Primary Documents
January 14, 2021: John Solomon Podcast bragging of detailed knowledge of what Russian investigation materials would be released in the coming days) described having newly obtained a January 20, 2021 Mark Meadows memo to DOJ instructing them to declassify documents from the Russian investigation.
On December 30, 2020, DOJ provided Trump a binder of material from the Russian investigation.
On January 8, 2021, Mike Ellis attempted to retain a compartmented NSA report for White House archives, initially refusing efforts to return it.
January 19, 2021: Trump letter to Archivist of the United States David Ferriero, FPOTUS designating (among others) Pasquale (Pat) Cipollone and Patrick Philbin as his representatives with the NARA
January 19, 2021: Trump order declassifying Russian investigation documents
January 20, 2021: Mark Meadows memo on declassification
October 18, 2021: Trump lawsuit attempting to enjoin the Archives from complying with January 6 Committee subpoena
October 21, 2021: DOD IG report on Mike Ellis appointment, including discussion of his efforts to take sensitive NSA documents in January 2021
November 10, 2021: Judge Tanya Chutkan opinion denying Trump’s motion for an injunction against NARA
December 9, 2021: DC Circuit order upholding Judge Chutkan’s decision releasing Trump records to the January 6 Committee
January 19, 2022: SCOTUS order upholding Chutkan’s decision
On January 31, 2022, NARA completed an initial inventory of the retrieved documents. It discovered over 100 documents with classification markings, comprising more than 700 pages. Some include the highest levels of classification, including Special Access Program (SAP) material.
February 18, 2022: NARA to Carolyn Maloney
April 11, 2022: FBI letterhead memorandum asks NARA for access to Trump documents
April 12, 2022: NARA informs Trump of access request
April 29, 2022: NSD to Evan Corcoran letter laying out NatSec urgency (not public)
April 29, 2022: Evan Corcoran letter to NARA asking for further delay (not public)
May 1, 2022: Evan Corcoran letter to NARA asking for further delay (not public)
May 5, 2022: Evan Corcoran asks for access to the Trump records for representatives (not public)
May 5, 2022: Kash Patel claims Trump mass declassified
May 10, 2022: Steidel Wall to Corcoran advising him she would give FBI access starting May 12
May 11, 2022: Subpoena
May 11, 2022: Bratt to Corocran Subpoena Letter
May 25, 2022: Corcoran to Bratt Letter (non-public, referenced here)
May 25, 2022: Corcoran to Bratt Letter laying out why Trump can’t be criminally investigated
June 3, 2022: Bobb Certification
June 19, 2022: Trump letter to NARA making Kash Patel and John Solomon representatives
June 22, 2022: Kash Patel announces he has been named Trump’s representative at NARA
July 20, 2022: John Solomon claims to have recently received Mark Meadows memo declassifying RU materials
August 5, 2022: Sealed search warrant affidavit (unsealed August 26); less redacted version (unsealed September 13)
August 5, 2022: Warrant Application Cover Sheet
August 8, 2022: Search Warrant and Receipts
August 18, 2022: Unseal Additional Documents
August 22, 2022: Motion for Special Master
August 25, 2022: List of Redactions
August 25, 2022: Proposed Redactions filing
August 29, 2022: First Emergency Request for Grand Jury Information; Order
August 29, 2022: Notice of Receipt of Preliminary Order
August 30, 2022: Government Response to Special Master Request
August 30, 2022: Exhibits to Government Response, including letter from Debra Steidel Wall to Evan Corcoran
August 30, 2022: More Detailed Inventory
September 1, 2022: Transcript of Hearing before Judge Aileen Cannon
September 5, 2022: Cannon opinion in which she leaks details about substance of privilege review
September 8, 2022: DOJ motion to unseal Privilege Statuts Report
September 8, 2022: FBI Assistant Director of CI Alan Kohler Declaration
