Day: August 9, 2022

Here’s what it’s like to traverse the members-only grounds of Mar-a-Lago, from a reporter who’s been there

Post author By Mike Nova
Post date August 9, 2022

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Side-by-side collage of Insider's Darren Samuelsohn at Mar-a-Lago and the backyard of Donald Trump's private club.

Insider DC bureau chief Darren Samuelsohn in March 2017 at Mar-a-Lago, while working as a White House reporter for Politico. Also pictured is the backyard of Donald Trump’s private club. Darren Samuelsohn

Memories of Mar-a-Lago came flooding back Monday night when the news broke that the FBI had executed a search warrant on Donald Trump’s permanent residence.

My visits there as a White House reporter for Politico more than five years ago came during the earliest days of Trump’s presidency. They gave me an up-close look into all of the controversy and celebrity hoopla that surrounded a man who just months earlier had become the most powerful person on the planet.

In all, I made three trips in March 2017 to go inside Trump’s exclusive South Florida resort.

I toured the well-manicured grounds and snapped my own picture of the famous Trump painting that hangs in the main bar and watched Melania Trump from a distance as she headed into a gathering of Republican donors. I even held open the big iron main door for Ivanka Trump and her three young children before they all sat down with Jared Kushner for brunch just a few feet away from my own table.

A post shared by Ivanka Trump (@ivankatrump)

Ivanka posted this picture on Instagram on that same morning just a short time after I saw her and her family.

Guests hold up a sign about immigration at Mar-a-Lago during the Palm Beach Republican Party’s Lincoln Day dinner on March 24, 2017. Darren Samuelsohn

Credentialed reporters were free to move around the Donald J. Trump Ballroom and mingle with the guests. There were plenty of pro-Trump advocates like this, as well as some big names in Florida politics.

On this particular night, I met Adam Putnam, who was serving as Florida’s Agriculture commissioner and was jockeying for a run to succeed Scott as governor.

Putnam announced his campaign a few weeks after this dinner, and he was seen as an early frontrunner. But then Trump endorsed Ron DeSantis, a sitting congressman, and, well, we know the history from there.

Politico is owned by Axel Springer, Insider’s parent company.

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Why the FBI searching Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home may be a sign of things to come

Post author By Mike Nova
Post date August 9, 2022

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After FBI search at Mar-a-Lago, Trump fans and critics can all agree on one thing: This is a big deal. But what’s next will be bigger.

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Ex FBI agent turns self in to face Puerto Rico criminal case

Post author By Mike Nova
Post date August 9, 2022

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SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Former FBI agent Mark Rossini, who was indicted in a corruption case against a former Puerto Rico governor, turned himself into federal authorities Tuesday in the U.S. territory and declared himself not guilty, according to officials.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office told The Associated Press that Rossini’s attorney had reached out to authorities just days after former Gov. Wanda Vázquez was arrested to hand over his client.

Rossini is charged with conspiracy, federal program bribery and honest services wire fraud. He entered a not guilty plea during a brief court appearance in which a judge authorized that he could live in the U.S. mainland but not in Spain, where he is receiving cancer treatment. However, the judge said Rossini could travel to Spain for treatment.

His attorney could not be immediately reached for comment.

Last Thursday, hours after FBI agents arrested Vázquez, federal officials announced they were seeking Rossini, who was in Spain.

Authorities said Rossini had provided consulting services to an Italian-Venezuelan banker who had promised to financially support Vázquez’s 2020 campaign for governor in exchange for her dismissing the commissioner of Puerto Rico’s Office of the Commissioner of Financial Institutions and appointed a new one of the banker’s choosing. The banker, identified as Julio Herrera Velutini, is believed to be in the United Kingdom and faces charges including conspiracy, bribery and fraud.

After a new commissioner was installed, authorities said Herrera and Rossini paid more than $300,000 to political consultants to support Vázquez’s campaign.

Rossini was an FBI agent from roughly 1991 to 2008, when he resigned as part of a plea deal in which he pleaded guilty to criminally accessing a sensitive FBI database for personal purposes. Most of the searches were related to Anthony Pellicano, an infamous private detective for Hollywood stars who was charged in 2006 with wiretapping some celebrities and bribing a police officer.

