U.S. News

The Independent is reporting that an insider of Donald Trump's community revealed that the ex-president was playing a kind of game of chicken with Attorney General Merrick Garland over possible illegal behavior.

A confidante spoke to the site about that the distinction between the latest scandal and previous ones where he went up against the Justice Department.

There were two Chinese people arrested at Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago's club, raising questions about possible efforts of foreign countries attempting to spy on the then president. Speaking to MSNBC, John Brennan noted that it begs the question about the security of the documents that were at Mar-a-Lago and it could have been a reason that the DOJ wanted to act quickly to take the classified information back.

"It certainly seems as though the Department of Justice and Merrick Garland have been careful in terms of how they've gone about trying to retrieve these documents that should not be in the possession of Donald Trump," said Brennan. "As your chronology indicates there has been back and forth between the folks in the Trump orbit and the Department of Justice [and] National Archives, but it's clear that over the course of 20 months these very sensitive documents, seven sets of classified documents as well as other sets of documents or material that shouldn't be in his private possession down in Mar-a-Lago that these documents are something that I think were intentionally withheld from the government."

On Friday the Justice Department released the search warrant and list of items seized at Mar-a-Lago after former President Donald Trump revealed that the FBI showed up to search for documents. Since then, many Republican officials and Trump allies have demanded to know the specifics about what crimes the Justice Department would warrant a search at the home of a former president.

According to court documents posted by Politico's Kyle Cheney, the Justice Department will release some of the documents related to the search but they don't want to release the affidavit related to the search.

Former President Donald Trump claimed that the FBI took three of his passports during the execution of the search warrant last week. One of the passports was an old/expired one, another was the regular passport and the third was likely one used for diplomatic purposes as president and now as a former president.

Speaking to MSNBC on Monday, former Justice Department official and prosecutor for special counsel Robert Mueller, Andrew Weissmann explained that there are a few reasons that the FBI might take Trump's passport.

Threats against FBI agents and other federal law enforcement have grown even worse Monday a week after a search warrant was executed at former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago club. In response, Trump has attacked law enforcement and the FBI, with his followers doxing them and their families.

On Friday, the FBI and Department of Homeland Security published a joint bulletin saying that they've experienced a significant increase in threats against law enforcement. Monday another man was arrested for threats against the FBI.

Comedian John Oliver won't have the last word on Donald Trump's document scandal, but he's certainly the one to have done the most detailed analysis and takedown yet.

Addressing the pickle Trump is in, the "Last Week Tonight" host began by celebrating the week that President Joe Biden had with an epic piece of legislation passed, the death of the head of al Qaeda, and the signing of the burn pits bill. Normally, that would be the top piece of news, but once again, former President Trump managed to beat him off the front pages with his own epic news.

Donald Trump biographer Tim O'Brien explained that even though the former president "isn't a sophisticated man" and " is a deeply ignorant man," he still "understood the stakes in the search warrant that was executed."

He joined a panel of legal experts on MSNBC Sunday evening to explain that Trump's "secret power" is spinning something into something else.

New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Zolan Kanno-Youngs penned a piece detailing the remarkable similarities between Donald Trump's evolving alibis for how he ended up with classified information in his safe at Mar-a-Lago and his previous scandals.

Trump's first moves were attacking the FBI, alleging they planted evidence, he was a victim, there was a break-in, it was a witch hunt, and he's being attacked by rogue law enforcement. The excuses, justifications and claims expanded from there, but they're all remarkably similar to the playbook Trump has used for over decades, the Times explained. Most visibly, it was part of the plan when an investigation explored whether his political campaign was conspiring with the Russian government in 2016.

After Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago golf club, where he lives, got a visit from the FBI this week looking for a set of classified documents that they thought the former president stole from the White House, his followers have waged war.

The day after the execution of a search warrant, Trump supporters were cataloged online, making threats against the judge who signed the search warrant. They revealed all of his personal information, called for information about his children, began attacking his place of worship and called for his death. That trend has continued as Trump supporters are now going after law enforcement.

Speaking to CNN on Sunday, former Homeland Security adviser Olivia Troye said that she was "disgusted" with Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH), who appeared earlier trying to make excuses for Donald Trump amid the scandal that he may have stolen classified documents upon leaving office.

Turner admitted he would never take home classified documents, but maintained that Trump would never take classified documents.

In discussion with legal analyst Elie Honig, CNN's Jim Acosta couldn't help but quote late actor John Belushi as Joliet Jake Blues in "The Blues Brothers," when he begs Carrie Fisher not to kill him. Acosta noted it is remarkably similar to former President Donald Trump's comments over the past several days that keep evolving.

"Oh, please don't kill us! Please, please don't kill us. You know I love you, baby. I wouldn't leave you! It wasn't my fault! ... I ran out of gas! I got a flat tire! I didn’t have change for cab fare! I lost my tux at the cleaners! I locked my keys in the car! An old friend came in from out of town! Someone stole my car! There was an earthquake! A terrible flood! Locusts! IT WASN’T MY FAULT, I SWEAR TO GOD!"

In a sit down with Rudy Giuliani in an empty restaurant, a Newsmax host asked if he thought the American government would ever kill him.

The host recalled the comments from Giuliani that the FBI search warrant to retrieve classified documents from Mar-a-Lago was the kind of thing that happened in third-world countries with unstable governments.

This week after the FBI executed a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago for classified information, former presidential candidate Andrew Yang went on the attack against Attorney General Merrick Garland, purporting that the execution of a search warrant was politically motivated and attacking President Joe Biden.