Related video: Justice Department releases redacted Mar-a-Lago search affidavit
The Justice Department has released its first image of documents seized from Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. The photo shows papers strewn across a floor with markers bearing the reading “secret” and “top secret” on classified documents – and one document’s heading indicates that the contents refer to human source intelligence.
Mr Trump has accused the department of staging the photo.
“Terrible the way the FBI, during the Raid of Mar-a-Lago, threw documents haphazardly all over the floor (perhaps pretending it was me that did it!), and then started taking pictures of them for the public to see,” he wrote on Truth Social this morning. “Thought they wanted them kept Secret? Lucky I Declassified!”
The documents in the picture are in fact mostly obscured except for their cover pages. There is no evidence to suggest that Mr Trump declassified the documents, and it is not clear he would have had the authority to do so.
The ex-president is planning a speech to supporters in Pennsylvania this weekend. Predicting it will be “BIG”, he told his followers: “Crowds already forming. Much, Much, Much to say. Don’t miss it!
Dr Oz says all abortion is ‘murder’ in resurfaced audio
Pennsylvania Senate candidate Dr Mehmet Oz is proving to be a slippery figure when it comes to pinning down his stance on abortion.
Earlier this week, he rejected the idea of a federal ban on the procedure. In May, when a leaked draft opinion of the Supreme Court’s decision to reverse Roe v Wade was leaked, he championed it by saying he looked “forward to supporting pro-life legislation that saves innocent lives in the U.S. Senate”. And in a 2019 interview, he described efforts to reverse Roe as “concerning”.
Now, newly-emerged audio – obtained by The Daily Beast – revealed the Trump-backed Republican’s most extreme opinion on abortion to date.
Johanna Chisholm reports.
Dr Oz says all abortion is ‘murder’ in resurfaced campaign event audio
The GOP candidate’s remarks are a dramatic departure from earlier comments made in 2019 that were considerably more pro-choice
Oliver O’Connell31 August 2022 21:00
Karl Rove: ‘None of these government documents are his to have taken’
In an appearance on Fox News, Republican consultant, policy adviser, and lobbyist Karl Rove made it very clear where he stands on the Mar-a-Lago documents.
“Let’s be clear on this. None of these government documents are his to have taken,” he said. “I agree with the deputy director who said that a lot of the former president’s problems are of his own creation. You cannot, under the Presidential Records Act of 1978, you cannot take original documents out of the White House whether it’s the president of the United States or any of his aides. No. It’s verboten under the law.”
Oliver O’Connell31 August 2022 20:46
Trump claims FBI agents ‘threw’ classified documents ‘all over the floor’ to frame him
Former president Donald Trump is now accusing FBI agents of staging a photograph taken during the 8 August search of his home and office to “make [him] look bad” and repeating his previous claim to have declassified the entire lot of highly sensitive documents found there.
Trump claims FBI agents ‘threw’ classified docs ‘all over the floor’ to frame him
Mr Trump is still claiming to have declassified documents that show no evidence of having been declassified
Oliver O’Connell31 August 2022 20:30
Trump lawyer Lin Wood asked to testify in Georgia election fraud probe
A lawyer formerly litigating Donald Trump‘s 2020 election fraud claims has been called on to testify in a criminal investigation into efforts to overturn Georgia‘s election results.
The New York Times reports that L Lin Wood, the attorney who — alongside Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell — once carried the former…