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Retired FBI agent: ‘Informant’ likely gave evidence that led to raid

Post author By Mike Nova
Post date August 9, 2022

Published: 15:41 BST, 9 August 2022 | Updated: 15:47 BST, 9 August 2022

Retired FBI Special Agent Michael Tabman told DailyMail.com it’s likely an ‘informant’ revealed information to the FBI that led to the raid of Trump’s home on Monday

The FBI raid on Donald Trump‘s Mar-a-Lago residence on Monday was likely sparked by new information from an ‘informant’ and a breakdown in cooperation between the agency and former president, a former agent told DailyMail.com.

Retired FBI Special Agent in Charge Michael Tabman, who served the agency for 24 years, said a raid of this level of sensitivity would need to be approved by Attorney General Merrick Garland.

‘I think somebody gave them information indicating that these documents are there,’ Tabman said, adding two hypothetical ‘insider’ revelations: ‘You have not been told the truth about their existence. You’re not getting them unless you come get them.’

‘I think there was inside information – call it an informant if you want,’ he told DailyMail.com. ‘I believe either someone told them something or some other information was stumbled upon, which was kind of conclusive in their minds that they had to go now to get that or they’re not getting it.’

Trump’s Florida residence was raided by the FBI Monday. It was most likely in relation to seizing official documents reportedly taken from the White House to his Palm Beach home upon leaving office last year.

Tabman claimed while there was cooperation between Trump and the FBI at one point, the agency may have gotten a sense that the former president and his team were ‘telling you what they want to tell you with limited information.’

FBI protocol, according to Tabman, is to move forward with seizing information once they feel that ‘voluntarily’ obtaining it is no longer viable.

‘You know, everything could disappear,’ Tabman said. ‘You got evidence that you need to get before it disappears or it moves and you can’t see it anymore.’

In order to obtain the warrant for a raid, the FBI would need to prove probable cause and conduct the search in a timely manner. Agents can’t just ‘poke around’ someone’s home in a case like this, Tabman said.

The FBI raided Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate on Monday in apparent relations to a probe into him taking official White House documents to Florida upon leaving office. Pictured: Secret Service stand guard outside an entrance to the Palm Beach residence on Monday evening

‘I think somebody gave them information indicating that these documents are there,’ Tabman said. Trump was spotted leaving Trump Tower in NYC on Monday. He lamented of the search: ‘They even broke into my safe!’

He also claimed the FBI could have gotten the sense that Trump was just no longer being ‘fully cooperative’ with the investigation – leading them to see the raid approval.

Supporters of the former president gathered outside Mar-a-Lago Monday evening in protest of the raid and ongoing investigations into Trump.

Tabman said that while it doesn’t appear any protocols were broken in conducting the raid, it’s still an ‘unprecedented’ move in the sense that the FBI has never raided a former president’s home before.

‘I can’t think of this having happened to a former president,’ Tabman noted.

‘I don’t see any protocols that were broken in any way,’ the retired FBI special agent added. ‘They must have obviously had probable cause.’

Republican lawmakers immediately bashed the FBI, President Joe Biden, the Justice Department and its head Merrick Garland for conducting the raid.

Biden and his staff, however, had no heads up on the matter. Senior White House officials found out about the raid via Twitter, according to The New York Times.

Tabman told DailyMail.com: ‘I believe the Attorney General approved it himself given the sensitivity.’

‘You know, maybe he delegated to a Deputy Attorney General again, maybe in order to avoid perceptions since he is a political appointee,’ he added.

Trump supporters descended on Mar-a-Lago following news of the raid. Some camped out in the beds of their trunks

Getting the go-ahead from Garland is an internal DOJ process, Tabman explained. Adding that after approval, the matter would go before a ‘neutral third party’ judge to approve the raid based on proof of probable cause.

Tabman, through his near two-and-a-half decades of FBI service, retired at the level of Special Agent in Charge.

