The Full Belmonte, 8/27/2022
Why the FBI searched Mar-a-Lago
Joe Cavaretta/South Florida Sun Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
“Friday, the Department of Justice released the affidavit which led to the FBI search of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.” [Vox / Ryan McCarthy]
“The affidavit says Trump took 184 classified documents to his Florida home when he left the White House, including 25 containing sensitive details about how the US gathers foreign intelligence.” [Vox] Read more at Washington Post / Devlin Barrett and Perry Stein
“After months of trying to obtain the documents from Trump’s team, the FBI said it had to conduct the search because it had evidence of obstruction and improper storage of classified material.” [Vox] Read more at CNN / Marshall Cohen, Tierney Sneed, and Jeremy Herb
“The affidavit also reveals that the FBI learned about the movement of the documents from a substantial number of people with knowledge of Trump’s activities.” [Vox] Read more at New York Times / Glenn Thrush, Alan Feuer, and Maggie Haberman
“Much of the affidavit was redacted, however; the DOJ argued concealing information was necessary to protect witnesses and the future integrity of the investigation.” [Vox] Read more at Associated Press / Eric Tucker
Classified Material on Human Intelligence Sources Helped Trigger Alarm
Documents related to the work of clandestine sources are some of the most sensitive and protected in the government. F.B.I. agents found some in boxes retrieved from Donald J. Trump’s home.
“WASHINGTON — They risk imprisonment or death stealing the secrets of their own governments. Their identities are among the most closely protected information inside American intelligence and law enforcement agencies. Losing even one of them can set back American foreign intelligence operations for years.
Clandestine human sources are the lifeblood of any espionage service. This helps explain the grave concern within American agencies that information from undercover sources was included in some of the classified documents recently removed from Mar-a-Lago, the Florida home of former President Donald J. Trump — raising the prospect that the sources could be identified if the documents got into the wrong hands.
Mr. Trump has a long history of treating classified information with a sloppiness few other presidents have exhibited. And the former president’s cavalier treatment of the nation’s secrets was on display in the affidavit underlying the warrant for the Mar-a-Lago search. The affidavit, released in redacted form on Friday, described classified documents being found in multiple locations around the Florida residence, a private club where both members and their guests mingle with the former president and his coterie of aides.” Read more at New York Times
Documents at Mar-a-Lago Could Compromise Human Intelligence Sources, Affidavit Says
The search of former President Donald J. Trump’s Florida home was spurred by the discovery that he had kept classified material related to the use of human sources in intelligence gathering.
Protesters outside former President Donald J. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Fla., this month.Credit...Saul Martinez for The New York Times
“WASHINGTON — The Justice Department’s search of former President Donald J. Trump’s Florida home was spurred by the discovery that he had retained a trove of highly classified material that included documents related to the use of ‘clandestine human sources’ in intelligence gathering, according to a redacted version of the affidavit used to obtain the search warrant.
The portions of the affidavit made public on Friday describe the Justice Department’s monthslong push to recover sensitive materials taken from the White House by a former president who viewed state documents as his private property, and now faces a department investigating the possibility he illegally obstructed those efforts.
The partial release of the 38-page affidavit was the latest in a remarkable succession of developments in the inquiry into how hundreds of pages of documents with classified markings ended up at Mr. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence after he left the White House, in apparent violation of the law requiring all presidential materials to be turned over to the National Archives.” Read more at New York Times
Inside the 20-Month Fight to Get Trump to Return Presidential Material
The government tried repeatedly for more than a year and a half to get the former president to give back documents from his time in office. Finally, it resorted to a search of his property.
Former President Donald J. Trump’s storage of government documents at Mar-a-Lago set off a lengthy back and forth between the government and his representatives.Credit...Roger Kisby for The New York Times
“WASHINGTON — The National Archives and the Justice Department tried and failed repeatedly for more than a year and a half to retrieve classified and sensitive documents from former President Donald J. Trump before resorting to a search of his Mar-a-Lago property this month, according to government documents and statements by Mr. Trump’s lawyers.
The documents, including an unsealed, redacted version of an affidavit from the Justice Department requesting a warrant to conduct the search, make clear the lengths to which the government went before pursuing a law enforcement action to recover the material.
Here’s a timeline of the events that led to the search.” Read more at New York Times
NDI = national defense information. Image: Justice Department
“A deceptively fast read: At least half of the affidavit and exhibits that paved the way for the Mar-a-Lago search warrant are blacked out, Axios' Alayna Treene and Erin Doherty report.
