governor DeSantis for a later date, tonight’s fundraiser will proceed and is expected to raise almost a million dollars.” (link)

Monday afternoon the New York Post identified the “unforeseen tragedy“:

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis backed out of a fundraiser for New York gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin to attend a Monday memorial service for a member of his security detail who died in the line of duty, sources told The Post.

Florida Department of Law Enforcement Special Agent Jose Perez was responding to a call in an unmarked cruiser on Aug. 2 when he was struck by Javier Sandoval, 35, in Miami.  Perez was rushed to the hospital with serious injuries and died on Aug. 20. […] While unable to attend the evening event, DeSantis was in Deal, New Jersey, earlier in the day at the home of Jay Cayre, head of Midtown Equities, sources told The Post. (link)

Despite Officer Perez passing away eight days earlier, apparently, Governor DeSantis was unaware of the Monday funeral plans when he flew the governor’s jet to New Jersey to meet with billionaire real estate mogul Joseph ‘Jay’ Cayre on Sunday, forcing him to cancel the Zeldin fundraiser a few hours later in New York, or so the story is told.

However, the background looks really bad.  Billionaire Joseph Cayre of Midtown Equities just gave New York Governor Kathy Hochul “more than” $400,000 for her campaign against Lee Zeldin, right before DeSantis showed up. [LINK]

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Here we go… It was only a matter of time before the DOJ-NSD architects of the Trump targeting operation came out from the shadows.  This is the moment long-time readers of CTH should have been waiting for.  For the past five years Mary McCord has been one of a small and select lawfare group organizing the targeting of President Trump.

Mary McCord led the support team who created the Carter Page FISA warrant using the Steele Dossier to replace the required ‘Wood’s file’.  McCord was the DOJ-NSD official who traveled with DOJ Deputy AG Sally Yates to talk to former White House counsel Don McGhan which weaponized the Flynn-Kislyak call to remove Trump’s National Security Advisor.

Mary McCord was the person who organized Alexander Vindman and Eric Ciaramella to construct the first impeachment effort.  Additionally, it was Mary McCord along with her former legal counsel, turned Intelligence Community Inspector General, Michael Atkinson, who changed the ICIG whistleblower rules allowing an anonymous complaint to underpin the false accusations from Ciaramella against Trump.

It was also Mary McCord who was appointed by FISA court Judge James Boasberg as an amici curia to the court, intercepting issues of false information in filings from the DOJ-NSD to the court as constructed by Kevin Clinesmith.

It was Mary McCord who then took up the lead congressional position within the impeachment construct created by Adam Schiff and Jerry Nadler, and it was Mary McCord who then joined the January 6 Committee in the committee fight to obtain President Trump’s white house records.

Mary McCord surfaces today with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos to outline what her team has currently constructed, including the specific targeting approaches her DOJ-NSD and Lawfare crew have put together.

As noted by McCord, the ‘obstruction of justice’ angle is a repeat of the threat used by the Deep State to keep the criminal conduct of the DOJ-NSD from being exposed.  WATCH:

When the Carter Page FISA application was originally assembled by the FBI and DOJ, there was initial hesitancy from within the DOJ National Security Division (DOJ-NSD) about submitting the application, because it did not have enough citations in evidence (the infamous ‘Woods File’).  That’s why the Steele Dossier ultimately became important.  It was the Steele Dossier that provided the push, the legal cover needed for the DOJ-NSD to submit the application for a Title-1 surveillance warrant against the campaign of Donald J. Trump.

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For a deep dive into the financial construct Nikki Haley put together {Go Here} reference the CTH archives from November 2019, when she registered the Stand For America SuperPAC.  For an overall summary of what she has been doing {GO HERE} and see the internal citations assembled a few weeks ago.  Haley’s superpac donor files have been leaked and the funding pattern is similar to Ron DeSantis, only Nikki Haley has more rich democrats.

There is little doubt the people around Nikki Haley have been positioning her for a 2024 presidential run for approximately three years.