He served on the FBI-NYPD Organized Crime Task Force and FBI-NYPD Drug Task Force for eight years. During that time, Tabman served as an affiant on numerous arrest and search warrants and applications for wiretaps.

Tabman has been involved in a great number of arrests and execution of search warrants.

During his years in management, Tabman has reviewed affidavits and commanded the execution of arrests and search warrants.

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Why the FBI searching Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home may be a sign of things to come

Post author By Mike Nova
Post date August 9, 2022

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FBI raids Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property amid DOJ investigation

Former President Trump is under investigation by the Justice Department for allegedly removing presidential records from the White House.

By any measure, the FBI’s search Monday of former President Donald Trump’s home is blockbuster news. Trump himself appeared to confirm the news when he issued a statement calling the FBI’s action a “raid,” and noted that “nothing like this has ever happened to a President of the United States before.”

This time, Trump and his critics can all agree – this is a big deal.

Reporting indicates that the documents are related to the Justice Department’s investigation into Trump’s alleged removal of classified documents from the White House at the end of his presidency. Classified material is information that if disclosed could reasonably be expected to cause damage to the national security of the United States.

Mishandling classified information is a serious crime because it puts at risk sources and methods of information relating to national security. If the content of the documents were to end up in the wrong hands, the identity of government sources could become known and their lives put at risk. Or our methods of collecting information, such as technological capabilities, could become known, undermining their utility.

You can’t leave boxes lying around when they contain the kinds of government secrets that can get people killed, even if you’re the former president.

‘Defund the FBI’: Trump supporters calmly react to Mar-a-Lago search

What we do know about the FBI search

Despite the seriousness of the offense, cases involving the mishandling of classified material rarely result in lengthy prison time in the absence of a willful violation of the law or intent to harm the national security of the United States, but here, the stakes are higher. A conviction under one of the relevant statutes brings with it disqualification from public office. This means that even if Trump were to face minimal prison time, he could be barred from serving as president again.

While there is still a great deal of information unknown, there are a number of things that we do know:

►To search a residence, the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution requires the FBI to obtain a search warrant. Only a judge or magistrate can issue a search warrant. Before the judge may do so, he must find probable cause to believe that evidence of a crime will be found on the premises – not evidence of any crime, but of a specific crime spelled out in a detailed affidavit submitted and sworn to by a federal agent. This means that a judge found probable cause here that evidence of a crime – possibly the removed documents themselves – would be found at Mar-a-Lago.

►A search warrant authorizes the agents to search anywhere on the premises where the item might be found. If the items to be searched for are documents, then agents can look anywhere a document could be stored, in a box, in a drawer, under the bed – all fair game. And, if any evidence is found, agents may seize the item. Here, if the agents find documents that were improperly removed from the White House, they will take them.

►If agents are authorized by a warrant to enter the premises, then they are entitled to seize not only the items that are specified in the warrant but also any contraband they can see in plain view. If they stumble upon documents that appear to be evidence of another crime, they may be able to obtain a second warrant to obtain them.

For example, Trump complained that the FBI had opened his safe, which they were entitled to do if the items they were searching for could have been stored there. But if once inside the safe, agents found documents or other items that incriminated Trump in, say, an election fraud scheme, they could potentially use that information to get another warrant based on that offense and seize those documents as well.

Alex Jones finally faces consequences: Hateful lies have to come with a cost

What do we not know about the FBI investigation?

In addition to these things that we know, there are even more things we do not know at this point. Did the National Archives or Department of Justice make efforts to request the return of all of the documents?

Has Trump been stonewalling since the National Archives first asked for the return of the documents many months ago? Why did Trump remove the documents in the first place? Do the documents contain information that is incriminating of or harmful to his legacy? Who else has access to the Mar-a-Lago residence besides Trump? Might that impact the seriousness of any improper storage?

In addition, is there more to the story – that is, was the subject of the search only the materials removed from the White House or does the warrant also authorize evidence of election fraud? What prompted the execution of the search warrant now? Will the investigation result in charges against Trump or others?

The search is big news, but the events that follow may be even bigger.

