The President's Daily Brief - August 15th, 2022. Update: Was it Legal for the FBI to Raid President Trump?

Episode Date: August 15, 2022

It’s August 15th. You’re listening to the President’s Daily Brief. Your morning intel starts now. ------ First, The FBI raid of the home of former President Donald Trump last week has been all over the news. But missing in the coverage is a very important Supreme Court case that suggests there is something very rotten about this raid, even unconstitutional. That’s coming up. As always, I’m keeping an eye out for developing stories. Put these two on your radar. First, some very good news in the Wheat Wars. A big shipment of wheat set sail this morning from Ukraine to an African country that’s on the verge of starvation. I’ve got the latest. Second, the State of Arizona is finishing part of the wall on our southern border a wall that the Biden Administration refused to complete. It’s a pretty bold move, and I’ll explain why. And finally, one last thing before I let you go. A question this morning from Rebecca in Danville, Virginia. She wrote asking if I’m a Republican or Democrat, and whether that affects how I put together the PDB every day. Good question. ------ Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of the President's Daily Brief. Email: [e-mail] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's August 15th. You're listening to the President's Daily Brief. I'm your host and former CIA Officer Brian Dean Wright. Your morning intel starts now. First up, the FBI raid of the home of former President Donald Trump last week has been all over the news, but missing in the coverage is a very important Supreme Court case that suggests that there is something very rotten about this raid, even unconstitutional. That is coming up. As always, I'm keeping an eye out for developing stories. put these two on your radar. First, some very good news in the wheat wars. A big shipment of wheat set sail this morning from Ukraine to an African country that's on the verge of starvation. I've got the latest. Second, the state of Arizona is finishing up a part of the wall on the

southern border, a wall that the Biden administration has refused to complete. That's a pretty bold move. I'll explain why. And finally, one last thing before I let you go. A question this morning from Rebecca in Danville, Virginia. She wrote in asking if I am a Republican or a Democrat, and whether that affects how I put together the PDB. And that is a great question. But first, let's get started with today's main brief. It has been just under a week since the FBI raided the Florida home of former President Donald Trump. Now, at first, it was believed that this raid had been basically a result of a long-running dispute between Trump and the Biden administration. Now, Trump has long said that he could take

certain things like, you know, personal notes and memorabilia. While the government under Biden has disagreed. They had said that it belonged all to the National Archives. Now, that's a fairly normal fight. There are often arguments between a former president and his successor's government about who gets to keep what. There are laws involved, in fact. But we now know that the fight was about something far more serious than notes and knickknacks. Joe Biden's team is accusing Donald Trump of taking deeply classified information that could risk the nation's security. Now, specifically, the Attorney General Merrick Garland said last week that he personally signed off on a search warrant for classified documents that were sitting at Mara Lago. Now, some of these documents were at

the confidential level and others all the way up to top secret. And some were involving information related to America's nuclear program. But what's curious is that Trump's legal team had actually been talking to Merrick Garland's Department of Justice for some time. In fact, Trump's people signed off on a statement just last June saying that there were no classified materials at Trump's home. So why the search warrant? Why the raid? Well, here's what allegedly happened. During the summer, an FBI official came for a visit to Moralago to discuss this issue of classified information. Now, he met with Trump's lawyers and even had a quick chat with Trump himself. And the lawyers showed the FBI agent a room where a bunch of materials were located. Well,

that FBI official grew concerned that the material was, in fact, still classified and not in a secured area. So he told Trump and his people to put a lock on the door, and they did. Plus, he went back to D.C. He reported his findings and concerns, and then the FBI drafted up a search warrant to seize those materials. Now, we know much of this because the search warrant was actually made public with some of the details that I just mentioned. Plus, the Attorney General made this statement. Faithful adherence to the rule of law is the bedrock principle of the Justice Department and of our democracy. Upholding the rule of law means applying the law evenly, without fear or favor, and that is precisely what the Department of Justice is doing here. But is that true? Because at the heart

of this matter is not what Merrick Garland or the Department of Justice thinks. In fact, the heart of the matter is what the Constitution says about this issue. Specifically, who controls government information and the declassification of that information? Now, the attorney-jurray. general suspiciously didn't mention a lot about that. In other words, what the Constitution says and who controls what, but someone else did say something quite interesting. Democrat Representative Adam Schiff, a Californian who heads up the Intelligence Oversight Committee, he said something very important, and I'd like for you to listen very carefully, because what he's saying here, his argument, is the exact same as the Biden administration and his Department of Justice.

