Donald Trump Jr says it would be ‘good’ if father still had nuclear codes
Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law, has denied being the “mole” who tipped off the FBI that classified documents were still being kept at Mar-a-Lago after the ex-president claimed to have handed over everything he took with him after leaving the White House.
Speaking to former Fox News host Megyn Kelly, Mr Kushner blamed the press for amplifying the idea, singling out Mr Trump’s psychologist niece Mary Trump for criticism.
“It’s absolutely not true, categorically, in every way,” he said. “But I think that’s more of a statement of the sad state of the media, where the more outlandish – especially if it includes me – then the media will write about it and create headlines.”
Meanwhile, a judge has asked Mr Trump’s legal team to clarify basic the details of a muddled lawsuit they have filed two weeks after the raid took place. Multiple news outlets have reported that the federal government has reportedly recovered a total of 300 classified documents since Mr Trump left the White House, totalling more than 700 pages. This includes some 150 documents handed over by agreement at the start of this year.
ICYMI: Two guilty in Whitmer kidnap plot
Two men have been found guilty of conspiring to kidnap Michigan Gov Gretchen Whitmer in a 2020 plot that government prosecutors said was designed to spark a second US civil war.
A jury found Adam Fox and Barry Croft Jr guilty of not just conspiring to kidnap Ms Whitmer, but also to obtain a weapon of mass destruction — a bomb they planned to use to blow up a bridge to hold off police if they were able to kidnap Ms Whitmer at her vacation home in northern Michigan.
The plot ultimatley failed. The FBI infiltrated the paramilitary group that planned the kidnapping, using both informants and undercover agents to foil the plot against Ms Whitmer in one of the highest profile domestic terrorism investigations the bureau has been responsible for in recent years.
When the plot was first revealed, Ms Whitmer gave a press conference in which she explicitly drew a line between the proliferation of violent extremism and the sort of rhetoric indulged in by Donald Trump.
Gretchen Whitmer hits out at Donald Trump as she denounces kidnap plot
Two far-right paramilitaries guilty of plot to kidnap Michigan governor
Adam Fox and Barry Croft Jr are also found guilty of conspiracy to obtain a weapon of mass destruction
Andrew Naughtie24 August 2022 13:45
Analysis: What next for the Mar-a-Lago papers?
Amid all the hullaballoo about who knew what and when about the documents stored at Mar-a-Lago and the raid that saw the FBI seize them for government scrutiny, Andrew Feinberg takes a look at what lies ahead for the papers themselves.
Read his full analysis below.
What happens next to the documents seized from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home?
The Department of Justice’s ‘filter team’ tasked with reviewing the records has been hard at work since the Mar-a-Lago raid
Andrew Naughtie24 August 2022 13:15
Kushner denies being Mar-a-Lago mole
Jared Kushner is currently touring his Trump administration memoir, and in that capacity he yesterday swung by former Fox News…