So, about that Biden DoJ raid at Donald Trump’s home, ostensibly to recover classified documents and return them to the National Archives – that may be the reason for the raid, but it’s speculative at this point.

The FBI and DoJ had already been in conversation with Trump’s team about documents, and if the warrant in fact regards classified documents yet to be returned, at issue is whether the material in question was already declassified. Recall that Trump moved to declassify a lot of documents related to corrupt investigations, and presidents have the absolute authority to declassify documents. No small coincidence that earlier this week, Judical Watch filed suit against the DoJ for not releasing documents Trump declassified.

Given the ongoing discussions, if those documents were the target of the “raid,” it was not justified because of a concern that Trump might destroy evidence — he was in New York. Investigative reporter Miranda Devine writes that agents spent hours in Trump’s private office and fishing around Melania Trump’s wardrobe before more than 30 agents removed boxes of documents and departed.

There are calls for the Department of Justice to release the warrant, but Trump and his lawyers can release the warrant fact sheet. Trump’s legal team has indicated it will not release the warrant. However, it is the sworn affidavits used to justify the warrants, establishing probable cause in a criminal probe, that reveal what the real purpose of the warrant was.

If this raid was based only on a warrant for National Archive material, then it will serve as another hit to the FBI’s widening credibility gap with the public.

The affidavits justifying the warrants were approved by a Florida federal magistrate with ties to both Barack Obama and Jeffrey Epstein. That does not disqualify the warrant, but it does not help objectively justify it in a nation where 80% of citizens believe there is a two-tiered system of justice. Americans no longer trust the FBI. And as political analyst David Harsanyi notes, “If Republicans were doing any of this, Democrats would be calling it authoritarian. And they’d be right.”

One thing seems certain: By appearances, this is the latest chapter in the “dirty tricks” playbook previously used by a corrupt deep state cabal within the FBI and CIA under former Directors James Comey and John Brennan. They, in collaboration with Hillary Clinton, were responsible for the fake “Russia collusion” conspiracy, a political setup to take Trump down.

It took three years of investigation before that political charade was totally debunked by Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, though, of course, nobody was held responsible. But the intended damage to the Trump administration and its domestic and foreign policy agenda was done.

A few observations from knowledgeable sources about the raid:

Former CIA Director and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo: “Executing a warrant against ex-POTUS is dangerous. The apparent political weaponization of DOJ/FBI is shameful. [The attorney general] must explain why 250 years of practice was upended with this raid. I served on the Benghazi [Committee] where we proved Hillary possessed classified info. We didn’t raid her home.”

George Washington University legal scholar Jonathan Turley (D): “It’s unprecedented on a number of levels, the most obvious being that no president has ever been subject to this type of raid. … [T]hey could have used a subpoena to achieve the same result. … There are suggestions that they could have had an alternative purpose, that they are using the classified documents as a way to get January 6 evidence. If that’s the case they could be laying the groundwork for serious repercussions. … It would mean that they misrepresented their purpose — the pretext before the court (for the search warrant). That’s exactly the type of dishonesty that the FBI was found to have engaged in during the Russian collusion investigation.”

Former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy opines their was a false pretext: “The ostensible justification for the search of Trump’s compound is his potentially unlawful retention of government records and mishandling of classified information. The real reason is the Capitol riot.”

Senator Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY): “The country deserves a thorough and immediate explanation of what led to the [raid]. Attorney General Garland and the Department of Justice should already have provided answers to the American people and must do so immediately.”

Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL): “The raid is another escalation in the weaponization of federal agencies against the Regime’s political opponents, while people like Hunter Biden get treated with kid gloves. Now the Regime is getting another 87k IRS [personnel] to wield against its adversaries? Banana Republic.”

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody: “Many of the people in South Florida fled totalitarian regimes in Cuba and Venezuela, and now they see our government come in … with an unprecedented raid against a political opponent. … What we needed is the president to … send Attorney General Garland out to explain why this was done, why it was necessary and why they couldn’t have accomplished this through subpoenas.”

Stewart Kaplan, former FBI agent with the New York Special Operations Division: “This equates to pulling the pin out of a hand grenade, throwing it into a room and walking away with no concern for the collateral damage. … When former FBI Director Comey was fired in 2017, he left a trail of damage and destruction [resulting in] the integrity and legitimacy of the entire FBI being called into question. … This has now demoralized the men and women of the FBI to an all time low.”

Political analyst Ben Domenech: “I think we can make no assumptions that this is anything but exactly what it looks like: an underhanded, unprecedented, utterly irresponsible deployment of federal power against a former president. … It is meant to serve as a threat to him and a warning to his supporters.”