Ms. Haley is following the traditional GOPe map that all republican candidates follow; including the assembly of donations to fund her political ambitions.

Ironically, in late 2019 CTH noted she was registering her financial mechanisms from New York.  Snarkily, we pointed out the location.

It is the New York location of her financial enterprise that has now become her problem.  Someone in New York government leaked the tax filings from her SuperPAC to Politico.  The irony here is a little funny.

The filing is for the year immediately following the creation of the PAC, 2019/2020, filed in 2021.  This list does not include recent donors. Ms Haley’s lawyers tried to block the release of her donor names by Politico.  It didn’t work.  Politico lawyers fired back that her donors are a matter of high public interest.  That’s how the information comes out.

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The specific level of GOPe misinformation; a constructed narrative currently advocated by Karl Rove; surrounding the release of the FBI affidavit justifying the raid on President Trump’s home, is very telling.

I’ll have more on that later; suffice to say, it’s clear now the republican wing of the DC UniParty knew the plan all along, and yes, the downstream consequences align with the instructions to the created Trump alternative, Ron DeSantis.  This is all organized.

Review Techno Fog article for the legal perspective on the affidavit [SEE HERE].  From my perspective it becomes important to talk about the bigger picture of what lies behind this entire operation.

First, as to the documents themselves, the general public is clueless about how classified documents exist.  Some even believe classified documents are never copied, which is stunningly false.  All source material is held at the originating agency in its original form.  All versions of documents that are provided to stakeholders in government, including the President are copies.

A well-known example of multiple copies of classified documents -as assembled- is the Daily Presidential Brief.  The president is never given the originating source classified document of anything.   The president, like all other users of classified material, would receive a copy for review. Declassification is done by declassifying the copy and then the declassification directive travels back to the originating agency for them to change the classification status of the original.

We know now, with direct information from both media and the shape of the DOJ/FBI statements, that the documents held by President Trump in his Mar-a-Lago home are documents showing malfeasance and targeting by the DOJ and FBI surrounding the false accusations of a Trump-Russia collusion case.

[Jan 19, 2021 – Presidential Memorandum Declassifying Trump-Russia Documents] In essence, the documents are the evidence behind the Trump targeting operation, and the collusion network between Main Justice and U.S. media.  This should not be a surprise.

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A solid dive by Law.Com and Daily Business Review into the background of who is financing Donald Trump versus who is financing Ron DeSantis should help to clarify the nature of the difference between them.

President Trump is funded primarily from massive amounts of small contributions from small donors, the MAGA base.

Governor Ron DeSantis is funded primarily by a small group of exclusive Wall Street corporations, billionaires and hedge fund managers, and almost no small donors.

Essentially, if you are thinking about MAGA populism -vs- corporate republicanism; well, there’s the issue in easiest to understand data form.

Additionally, the new managers of DeSantis have recently noticed the vulnerability and hired firms to try and stimulate small donor amounts in an effort to avoid the jaw dropping difference in average donation.  A strategy deployed by Jeb Bush in 2015.    Pay attention to the names giving large donations to DeSantis and you will see: (a) where the economic policy distinction comes from; and (b) where the RDS branding and consulting image is coming from.

Business Daily Review – Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has raised more money than Donald Trump since the former president left office, relying on deep-pocketed donors rather than the small-dollar contributors he’ll need if he seeks the White House in 2024.

DeSantis … has amassed $142 million from the start of 2021 through Aug. 5 this year from donors such as the hedge fund billionaires Ken Griffin and Paul Tudor Jones.  That tops the $136 million Trump collected over a slightly shorter period.

Unlike Trump, who relies largely on a network of small-dollar donors to fund his postpresidential political operations, DeSantis has raised the bulk of his money from a small number of wealthy donors writing him giant checks. That gives him plenty of money for his reelection effort in Florida, where laws allow unlimited contributions.

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The DOJ had until noon today to submit their proposed redactions to the search warrant used in the Mar-a-Lago raid in order for the documents to be made public.  Highlighting the effort of Main Justice to delay any sunlight, the DOJ waited until the last moment to submit their filing.