Zoom in: The FBI believed that former President Trump's storage room, residential suite, Pine Hall, the "45 Office" and other spaces potentially held national defense information, the affidavit revealed.
The boxes retrieved from Trump earlier this year contained 184 documents with classification markings, including 25 marked ‘Top Secret.’
Between the lines: The affidavit suggests some of the documents contained highly classified government information or information related to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, including from ‘human intelligence’ sources.
‘There is also probable cause to believe that evidence of obstruction will be found,’ per the affidavit.
What we're hearing: There’s been a shift in Trumpworld over the past few days.
Many Trump allies have grown quiet after initially leaning hard into criticizing the search.
A weariness has seeped into private conversations among Trump advisers. As more of these facts are released to the public, there's a growing feeling the search was justified.” Read more at Axios
Fed Chair Jerome Powell talks with Fed Vice Chair Lael Brainard (center) and New York Fed President John Williams in Jackson Hole today. Photo: Ann Saphir/Reuters
“Fed Chair Jerome Powell said economic pain is required to bring down inflation, part of a tough-talking speech in Jackson Hole, Wyo., that signals the Fed is nowhere near relenting on interest rate increases.” Go deeper at Axios
“The Secret Service has retrieved $286 million in stolen COVID relief funds for the Small Business Administration. The agency estimated last year that $100 billion had been stolen.” Read more at Axios
Europe's largest nuclear plant forced temporarily off grid
“A nuclear plant caught in the middle of intense fighting between Ukrainian and Russian troops was temporarily disconnected from the power grid Thursday when fires damaged the sole transmission line, Ukraine officials said. It was the first time the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe's largest, has ever been disconnected. It led to a large blackout across the region and increased concerns about a nuclear catastrophe. The U.N. and international atomic energy officials have been trying for weeks to gain access to the plant, warning that continued fighting in the vicinity could trigger a disastrous accident. Russia took control of the facility and surrounding area in early March. Read more at USA Today
Ukrainian Emergency Ministry rescuers attend an exercise in the city of Zaporizhzhia on August 17, 2022, in case of a possible nuclear incident at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant located near the city.DIMITAR DILKOFF/AFP
Ukraine Weighs a Risky Offensive to Break Out of a Stalemate
Both Russia and Ukraine are preparing for a protracted standoff, but Ukraine has greater incentive to try to avoid it.
A Ukrainian heavy artillery crew after going for a swim in a lake near Chasiv Yar, in the Donbas region in Ukraine on Thursday.Credit...Jim Huylebroek for The New York Times
“KYIV, Ukraine — For months Russian and Ukrainian soldiers have waged a brutal war across a 1,500-mile front line, inflicting casualties, fighting to the point of exhaustion and making slow gains in territory when they were not suffering costly setbacks.
After beginning with the Russian seizure of part of southern Ukraine and a failed strike at the capital, Kyiv, and then pivoting to a bloody artillery battle in the country’s east, the war is entering a third chapter. A battlefield stalemate prevails, with hostilities at a simmer, amid anxious uncertainty over whether — and when — Ukraine will launch a counteroffensive to try to break the deadlock.
The timing for any such attack has emerged as a pivotal decision for Ukraine’s government. Both sides are preparing for a protracted war, but Ukraine has greater incentive to try to avoid it with potentially risky maneuvers as early as this fall — before the rainy season turns the countryside into impassable bogs, or energy shortages and soaring costs undermine European support.” Read more at New York Times
Moderna Sues Pfizer and BioNTech Over Covid Vaccine
The lawsuit, filed Friday, alleges that the companies’ Covid vaccine violated Moderna’s mRNA patents.
“Moderna on Friday sued Pfizer and BioNTech, alleging that their Covid vaccine copied its groundbreaking technology.
Moderna said in a statement that Pfizer and BioNTech infringed on patents filed between 2010 and 2016 that covered its mRNA technology. Moderna, which is based in Cambridge, Mass., sued in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts and the Regional Court of Düsseldorf in Germany, where BioNTech is based.
Messenger RNA, or mRNA, is the genetic script that carries DNA instructions to each cell’s protein-making machinery and has been used in the production of coronavirus vaccines.
‘We are filing these lawsuits to protect the innovative mRNA technology platform that we pioneered, invested billions of dollars in creating, and patented during the decade preceding the COVID-19 pandemic,’ said Stéphane Bancel, Moderna’s chief executive. ‘This foundational platform, which we began building in 2010, along with our patented work on coronaviruses in 2015 and 2016, enabled us to produce a safe and highly effective Covid-19 vaccine in record time after the pandemic struck.’
