Submitted photo: Dr. Jane Elza

The FBI recently executed a search warrant in an unprecedented search of the home of a former president. That is a shocking occurrence that conjures up images of third-world dictators who punish those who oppose them by locking them up and putting on show trials. 

We have always prided ourselves that the winners treat the losers with respect, rather than as enemies. This event should catch the attention of every American and cause them to watch the unfolding narrative closely.

It starts, of course, with the unprecedented removal of classified information from the White House by the former president. Boxes of files clearly labeled classified, secret, top secret, top secret compartmented information were unprecedentedly placed in a closet in the former president’s home.

When the National Archives asked for the classified information to be returned to it since the former president was not by law entitled to keep it, the former president unprecedentedly refused. Negotiations led to a subpoena which the former president unprecedentedly evaded. He went through the boxes himself and removed highly sensitive national security items he did not want to turn over. That was unprecedented. His lawyer swore that all the classified information was turned over but it was not. That was unprecedented.

The executed search warrant revealed the former president was in possession of secrets that would reveal the names of spies and possible electronic spying methods that we didn’t even want our allies to know we had. That’s what the classification labels on the files meant. Any citizen caught with those files would have been immediately arrested. No president from Washington on down has taken such classified information home with them when they left office. It was unprecedented.

To get a search warrant, the FBI must provide probable cause. Probable cause is evidence of the five senses. In this case, there were multiple witnesses to the former president’s actions as well as video tape of the hall where the closet was kept. The video tape, according to the New York Times, reveals people going in and out of the closet at will and transferring files from one box to another. Requests by the National Archives and the FBI to better secure the closet apparently led to the addition of a lock. It’s unclear who had the key. According to the video, several people.

In addition, the nature of the files combined with the carelessness with which they were apparently being handled gave the FBI a sense of urgency. Top secret files lying around in anybody’s closet in anybody’s home would give the FBI a sense of urgency. That the home they were in was a vacation resort open to guests without background checks and rich foreigners just added to the unease. It was unprecedented.

The National Archives and the FBI bent over backward to give the former president the chance to turn over the files himself. Their efforts stretched from January to August and each time they thought the president had complied with the law, they discovered he had not. It was unprecedented.

That the files should be taken from Mar-A-Lago and secured someplace else is not disputed. Not even the most besotted Mega Maga minion believes that former President Trump can be trusted with that sensitive information. He may blab it out when he’s golfing or entertaining or just talking with whoever. He’s done it before. 

In fact the major question being asked behind closed doors is “What in the name of God did he intend to do with that information?” There are only a few possibilities, all of them unprecedented.

By my count that’s eight unprecedenteds for Trump and one for the FBI. Sort of puts things in perspective doesn’t it?  

 

Jane Elza, Ph.D., is a resident of Valdosta.