So, Is That Why the FBI Ransacked Mar-a-Lago?

Matt Vespa / Townhall Tipsheet

 

You know the story behind why the FBI raided the home of former President Donald Trump in August of 2022. It arguably was an event that helped Trump galvanize the GOP base to his side ahead of his anticipated 2024 announcement. The ransacking culminated a lengthy back-and-forth between the National Archives and Records Administration and Trump’s lawyers—federal officials still felt sensitive materials resided on location. It set off the debate about classified materials and the protocols for taking them, a Democratic Party attack line that blew up in their faces when Biden got caught for doing the same thing. The only difference is that Trump got indicted. But there was one file that the FBI might have thought was at Mar-a-Lago. It’s not confirmed, but sources told Michael Shellenberger, Matt Taibbi, and Alex Gutentag that the federal raid on Trump’s house might have been on a hunch that the Russian collusion binder was on the premises.  

 

Created by House investigators in 2019-2020, the Russian collusion binder included the many ways in which the intelligence community allegedly violated the law in surveilling Trump associates during the events of Russiagate. Read more and see Xs here.

Scoop: Hur making plans to testify to GOP panel about Biden  

Alex Thompson / AXIOS

 

Special counsel Robert Hur is in final talks to publicly testify before Congress in early March about his report on President Biden's handling of classified documents, a GOP aide tells Axios.

Why it matters: House Republicans are salivating about the chance to ask Hur about Biden's fitness for office.

• Biden, his White House and his personal lawyer have been bashing Hur over his report, which cleared Biden of criminal wrongdoing but painted the president, 81, as having "diminished faculties" and a "poor memory."

Zoom in: Hur already is thinking about his testimony and has reached out to former Justice Department colleagues to potentially help him prepare, a person familiar with the matter told Axios.

• Hur, a former U.S. attorney who was a Trump appointee, has been in discussions with Sarah Isgur — the head of public affairs and a senior counselor to Trump's deputy attorney general during the Mueller investigation — to help him navigate a congressional hearing.