With the DOJ submission in hand, Florida Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart will now review the proposal and decide which, if any, parts of the affidavit will now be released to the public.   Judge Reinhart was the judge who originally signed-off on the search warrant.  It is likely he will go along with the redactions, although there is a slight possibility, he may propose an alternative.

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I have been requested to advise on South Dakota John Thune against the backdrop of the upper chamber priorities nearing the election.  It’s a good topic for review.

One of the more challenging facets to awakening the general public on the scale of corruption within Washington DC is the need for people to drop party designations.

This is never truer than within the U.S. Senate where the mistaken “us -vs- them” perspective remains a pesky hurdle.

The blue team and red team are mirror images of themselves.  They are not opposites, they are mirrored – a big difference.

The policy objective is the same, the business model within DC (K Street) benefits the upper chamber the most.

Within this dynamic Mitch McConnell is the mirror image of Harry Reid.  Mitch has been grooming his replacement for a long time; that replacement is John Thune. Senator Thune is in a position that demands stealth.  Ideologically, think of John Thune as the mirror image of Gavin Newsom.  They are not opposites, they are mirrored – a big difference.

The system of affluence and influence has been created to self-sustain regardless of party affiliation. The Senate is one club with one ideological perspective. Within that club rule #1 dominates: none of the members will ever expose another member. So, when there is corrupt activity within the Senate no-one from within the institution will expose another. This is the code of Omerta within the upper chamber.  This is the way of the “my good friend” Senate and how it operates.

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Purchasing advertising in the national market.  The new marketing and branding group behind Florida Governor Ron DeSantis purchase ad time on Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity broadcasts.  Marketing nationally, and purchasing expensive full minute ad buys targeting the Fox News audience, is confirmation DeSantis has unofficially entered the 2024 campaign race.

All doubts about DeSantis ’24 should be put to rest.  As CTH has noted since August 8th [SEE HERE], the professional political managing of Ron DeSantis for a presidential run has become increasingly clear.

The Florida governor went silent following the raid on Mar-a-Lago, sending one tweet from his private account, then remaining in a bunker for the next five days.  No doubt he agreed to stay silent at the guidance of the club managers behind his new political construct [that group almost certainly likely knew in advance of the FBI raid]. He exited the bunker with a new press secretary and national brand image launch.  Here’s the NATIONAL ad:

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Once you see the strings on the marionettes you can never unsee them.  The GOPe club uses the same play book.  If you pulled a focus group of never-trumpers, then watched them discuss their snarky view of the MAGA voters they hate, then packaged that conversation into a targeted ad, this ‘cringeworthy’ outcome is exactly what you get.

The GOPe club are targeting MAGA voters by providing a manufactured and managed alternative to Donald Trump.  That’s why you feel a little cringy when you watch the ad.  The inauthentic nature transmits within the implied message.

The people behind Texas congressman Dan Crenshaw, likely the same branding group, did the same thing portraying Crenshaw as an action hero.

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It simply makes sense.  The legislative oversight group known as the “Gang of Eight” want to see the documents confiscated by the DOJ National Security Division from the FBI raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.  The reason and motives are simple.

If Donald Trump has evidence of the corruption in the Trump-Russia collusion fabrication and targeting effort, there would be evidence of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) participating in joint-effort with the DOJ and FBI.  When the FBI launched their 2016 targeting operation against candidate Donald Trump, it was the SSCI who coordinated with them.

[Current 2022 Gang of Eight Group]

First the report from Politico:

The group of congressional leaders charged with reviewing the most sensitive intelligence information has asked the Biden administration for access to the documents seized from former President Donald Trump’s private residence in Florida, according to two people with direct knowledge of the request.

The inquiry from the so-called “Gang of 8” comes as lawmakers from both parties seek to learn more about the unprecedented investigation into the former president. And it suggests that Congress is unwilling to be a bystander in the political and legal fallout following the FBI’s Aug. 8 search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla.

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