So, listen to this. quote, we should determine whether there was any effort during the Trump presidency to go through the process of declassification. I've seen no evidence of that, nor have they presented any evidence of that at all. In other words, Schiff and his fellow Democrats, including Joe Biden's Attorney General, are justifying their raid because Trump, in their minds, did not go through a proper declassification process of all these various documents at Mar-a-Lago. That's what this whole thing, this raid is predicated on. Now, by the way, Representative Adam Schiff went on to direct the intelligence community to do a damage assessment of what was found at Trump's home, plus the extent to which it jeopardizes any intelligence sources or methods. So those are most of the facts this morning that have happened between the last time we discussed this issue and today. But what are we to make of all of it?

Well, if I were briefing you in the White House this morning, I'd make it. it pretty simple. Something very rotten is going on here, and I'm going to explain why. In 1988, there was a Supreme Court case called the Department of Navy v. Egan. Now, it was about a Navy employee who had been denied a security clearance, but the important part is that the Supreme Court confirmed who has the authority to declassify information related to national security and whether there is a process for it. So here's the most critical quote from that Supreme court case. The president, after all, is the commander-in-chief of the army and the Navy of the United States, all according to Article 2 of the Constitution. His authority to classify and control

access to information bearing on national security flows primarily from this constitutional investment of power in the president and exists quite apart from any explicit congressional grant. Now, what that means and has meant since 1988 is that there is no declassification process for the president. A president, in other words, does not have to file paperwork. He just has to utter the magic words declassified and it's done. In other words, on the very last day of Donald Trump's presidency, he could have waved his hand over his U-Haul trailer and said, I declassify everything in this truck, and it's over. There would have been no classified material inside that trailer at that point. Now, even if that's constitutional, do you think that's a smart

idea. Now, some might say yes and good reason for it. Others might say, no, that is absolutely bonkers no matter who is president. For those of you who are concerned, there is an office who generally oversees the protocol for folks who want something declassified. It's called the Information Security Oversight Office. And some presidents do use this office when they want to take something from classified to unclassified. But I want to emphasize that is not a constitutional requirement. And if anyone tells you otherwise, they are liars, they are dumb, or they are both. Now, there's a little bit of an asterisk here, some legal wiggling. A few legal scholars are saying, all right, yeah, yeah, the 1988 Supreme Court case did say all of that. But what it really was

trying to say is that the president has utmost deference, but not absolute deference when it comes to declassification. In other words, that's just a fancy way of saying, the president can wave a magic wand and declassified, well, almost everything, except for the stuff that Congress says can't be declassified unless it goes through a process. So that's what the wiggling is all about. You see, there is an allegation that while Trump could declassify most everything in his home, other stuff he couldn't, for instance, like nuclear secrets, which were allegedly in Trump's Florida home. And if that's true, their argument goes, no president can declassify that sort of information on their own. It has to go through a process. And if he violated that

process, it is a violation of the Atomic Energy Acts of 1946 and 1954. But I want to pause for a second and again point something out. Joe Biden's Department of Justice knew that they were on very questionable legal grounds when they got this search warrant. The 1988 Supreme Court case has long been acknowledged as giving the president absolute declassification authority, likely to include nuclear secrets. But Biden's team moved ahead anyway. They raided the home of a former president, knowing it could very well be unconstitutional. And the raid wasn't targeting just any former president. It's a former president that may well run again for the presidency, throwing Joe Biden out of office. In other words, there is a major conflict of interest in this raid. And that's where

this gets really dirty. Because in that search warrant, it allowed the FBI to take documents that were not just focused on nuclear issues or even classified information. It allowed FBI agents to take Trump's regular papers, too, including correspondence between Trump and his attorneys. That is normally way off limits. That is privileged information. So put these four pieces altogether. First, Article 2 of the Constitution and ultimate deference to the president on national security matters. Second, the 1988 Supreme Court case confirming a president's authority to declassify secrets. Third, Joe Biden's team knowing that they were on very thin legal ice, challenging precedent. And fourth, a search warrant for not just classified nuclear documents, but rather anything,