Barbara McQuade, a former U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, is a professor at the University of Michigan Law School, an NBC and MSNBC legal analyst, and a member of USA TODAY’s Board of Contributors. Follow her on Twitter: @BarbMcQuade

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Why the FBI searching Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home may be a sign of things to come

Post author By Mike Nova
Post date August 9, 2022

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After FBI search at Mar-a-Lago, Trump fans and critics can all agree on one thing: This is a big deal. But what’s next will be bigger.

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Невзлин: Путин провел с Козаком около двух часов перед заседанием Собвеза РФ. Козак пытался убедить его не принимать военное решение, но не смог

Post author By Mike Nova
Post date August 9, 2022

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Он рассказал, что на администрацию Путина, а также на российское минобороны работали группы экспертов по странам – бывшим членам СССР, была в том числе группа по Украине. Она в последнее время работала через Козака, отметил Невзлин.

“Никто из экспертов, никакая группа не давали преимуществ военному решению вопроса. Более того, поскольку они работали в последнее время через Козака, то и Козак не давал никакого шанса военному решению вопроса, а все время пытался убедить Путина [не начинать войну против Украины]“, – сказал бизнесмен.

Невзлин обратил внимание, что Козак родился в Украине, в селе Бандурово Кировоградской области (рядом с админграницей с Одесской областью).

“Человек практически из-под Одессы. Ну о чем мы говорим? […] Там село или поселок был то ли в Одесской, то ли в Кировоградской области. В общем, все равно это рядом. Юг Украины, Черноморское побережье. И он был против войны. Насколько я знаю – а я думаю, что я знаю правильно, – Путин с ним провел около двух часов перед тем, как был этот Совет безопасности. Козак пытался его убедить не принимать военное решение, но не смог. И у него не оставалось никакого выбора, кроме того, чтобы на Совете безопасности – естественно, по указанию Путина – поддержать это решение. Но он в этом не участвует больше. Ну вот с того момента, когда произошел этот разговор перед Советом безопасности. И подразделения все распущены. Что-то передано [первому заместителю главы администрации президента РФ Сергею] Кириенко, а экспертные группы распущены. Им сейчас эксперты не нужны”, – добавил он.

В этом же интервью бизнесмен назвал Козака “очень близким” к президенту России чиновником. По информации Невзлина, Козак оказывает на Путина “немаленькое влияние” и тот к нему прислушивается.

Миллиардер Невзлин: Решение о полномасштабном вторжении в Украину созрело у Путина, когда на встрече “Нормандской четверки” Зеленский отказался подписать соглашение. Читайте полное интервью

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Видео: В гостях у Гордона / YouTube

Контекст:

Козак родился в Бандурово в 1958 году, он вырос и окончил школу в этом селе. Замглавы администрации президента РФ он стал 24 января 2020 года. Козак занял должность, которой ранее не было в штате ведомства. Он вел переговоры с Украиной на уровне советников лидеров в нормандском формате. Последняя встреча на его уровне (украинскую делегацию на переговорах возглавлял глава Офиса президента Андрей Ермак) состоялась 10 февраля в Германии, за две недели до начала полномасштабного вторжения РФ в Украину.

Переговоры длились около девяти часов, но стороны не смогли преодолеть ключевые разногласия, касающиеся “интерпретации” Минских соглашений, сказал тогда Козак. “Позиция Украины непреклонна. Отказались в этом документе, проекте заявления, который был предложен для рассмотрения, даже цитировать Минские соглашения”, – отмечал он тогда. За несколько недель до этого Козак, присутствовавший онлайн на заседании трехсторонней контактной группы по урегулированию конфликта на Донбассе, вышел из себя и вмешался в работу ТКГ, когда обсуждалась имплементация Минских соглашений, сообщала ТСН, ссылаясь на источники.

“Камнем преткновения стала дорожная карта – пошаговый план имплементации спорных пунктов Минских договоренностей, в частности о выборах и очередности передачи контроля над границей. Дмитрий Козак очень эмоционально доказывал, почему Украина должна согласиться на вариант дорожной карты боевиков и обсуждать ее исключительно с ними, а не с Россией, ведь какая же она, мол, сторона конфликта”, – сообщали журналисты.