Even some Leftmedia talkingheads raised an eyebrow. CNN legal analyst Paul Callan declared, “This is a daring and dangerous move by the Department of Justice to serve a warrant on a former president and to raid his personal residence.”

Dispatch NeverTrumper David French: “There is technically no problem with [serving this warrant], but practically, if you’re going to take law enforcement actions that get ‘civil war’ trending on Twitter, then the alleged underlying offense should rise to a certain level of seriousness. … [W]e ought not prosecute presidents or former presidents absent overwhelming evidence of guilt under clearly established law.”

Claremont Fellow Ben Weingarten concludes: “It wasn’t enough for The Regime to concoct claims of treasonous Russian collusion to spy on his campaign, and then use the subsequent ‘investigations’ to divert and destabilize his administration while covering up its misdeeds. It wasn’t enough for The Regime to execute two farcical impeachments and sabotage his every act in open insubordination and contempt – effectively forestalling a peaceful transfer of power, and depriving Americans of a full four years from which we would have all more richly benefited. It wasn’t enough for The Regime to do everything in its power to ‘fortify’ the 2020 election against him, just as it wouldn’t be enough for The Regime to disqualify him from the 2024 ballot—in defense of ‘democracy,’ of course – under the fraudulent pretext of an ‘insurrection.’ The Regime wants President Donald J. Trump arrested, shackled, and left to rot in prison.”

Or do they?

I believe the Left’s political calculation for the raid is that it hopes to incite Trump supporters and add more bait to hook Trump into announcing his 2024 candidacy ahead of the midterm elections – much as Pelosi’s histrionic J6 “Insurrection™ Inquisition” is baiting the same hook.

As I have stated previously, whoever the Demo presidential nominee will be in 2024 (and I assert again it will not be Biden), Democrats absolutely want Trump to run again. Despite their “Br'er Rabbit” strategy, insisting they don’t, in fact, they are baiting him to run, certain they can win on the hate and division they can foment against a Trump candidacy – as they did in 2020. Once Biden declares he is out, probably not until just ahead of the 2024 primary, and they bump Kamala Harris is out of the way, the 2024 contender will likely be California’s leftist Governor, Gavin Newsom.

For his part, Trump declared: “It is all, in my opinion, a coordinated attack with radical left Democrat state and local DAs and AGs. … Biden knows all about this, just like he knew all about Hunters ‘deals.’” Meanwhile, he is fending off investigative questions by New York’s Attorney General.

And on the subject of incitement, having some experience with domestic counterterrorism analysis, I can tell you with certainty: Democrats’ actions are baiting violence, and that is precisely their calculation. The Demo proliferators of hate and division are banking their political fortunes on violence that they can attribute to “Trump supporters.” Make no mistake, Democrat strategists calculate that the Left’s attacks will lure mentally unstable sociopathic conspiracy nuts out of their rat holes into acts of violence.

A few of my own observations while we wait for more details.

Contrary to what Biden’s team claims, I believe that his staff was notified in advance about the raid.

Some suggest this raid diverts attention from Biden’s perceived successes in the past week, but I believe that Biden’s Trump-hating constituents are clearly energized by the raid. Biden’s approval ratings have risen from his RCP rolling average low of 36.8 in July to almost 40% and I bet the Trump raid puts him over 40.

Oh, by the way, regarding the weaponization of federal law enforcement bureaucracies, a major feature of Biden’s big “Inflation Reduction Act” lie is the dramatic increase in funding to add almost 87,000 IRS employees, almost doubling the current 93,654 government tax-enforcement personnel. But don’t worry; surely no Demo president would weaponize the IRS … oh, wait, there was that whole Obama/Biden “IRS enemies list” thing!

Notably, there was another winner of the 2020 presidential election… After the totals were in, according to Barack Obama, “People would ask me, ‘Knowing what you know now, do you wish you had a third term?’ And I used to say, ‘You know what, if I could make an arrangement where I had a stand-in, a front-man or a front-woman and they had an ear piece in and I was just in my basement with my sweats looking through the stuff and I could sort of deliver the lines, but somebody else was doing all the talking and ceremony, I would be fine with that.’” You may draw your own conclusions…

Finally, on a humorous note, political observer Brittany Hughes insists: “If Donald Trump did take something, he should have hidden it under Hunter’s pile of hookers and blow. No one ever looks there.”

PS: As FBI agents were cataloging all the material removed from Trump’s house yesterday, another FBI team accosted Pennsylvania Congressman Scott Perry, chairman of the powerful House Freedom Caucus, and seized his phone. Probably just coincidence…

(Updated)

Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis
Pro Deo et Libertate — 1776