NARA (NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION), starting around December 2020 after 45 lost the election, and throughout 2021, requested that 45 start having his staff start turning stuff in to be stored in the archives/warehouses, etc., following their normal processes and procedures for retrieving/cataloguing, and storing items as part of the transition.
And for ONE YEAR, 45's people, including Todd Blanche IIRC,
REFUSED TO COMPLY, only trickling a few boxes at a time to NARA.
It wasn't until
JANUARY 2022 when NARA had had ENOUGH when they finally got a tranche of 15 boxes of stuff.
A month later,
FEBRUARY 2022, NARA made the referral to DOJ after they spotted items marked "classified" in the boxes, which was when it finally got on Garland's radar.
From the warrant (filed
AUGUST 5, 2022) all done BEFORE Jack Smith (PDF) -
https://www.justice.gov/d9/2023-09/08.31.23.%20--%20Mar-a-Lago%20Search%20Warrant%20-%20Interim.pdf
AFFIDAVIT IN SUPPORT OF AN
APPLICATION UNDER RULE 41 FOR A
WARRANT TO SEARCH AND SEIZE
I,(b)(6), (b)(7)(C), (b)(7)(F) per FBI , being first duly sworn, hereby depose and state as follows:
INTRODUCTION AND AGENT BACKGROUND
1. The government is conducting a criminal investigation concerning the improper
removal and storage of classified information in unauthorized spaces, as well as the unlawful
concealment or removal of government records. The investigation began as a result of a referral
the United States National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) sent to the United
States Department of Justice (DOJ) on February 9, 2022, hereinafter, “NARA Referral.” The
NARA Referral stated that on January 18, 2022, in accordance with the Presidential Records Act
(PRA), NARA received from the office of former President DONALD J. TRUMP, hereinafter
“FPOTUS,” via representatives, fifteen (15) boxes of records, hereinafter, the “FIFTEEN
BOXES.” The FIFTEEN BOXES, which had been transported from the FPOTUS property at
1100 S Ocean Blvd, Palm Beach, FL 33480, hereinafter, the “PREMISES,” a residence and club
known as “Mar-a-Lago,” further described in Attachment A, were reported by NARA to contain,
among other things, highly classified documents intermingled with other records.
2. After an initial review of the NARA Referral, the Federal Bureau of Investigation
(FBI) opened a criminal investigation to, among other things, determine how the documents with
classification markings and records were removed from the White House (or any other authorized
location(s) for the storage of classified materials) and came to be stored at the PREMISES;
(snip)
So that is when the FBI got involved.
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