21 февраля на заседании Совбеза РФ рассматривали признание “независимыми республиками” незаконных вооруженных формирований “ЛДНР”, которые контролируют часть территории на востоке Украины. Никто из членов Совбеза тогда не выступил против такого признания. В СМИ широко разошлась перепалка, которая состоялась на этом заседании между Путиным и главой Службы внешней разведки Сергеем Нарышкиным. Во время выступления Путин требовал от Нарышкина дать прямой ответ, поддерживает ли он признание “ЛДНР”, тот запутался и сказал, что поддерживает присоединение оккупированных территорий Донбасса к РФ.

Козака на этом заседании Путин “достаточно грубо обрывал”, обратила внимание “Русская служба ВВС”. Собеседники СМИ в мае рассказали, что Путин отстранил Козака от кураторства украинского направления.

После заседания Совбеза РФ Путин объявил о признании “независимости” “ЛДНР” и подписал соответствующие указы. Спустя три дня, 24 февраля, РФ начала полномасштабную войну против Украины.

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Ukraine LIVE: ‘Cleaned city’ Zelensky purges 400 traitors as Putin collaborators exposed

Post author By Mike Nova
Post date August 9, 2022

18 mins ago10:40 Tara Fair

Vladimir Putin’s war machine could be crippled without firing a shot – if the international community slapped a blanket ban on exports of foreign-made components commonly found in Russian weapons.

A new report published by the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) think tank warned Russia was routinely circumventing sanctions using tortuous supply routes to get hold of parts, often without the knowledge of manufacturers in the West.

A team of RUSI researchers found more than 450 components from countries including the United States, Europe and Asia in Russian missiles and other weapons recovered in Ukraine.

Since Putin ordered his invasion on February 24, Ukraine’s military has captured or recovered from the battlefield multiple intact or partially damaged Russian weapons.

When disassembled, 27 of these weapons and military systems, including from cruise missiles and air defence systems, were discovered to rely predominantly on Western technology.

The document is the most detailed published analysis so far in respect of the part played by Western components in Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Roughly two-thirds of the components were manufactured by US-based companies, RUSI found, based on the weapons recovered from Ukraine.

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Putin fatal Achilles’ heel exposed as ‘critical’ weakness in Russia war machine pinpointed (Image: GETTY)

40 mins ago10:18 Tara Fair

Vladimir Putin has been rocked by more Ukrainian attacks as the defensive forces target Russian ammunition warehouses.

Video footage has emerged of thick smoke rising from a Russian ammunition warehouse in Novooleksiivka, Kherson Oblast, amid reports of loud explosions.

The hit comes after a string of successful strikes reported by Ukraine.

On Monday, the Ukrainian army said it successfully executed long-range strikes, hitting strategic bridges on the Dnieper River and Russian bases the previous night.

Writing on Facebook, regional deputy Sergei Khlan said: “What a night for the occupiers in the Kherson region.

“Strikes in the area of the Antonovskiy bridge.”

Natalia Gumeniuk, the southern army command spokesperson, confirmed the attack, telling Ukrainian television: “The firing system we have developed in recent days shows results. The impact has been considerable for both the Antonovskiy and Kakhovskiy bridges.”

Russian-backed forces also confirmed the strikes.

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1 hour ago09:48 Tara Fair

At least three people were killed and 19 were injured in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine on Monday.

Pavlo Kyrylenko, the regions governor, said the fatalities were reported in Chasovoy Yar, Novoselivka Pershia, and Mariintka.

He added: “Currently, it is impossible to establish the exact number of victims in Mariupol and Volnovas.

“The Russians will be held accountable for all their crimes on our land!”

1 hour ago09:34 Tara Fair

Some 300 Russian soldiers have been killed in the last 24 hours of fighting, according to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

In the latest intelligence update, it claims 42,640 enemy troops have been killed in total.

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2 hours ago09:19 Tara Fair

A brave Ukrainian coder has created a decentralised cyber army to expose oligarchs’ assets and spark a revolution inside the Kremlin.