September 8, 2022: Motion for Stay of Injunction on Investigating Classified Documents
September 8, 2022: Motion to Unseal Privileged Status Report
September 9, 2022: Common plan for Special Master; Trump Special Master plan; Government Special Master plan
September 12, 2022: Trump response on motion for stay
September 13, 2022: DOJ reply on motion for stay
September 15, 2022: Cannon opinion denying stay; Cannon’s order of appointment; Raymond Dearie declaration
September 16, 2022: DOJ motion for a stay
September 19, 2022: DOJ topics for initial Dearie conference; Trump topics for initial Dearie conference
September 20, 2022: Trump 11th Circuit response; DOJ 11th Circuit reply
September 21, 2022: 11th Circuit opinion granting stay
September 22, 2022: Cannon order removing documents marked as classified from Seized Materials covered by her order; Dearie proposed work plan
September 23, 2022: Protective order; amended case management plan; motion for extension of time
September 26, 2022: Sworn affidavit with more detailed inventory; Julie Edelstein
emptywheel Posts
(from Peterr) Three Questions at the Start of an Intelligence Review
Just Following Orders: Raymond Dearie’s Strict Compliance with Aileen Cannon’s Orders
DOJ Raises Prospect that Trump Continues to Obstruct Investigation, Including of Empty Folders
Trump Sweeps Evidence of Obstruction under the Appellate Rug
Don’t Analyze Trump Legal Filings Based on the Law, Analyze Them Based on Power
Trump Wants Two Weeks to Review 64 Documents; DOJ Expects Review of 500 Documents a Day
In Motion for a Stay, DOJ Raises Prospect that Trump Leaked Classified Documents
Trust: In Bid for Stay, DOJ Likened Trump to Catastrophic Intelligence Compromise
Aileen Cannon’s Special Master Is Designed to Preempt Decisions Reserved for a Jury
Judge Aileen Cannon Deems Grand Jury Subpoenas Toilet Paper
Aileen Cannon Orders Government to Share Classified Information with Trump’s Counsel
Evan Corcoran’s Two May 25 Stall Letters
Yes, Trump Was Taking Notes on Classified Documents
“A Coat Rack with Suit Jackets, as Well as Interior Décor Items Such as Wall Art and Frames”
Carolyn Maloney Provides NARA Cause to Assert Standing
Donald Trump Agrees He Is Living By Barack Obama’s Rules
The Full-Fitton: Trump’s Funny Math with the Federal Records Act
In Bid to Keep Executive from Accessing Executive Branch Documents, Trump Confesses to Obstruction
18 USC 793(g): Aileen Cannon’s Order Would Not Forestall Flipping Trump’s Custodian of Records
DOJ Has at Least One Card Left to Play: Congress’ Instinct for Self-Preservation
Trump Proposes a New Plan to Steal Classified Documents
A Likely Looming Battle in the Stolen Document Case: Classified White House Counsel Documents
The Tactics of DOJ’s Request for a Partial Stay of Judge Cannon’s Order
Aileen Cannon Prioritized Donald Trump’s Reputation over CIA Assets’ Lives
Judge Aileen Cannon’s Funny Ideas about Being Owned
Aileen Cannon Calls an Investigation into “What’s Literally a Stolen Diary” … “Politicized”
Evan Corcoran Keeps Arguing that Evan Corcoran Didn’t Do a Diligent Search
The FBI Seized No Boxes with Press Clippings that Postdate November 2020
Beryl Howell Says the Surveillance Video Subpoena Was June 24, Not June 22
Return to Sender: DOJ Seized Evidence that Up to 90 Highly Sensitive Documents May Have Disappeared
No One Puts Roger Stone in a Box
(from Peterr) That Bratt-I-Am, That Bratt-I-Am, I Do Not Like That Bratt-I-Am
How DOJ Continues to Build Its Case that Trump Improperly Retained National Defense Information
Christina Bobb Claimed No Copies of the Stolen Classified Documents Had Been Made
Trump Stored Some of the Nation’s Most Sensitive Secrets with His Framed Time Magazine Cover
“The President Was … Working in a Filing Room”
One Big Potentially Pending Question: What Happens to Trump’s Impeachment 1.0 Papers?
