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The CIA had to come up with clever ideas to keep Trump from putting classified info in his pockets: report
August 17, 2022
It has been a little over a week since the FBI executed a search warrant on former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach.
Douglas London, a former senior CIA Operations Officer, who worked with intelligence briefers for the president, explained that they were forced to use "unorthodox" methods for Trump to ensure he didn't put classified documents in his pockets.
"As you know, intelligence briefings for the president have to range a wide array of complex issues," said London. "The key is getting the president's attention. You have to adopt a style that will secure the president's interest and have him focus on the matter. It was hard to do that with President Trump, particularly without trying to compromise the integrity of the product itself. We found he responded very well to images, pictures, videos, that sort of thing."
He explained that the counter to that is that the former president would get "too interested" in the briefing and how he might respond.
IN OTHER NEWS: Allen Weisselberg agrees to testify against Trump's businesses in move that poses 'a severe threat' to his companies: report
"We try to impart those things and sometimes had to use a very catchy-headline approach, which is not really orthodox for us, to get him to focus without him wanting to pull products, such as images, which we would try to include on a tablet, so it was not something he could take — or on large poster size documents, that, again, are hard to put in your pocket."
They would also give briefers some of the questions they thought would be asked and sometimes the questions they'd anticipated Trump would ask would be, "wow, can I have this?"
"But often enough, it was really keeping him on target. there was one particular briefing we had on a sensitive terrorism issue where the president would ride off on a tangent and talk about ordering food or milkshakes in this meeting. So, sometimes the briefers would leverage the conversation to move him off of that, or promised the president we would follow up with him and address his questions," he continued.
WATCH: Matt Gaetz's primary opponent suggests he was the informant who sparked FBI's raid on Trump's resort
He also confirmed previous reports that Trump had an obsession with Osama bin Laden's son, "who wasn't really a target," but was someone Trump recognized, and thus wanted to capture or kill over more serious terrorists. London noted there were also problems with Iran and counterterrorism issues coming from Iran that Trump would latch onto because he was trying to vilify the country.
"But some of his comments to support his vilification would tread closely to information we knew that we didn't want the Iranians to realize we had access to," he concluded.
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Matt Gaetz's primary opponent suggests he was the informant who sparked FBI's raid on Trump's resort
August 17, 2022
GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz's Republican primary opponent launched an ad accusing the Florida congressman of possibly being the informant who tipped off the FBI in their raid on Mar-a-Lago last week.
Mark Lombardo's 30-second ad, titled "Informant," hints that Gaetz played a role in the FBI's search for classified materials at Donald Trump's Palm Beach resort. The ad also claims that Trump hasn't seemed to be overly enthusiastic about endorsing Gaetz.
"When Donald Trump really endorses someone, he goes big," the ad states. "You've seen none of that for lying Matt Gaetz."
"What does Trump know?" the ad continues. "Is Gaetz the informant?"
IN OTHER NEWS: Allen Weisselberg agrees to testify against Trump's businesses in move that poses 'a severe threat' to his companies: report
There is no evidence suggesting that Gaetz was involved in the FBI's investigation of Trump.
Speaking to Business Insider, a spokesperson for Gaetz said that Trump has indeed endorsed the GOP Rep.
"President Trump's son is campaigning for Congressman Gaetz in Pensacola on Monday. President Trump's 2020 finance chair just released a video endorsing Gaetz," the spokesman said. "Mark Lombardo is busy trying to please Resistance Liberals with plays from the Lincoln Project playbook. Congressman Gaetz is fighting for Florida and the Trump agenda."
Among the records seized during the unprecedented search of the home of a former president were documents marked "Top Secret," "Secret" and "Confidential."
READ: Laura Ingraham is delusional
Trump, who is weighing another White House run in 2024, vehemently denounced the FBI raid and claimed that all of the material confiscated during the search had been previously "declassified."
The warrant to search Trump's home, which was personally approved by Attorney General Merrick Garland, directed the FBI to seize records "illegally possessed" in violation of three criminal statutes, including one falling under the Espionage Act, which makes it a crime to illegally obtain or retain national security information.
Trump claimed on Monday that FBI agents had seized his passports during the operation.
"Wow! In the raid by the FBI of Mar-a-Lago, they stole my three Passports (one expired), along with everything else," Trump said in a posting on his Truth Social platform. "This is an assault on a political opponent at a level never seen before in our Country. Third World!"
IN OTHER NEWS: Jared Kushner's 'soulless' White House memoir torn to pieces in New York Times review
In addition to investigations into his business practices, Trump faces legal scrutiny for his efforts to overturn the results of the November 2020 election, and for the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol by his supporters.
Trump was impeached for a historic second time by the House after the Capitol riot -- he was charged with inciting an insurrection -- but was acquitted by the Senate.
Watch the ad below or at this link.
The Informant? www.youtube.com
With additional reporting by AFP
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Allen Weisselberg agrees to testify against Trump's businesses in move that poses 'a severe threat' to his companies: report
August 17, 2022
The former chief financial officer of the Trump Organization has agreed to testify against Donald Trump's companies in a potential criminal trial, according to new reports published in Rolling Stone and CNN.
Allen Weisselberg expected to plead guilty to a 15-year tax fraud scheme this Thursday.
Citing a "person familiar with the matter," CNN reported that Weisselberg has agreed to testify against Trump's businesses if the case moves forward.
"As part of Weisselberg’s plea deal, he has agreed to testify against The Trump Corporation and the Trump Payroll Corporation at trial, which is scheduled for October," Rolling Stone reported, citing two unnamed sources. "One of the sources said that while Weisselberg is agreeing to testify, that does not mean he necessarily will; it depends on whether prosecutors decide to call him."
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Although Trump himself has not been charged at this stage, nor any members of his family, the charges deal a major blow to the Republican ex-president who has suggested he could run for the White House again in 2024.
The Trump Organization and Weisselberg were slapped with 15 felony counts including a scheme to defraud, conspiracy, grand larceny and falsifying business records.
Weisselberg is accused of evading taxes on $1.7 million of income over 15 years, according to the indictment. He is viewed as the gatekeeper of the Trump Organization’s secrets.
Weisselberg is expected to receive a five-month prison sentence, according to CNN.
New York prosecutors had been trying to get Weisselberg to cooperate with their broad investigations into the Trump Organization’s finances. But he is reportedly not willing to help beyond his testimony.
"Still, his potential testimony could pose a severe threat to Trump’s companies," Rolling Stone reported. "This possible testimony, which allegedly implicates Trump’s businesses, could be key to prosecutors’ securing a guilty verdict against these companies. When a company is found to have engaged in criminal conduct, significant fines can pile up quickly — potentially leading to its demise."
With additional reporting by AFP
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