Ukrainian coder Vladyslav Huntyk has co-founded a new mobile app, Signal My Oligarch, which allows users across the world to flag assets they suspect belong to oligarchs under Western sanctions.

The assets can include bank accounts, real estate, boats, planes and more.

The users simply open the app, take a photo of the asset, geolocate it and then the information is sent anonymously to the relevant authorities.

Mr Huntyk told Express.co.uk: “We decided that the more pressure we can put on [the oligarchs’] shoulders, the more pressure they will put on Putin’s shoulders.

“The most convenient way is to ask people who know [about these assets] because you can’t identify that some real estate belongs to an oligarch just by looking at it.

“But this information can be known by people who, for example are their neighbours, they might know that this is the oligarch’s daughter’s property.

“Or perhaps a bank employee who knows that a specific bank account belongs to an oligarch.

“Or a boat crew, they would know that the boat belongs to them.

“So we are trying to target a specific group of people who would have this kind of information.”

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‘We will spark a Kremlin revolution’ Inside Ukraine’s cyber army exposing oligarchs (Image: GETTY)

2 hours ago09:03 Tara Fair

The UK is spearheading a mission to train members of the Ukrainian Armed Forces as part of an international scheme that Finland will also take part in.

It is understood approximately 20 service personnel will arrive in Britain to take part in the programme.

The aim of this is to provide basic soldier training to as many as 10,000 Ukrainian volunteers throughout 2022.

A statement adds: “The training programme is led by the UK, which has asked partner nations for support.

“According to the UK, the aim of the programme is to provide basic soldier training to as many as 10,000 Ukrainian volunteers.”

2 hours ago08:51 Tara Fair

More than 400 people have been detained in the Mykolaiv region of southern Ukraine between August 5 and Monday “on the basis of collaborating with Russian forces”, Major General Dmytro Marchenko of Ukraine’s Armed Forces reported.

The arrests were made between 11pm on August 5 to 5am on August 8.

He added that supporting evidence “was found proving that each detainee passed valuable information” to Russian troops.

2 hours ago08:32 Tara Fair

A captured Russian officer described how men from his battalion had “run away” and that there was “no one left” to fight.

The Russian army has been beset by persistent reports of low morale among the ranks, after suffering massive casualties.

According to the Ukrainian military, over 40,000 Russian soldiers have ben killed in action since hostilities broke out on February 24.

Countless Russian soldiers are reported to have deserted their units in a desperate bid to flee the slaughter on the front lines.

Describing the hopeless situation faced by his commanders, Major Gruzev recounted how both soldiers and officers refused to fight and fled their positions.

The officer is serving in a military unit from Abkhazia and was taken prisoner near Kherson.

In a video posted by Ukraine’s military, Major Gruzev said: “Nobody wants to be here. Everyone wants to go home.

“All the soldiers from the first and second battalion ran away.

“No one’s left. They refused to fight.”

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Major Gruzev was captured near Kherson (Image: Ukraine Military)

3 hours ago08:13 Tara Fair

Russia has continued to “focus efforts on reinforcing defences in southern Ukraine,” according to the latest intelligence briefing from the British Ministry of Defence.

The briefing said: “Over the weekend, Russia has continued to focus efforts on reinforcing defences in southern Ukraine.

“Despite the shift in effort, Russia has maintained attacks on Ukrainian positions in Donetsk oblast.

“Over the last 30 days, Russia’s assault towards the town of Bakhmut has been its most successful axis in the Donbas; however, Russia has only managed to advance about 10km during this time.

“In other Donbas sectors where Russia was attempting to break through, its forces have not gained more than 3km during this 30 day period; almost certainly significantly less than planned.

“Despite its continued heavy use of artillery in these areas, Russia has not been able to generate capable combat infantry in sufficient numbers to secure more substantial advances.”

3 hours ago07:57 Tara Fair

Good morning from London. I’m Tara Fair, I’ll be bringing you all the latest developments on the conflict in Ukraine. Please feel free to get in touch with me as I work if you have a story or tips to share! Your thoughts are always welcome.

Email: Tara.fair@reachplc.com

Twitter: @TaraFair_