Moderna, which accepted $2.5 billion in taxpayer money to develop its Covid-19 vaccine, had said in 2020 that it would not to enforce its Covid-related patents while the pandemic continues. But in March, the company said it expected that manufacturers that are not based in or producing in low- or middle-income countries to respect the company’s intellectual property.
Moderna on Friday that it was not seeking damages for activities before March 8 and that it was not seeing to remove Pfizer and BioNTech’s vaccines from the market and that it was not asking for an injunction to prevent its future sale, given the need for access to coronavirus vaccines.” Read more at New York Times
Jose Luis Magana/AP
“Thousands of people — including family members of the students who died in the Uvalde shooting — are expected to gather in Austin, Texas, to demand that Gov. Greg Abbott raise the age for purchasing AR-15-style rifles from 18 to 21. Abbot has argued that mental health is at the core of America's gun violence epidemic. Activists say that's part of the issue, but ignoring the part guns play is ridiculous.” Read more at NPR
Michigan G.O.P. Lining Up Behind Conspiracy Theorist for Attorney General
Matthew DePerno’s political rise has been tied to a debunked election report. Some see parallels between his dive into 2020 conspiracies theories and his legal career.
“Several weeks after the 2020 election, as Donald J. Trump worked to overturn his defeat, he called a Republican lawmaker in Michigan with an urgent request. Mr. Trump had seen a report that made wild claims about rigged voting machines in a rural northern county in the state. He wanted his allies to look into it.
The president told the lawmaker that a Michigan lawyer, Matthew DePerno, had already filed a lawsuit and that it looked promising, according to the lawmaker and two others familiar with the call.
For that lawmaker, the lawyer’s name set off alarms. Mr. DePerno, a trial attorney from Kalamazoo, was well known in the Legislature for representing a former legislator embroiled in a sex scandal. Mr. DePerno had spent years unsuccessfully accusing lawmakers and aides of devising a complex plot to bring down his client, complete with accusations of collusion, stalking, extortion, doctored recordings and secretive phone tapping. Federal judges dismissed the cases, with one calling a conspiracy claim ‘patently absurd.’
Mr. DePerno’s involvement will only undermine your cause, the lawmaker, who along with the others asked for anonymity to discuss the private conversation, told the president. Mr. Trump seemed to dig in: If everyone hates Mr. DePerno, he should be on my team, Mr. Trump responded, according to two of the people.
Bolstered by his association with the former president, Mr. DePerno is poised to be nominated as the G.O.P. candidate for attorney general, the top legal official in the state, at a state party convention on Saturday. He is among a coterie of election deniers running for offices that have significant authority over elections, worrying some election experts, Democrats and some Republicans across the country.
This month, the Michigan attorney general’s office released documents that suggest Mr. DePerno was a key orchestrator of a separate plot to gain improper access to voting machines in three other Michigan counties. The attorney general, Dana Nessel, the Democrat Mr. DePerno is challenging for the office, requested that a special prosecutor be appointed to pursue the investigation into the scheme and weigh criminal charges. Mr. DePerno denies the allegations and called them politically motivated.
Mr. DePerno played a critical role in the report mentioned by Mr. Trump about that rural county, Antrim. The report turned a minor clerical error into a major conspiracy theory, and was later dismissed as ‘idiotic’ by William P. Barr, an attorney general under Mr. Trump, and ‘demonstrably false’ by Republicans in the Michigan Senate.
For some who have watched his career, there are parallels between Mr. DePerno’s dive into election conspiracies and his recent legal record. He has at times used the legal system to advance specious claims and unfounded allegations detailed in a blizzard of lengthy filings, according to an examination of court records in some of his cases and interviews with attorneys and judges.” Read more at New York Times
Back to School in DeSantis’s Florida, as Teachers Look Over Their Shoulders
Gov. Ron DeSantis is battling what he calls ‘indoctrination’ in schools. New laws have left many teachers questioning everything from pride flags to ‘The Great Gatsby.’
A straight ally flag, signally L.G.B.T.Q. support, hangs at a school in St. Johns County, Fla. But a gay pride flag was no longer on full display.Credit...Lawren Simmons for The New York Times
“Erin Brown, a teacher in St. Johns County, Fla., typically keeps a gay pride flag hanging up in her classroom. As the faculty sponsor of a Gay-Straight Alliance club at her high school, she wants her students to know they are safe with her.
But this year, Ms. Brown found herself quietly repurposing the flag.