Key Details about Evan Corcoran that Evan Corcoran Did Not Disclose to Judge Aileen Cannon
Six Days: Trump’s Second Whack Filing Is Too Late
Did Kash Patel Already Confess to Illegally Disseminating Carter Page FISA Information?
The Elements of the Offense for an 18 USC 793e Prosecution
Trump Had Human, Signals, and FISA Intelligence in an Insecure Room at Mar-a-Lago for a Year
Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart Accepts DOJ’s Proposed Redactions
Christina Bobb, Custodian of Records and Coup Conspirator
A Roger Stone Pardon for MacronLeaks Isn’t As Crazy as It Sounds
Mastering Obstruction: Two of Trump’s Attorneys May Be Witnesses or Suspects
Archives Letter Demonstrates Import of Past Kash Patel Claim of Declassification
Trump’s Reneges on Promised Significant Fourth Amendment Filing
Next Steps in the Trump Stolen Documents Investigation
Maggie Haberman: Heads It’s Only Obstruction, Tails It’s Not Obstruction
The French President May Be Contained Inside the Roger Stone Clemency
Which of the Many Investigations Trump Has Obstructed Is DOJ Investigating?
The Known and Likely Content of Trump’s Search Warrant
The ABCs (and Provisions e, f, and g) of the Espionage Act
Trump’s Latest Tirade Proves Any Temporary Restraining Order May Come Too Late
How Trump’s Search Worked, with Nifty Graphic
Pat Philbin Knows Why the Bodies Are Buried
Trump’s Timid (Non-Legal) Complaints about Attorney-Client Privilege
18 USC 793e in the Time of Shadow Brokers and Donald Trump
[from Rayne] Other Possible Classified Materials in Trump’s Safe
John Solomon and Kash Patel May Be Implicated in the FBI’s Trump-Related Espionage Act Investigation
[from Peterr] Merrick Garland Preaches to an Overseas Audience
Three Ways Merrick Garland and DOJ Spoke of Trump as if He Might Be Indicted
The Legal and Political Significance of Nuclear Document[s] Trump Is Suspected to Have Stolen
Merrick Garland Calls Trump’s Bluff
[from Rayne] Expected Response is Expected: Trump and Right-Wing DARVO
DOJ’s June Mar-a-Lago Trip Helps Prove 18 USC 793e
The Likely Content of a Trump Search Affidavit
Some Likely Exacerbating Factors that Would Contribute to a Trump Search
FBI Executes a Search Warrant at 1100 S Ocean Blvd, Palm Beach, FL 33480
Statutory Background
18 USC 793: Espionage Act
18 USC 2071: Removal of Government Documents
18 USC 1519: Obstruction
44 USC 2201ff: Presidential Records Act
32 CFR Parts 2001 and 2003: Rules on storage of classified information
Other links
Existing legal requests for Trump materials from the Archives
- A series of subpoenas from the January 6 Committee that the Supreme Court has already ruled has precedence over any claims of privilege made by Trump
- Two subpoenas from DOJ’s team investigating January 6, one obtained in May, covering everything NARA has provided to the J6C, and a second one served on NARA on August 17; these subpoenas would also be covered under SCOTUS’ ruling rejecting Trump’s privilege claims
- Discovery in Tom Barrack’s case, whose trial starts on September 19 (DOJ informed Barrack they had requested Trump White House materials from NARA on April 5)
- A subpoena from Peter Strzok in his lawsuit over his firing and privacy act violations
Other Key Reports
August 13, 2022: Fox News Report identifying which receipt includes items identified as potentially privileged onsite
August 23, 2022: WaPo Report on document turnover, including description of Trump packing himself
September 6, 2022: WaPo Report reporting seizure of material on foreign nation’s nuclear capabilities
September 16, 2022: WaPo report that, on September 21, Pat Philbin told NARA that Mark Meadows told him the boxes were full of clippings.