No longer on full display, it now hangs as a ‘rainbow background,’ partially obscured among posters, photos, a calendar and other trinkets on her class bulletin board.
The change is emblematic of the fear, uncertainty and confusion many educators in Florida say they are feeling this school year, as new laws take effect restricting teaching on gender identity, sexual orientation and race and expanding the oversight of books.
Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has championed the laws, argues that public schools should focus on teaching core academics, not on pushing a liberal ideology, and that r Moms for Liberty, a parent group that has become a powerful force in school politics.
The changes come with significant stakes for school districts, which may be sued over violations to the law focusing on L.G.B.T.Q. identity. Within the first few weeks of school, teachers in some parts of the state have been asked to take down stickers showing support for L.G.B.T.Q. students, to review every book on their classroom shelves and, in at least one case, to remove rainbow colored paper from a classroom door after the decorations prompted a complaint from a parent, according to interviews with teachers, union officials and advocates for gay rights across Florida.
‘It feels treacherous,’ Ms. Brown said of the new legislation. She rearranged her pride flag because, like other educators, she said she was erring on the side of caution this year.
Nationwide this year, state lawmakers have introduced at least 137 bills seeking to restrict teaching on topics such as race, gender, L.G.B.T.Q. issues and American history, up from 54 last year, according to a report by PEN America, a free speech group. The bills, which overwhelmingly focused on K-12 schools and were sponsored almost exclusively by Republican lawmakers, most commonly addressed race. But an increasing number — 23 bills, up from five last year — focused on L.G.B.T.Q. issues, PEN America found.
‘It’s opening a second front on public education,’ said Jeremy C. Young, a lead author on the report, which identified seven bills that became law, including two in Florida. ‘Accusing public education of indoctrinating students on the basis of race, and then making the same accusation that they are indoctrinating them with L.G.B.T.Q. propaganda.’
Nowhere is that more visible than Florida, where Governor DeSantis has made issues surrounding the teaching of gender identity and race central to his platform, and has led the charge for parental oversight in education, amid a re-election campaign and, some political observers theorize, a run for president in 2024.
Such policies have found support in battleground states, according to at least one recent poll, and a majority of candidates that Mr. DeSantis endorsed for school boards in Florida won their elections this week.
His office did not respond to requests for comment.
One of the new Florida laws, the Parental Rights in Education Act, bans instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade and says that instruction in older grades must be age appropriate. The law, nicknamed ‘Don’t Say Gay’ by critics, also requires schools to notify parents about changes in student services, such as if a transgender or nonbinary student wants to use new bathrooms or locker facilities, or seeks to change their name or pronouns at school.
Another law, known as the ‘Stop WOKE Act,’ limits teaching on race and racism, including prohibiting instruction that would compel students to feel responsibility, guilt or anguish for what other members of their race did in the past.
Not all teachers feel wary.
Some believe their job is clear: to teach reading and math, not race and sexuality. Still others say some contested concepts were never part of the curriculum to begin with.” Read more at New York Times
“SpaceX and T-Mobile want to beam cell service to ‘most places in the US,’ including some of the most remote areas of the country that traditionally have not been touched by wireless connectivity. The idea is to use SpaceX's satellite-based internet business to provide an ‘extra layer’ of connectivity to certain cell phones where service is limited. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has billed it as a mission to ‘save lives,’ as it could provide people with connectivity in emergency situations, such as when hiking in remote areas. The companies plan to roll out beta testing by the end of next year. It remains to be seen how effective the partnership will be and how many wireless customers will benefit.” Read more at CNN
Republican opposition to I.R.S. funding is rooted in broader political goals.
Stefani Reynolds for The New York Times
Conspiracy theories
“Senator Ted Cruz has warned that Democrats’ new spending law will create a ‘shadow army of 87,000 I.R.S. agents.’ Kari Lake, the Republican candidate for Arizona governor, tied the increase in agents to the F.B.I. search of Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home and warned, ‘Not a single one of us is safe.’ Across social media, conservatives have embraced falsehoods about armed agents, saying that they will target Republicans in particular.
Why are the I.R.S. provisions in the law — $80 billion in additional funding for the agency over the next decade — getting so much attention?
In part, Republicans recognize that the law’s biggest elements, money for climate and health care, are popular. So they’re seeking other ways to criticize the legislation, including through conspiracy theories about the agency, as The Times has reported.
The opposition is also part of an older ideological debate. Republican lawmakers tend to favor lower taxes, particularly for wealthy Americans. They have achieved that by cutting tax rates. But they have also done it by blocking more funding for the I.R.S. — in an effort to stop the agency from aggressively collecting taxes.
‘Among Republicans, there’s been a lot of hostility toward the I.R.S. for years,’ Alan Rappeport, who coverney it’s owed, the changes are projected to raise about $100 billion in net tax revenue over a decade, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. That money will help pay for the rest of the Democrats’ new law.
In today’s newsletter, I’ll explain what the new funding will do and how it became such a hot topic.
The funding’s goal
Most of us know the I.R.S. from the unpleasant task of filing taxes. The agency processes more than 260 million tax returns and related documents each year, with an annual budget of nearly $14 billion and about 80,000 full-time staff members.
It does much of this work on antiquated systems. A recent Washington Post column depicted a bureaucracy that has not adapted to the computer age and instead has stacks of papers extending into a cafeteria. The agency still uses technology dating back more than a half-century, including devices running a programming language, COBOL, that few coders still know. It typically communicates with taxpayers through snail mail or fax.
Congress has cut the I.R.S.’s budget 20 percent since 2010. That makes it hard for the agency to help Americans file their taxes; it answered fewer than one in 10 calls for help during the 2021 filing season.
The funding shortage also makes it difficult for the agency to collect what the government is owed. The tax gap — the difference between taxes owed and taxes paid — is about 15 percent of all taxes.
The new funding will help address the shortcomings by letting the agency update its systems and hire more people. In total, the I.R.S. plans to recruit 87,000 employees. Many of those new hires will fill jobs left behind by retirees in the coming years, but its work force will expand overall to let it take on more duties in auditing, processing and customer service.
Republicans have cited the planned hires to amplify conspiracy theories about armed I.R.S. agents coming after law-abiding Americans. It’s true that some agents who conduct criminal investigations can be armed, like other law enforcement officials. But only 1 percent of new hires will be in such jobs, which focus on more serious financial crimes, according to the Treasury.
Republicans have also raised concerns that the I.R.S. will use the extra funds to go after conservative groups. The agency did target some right-wing organizations seeking tax-exempt status in the 2010s, but it also used similar tactics against progressive groups.
Against tax cheats
With the additional resources, the I.R.S. does plan to crack down on people and businesses who don’t pay the taxes they owe.
The question is who the agency will focus on. The Biden administration has said it will target rich tax cheats and ordered the agency not to increase audits on people who make less than $400,000 a year or on small businesses. The administration argues that underfunding led the I.R.S. to reduce audits on wealthy taxpayers in particular, so the new money should aim to close that gap.
The agency has good reason to focus on the rich: They account for the largest share of unpaid taxes, as this chart by my colleague Ashley Wu shows:
Total unpaid taxes are around $600 billion. | Source: U.S. Department of Treasury
But enforcement against wealthy people also tends to be more difficult. The cases are more complex, involving much more money and sophisticated financial instruments. Rich people are also much more likely to hire elite lawyers to fight investigations.
The hurdles of investigating the rich could prompt agents to instead focus on easier targets, like low- or middle-income taxpayers, as Republican lawmakers have warned. And the agency could target some small businesses, because they make up a large portion of the tax gap, said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a conservative economist.
Still, Biden administration officials insist the agency will not target low- or middle-income taxpayers or small businesses. They say Republicans are trying to stoke fears about the funding.
Related: The I.R.S. is reviewing security at its offices nationwide because of threats that grew out of the spread of misinformation.” Read more at New York Times
“Activist Chaz Stevens is taking on a Texas law that requires public schools to display signs and posters with the national motto ‘In God We Trust’ in ‘conspicuous places.’ Since there's no requirement for the signs to be in English, he's started a fundraising campaign to send posters to schools around the state with the motto — written in Arabic instead.” Read more at NPR
Buffalo Bills rookie accused of involvement in gang-rape of minor
“Buffalo Bills rookie Matt Araiza is alleged to have been involved in the gang-rape of a minor last year while attending San Diego State University, according to a civil lawsuit filed Thursday in San Diego County Superior Court. The document, which was obtained by USA TODAY Sports, alleges Araiza, then 21, had sex with an inebriated 17-year-old high school senior outside of an off-campus party, before bringing her inside a room where she was allegedly assaulted by multiple men, including at least one player currently listed on the San Diego State football roster. Araiza, known to football fans as the ‘Punt God,’ won the Bills' starting punter job earlier this week.” Read more at USA Today
Matt Araiza unleashed an 82-yard punt in the Bills' preseason game vs. the Colts.Joshua Bessex, Getty Images