to include sensitive legal documents between Trump and his lawyers. Well, you can put all of that together and you tell me what that sounds like. most especially i want you to be thinking about the last brief that i gave you all on this issue where i laid out the long dangerous history of fbi agents targeting political opponents to include trump himself well when i put that all together folks i think one thing and one thing only this was a political hit job this was a fishing expedition designed by biden and his team at the department of justice with an eye on future elections the goal was to either impede embarrassed Trump, suggesting he is weak on national security, or maybe find a crime buried somewhere

in his sock drawer. Now, that could help Biden and Democrats just this fall, or in the presidential election in 2024. Now, as you wrestle with what to think about all this, I want to remind you of one other thing. And that's that Joe Biden and his administration are not above doing something unconstitutional if it helps them politically. So here's that reminder. About a year ago, we were in the thick of debates about COVID. Joe Biden announced that the CDC was going to issue a moratorium on evictions. In other words, if you couldn't pay your rent because of a COVID hardship, you could not be tossed out onto the street.

Now, maybe that's a great idea, but it's one that Congress should have debated and voted on. But instead, Biden just mandated it via executive authority. And so landlords sued and the Supreme Court stepped in. They said it was unconstitutional. But no matter. two months later on August 3rd of last year, Joe Biden and his team cooked up another version of that first eviction notice, slightly different, and then they issued a new rule. But, and listen to this, Biden admitted that even the new rule was unconstitutional, and he didn't care. He was going to issue it anyway. So I want you to listen to what he said.

Quote, the bulk of the constitutional scholarship says that my new eviction rule is not likely to pass constitutional muster, but, it's worth the effort, end quote. Now, he went on to say that by the time that the Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional again, people would get a few more months without making rent payments. I don't care what your politics are. That is outrageous. But it's also a window into how Joe Biden and his administration operate. They are willing to do unconstitutional stuff that they know is unconstitutional so long as it helps them politically. They just don't care. That is the very definition of lawlessness. One final thing here for you to consider.

Two weeks ago, Joe Biden met with historians at the White House to discuss the health of our Democratic Republic. These historians painted this current moment as amongst the most perilous in modern history. They made a comparison to the years before the 1860 election, when Abraham Lincoln warned that a house divided against itself cannot stand. Well, this morning, I think it's reasonable to agree with them. I think that we are facing the greatest crisis to our country's health since just before the Civil War. And maybe reasonable people will disagree with what I'm about to say,

but perhaps those historians didn't realize that the gravest threat to America, the greatest threat to our Constitution, was sitting right in front of them, right there in the Oval Office. Coming up, ladies and gentlemen, a closer look at what's on my radar. Two quick briefs for you. One on some very good news related to the Uval Office. Wheat Wars, and I think we could all use some good news this morning. And the other quick brief on our southern border.

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First, let's talk good news. A big tanker set sail yesterday out of Ukraine, leaving that country with 23,000 tons of wheat. Its destination, Ethiopia. Now, that country has been absolutely wrecked, first by a war of its own, a civil war, in fact, between the tribes, and also by a devastating drought.

It has left thousands of people homeless, hungry and destitute. The World Food Program and others, to include our country, have donated food and feed supplies for people and animals alike. But even still, there was profound concern that without more aid and soon, many people would starve. Well, enter the ship named

Brave Commander. It is on the March this morning, full of wheat, headed to the good people of Ethiopia. And it should get through inspections tomorrow or Wednesday and then Ethiopia within, I would say, about a week. Fingers crossed on this one, I will keep you posted. Finally, the governor of Arizona is done waiting for the Biden administration to finish parts of the southern border wall in his state. On Friday, Governor Doug Ducey issued an executive order to fill the remaining gaps of the border wall in his state. So here's what he directed. Arizona will spend $6 million to buy big metal shipping containers. They're then stacking them, one on top of the other. They're welding them all together along with some bar wire on top for a good measure. And then they're filling

those into the gaps. Now, gaps, of course, that were supposed to be filled with metal panels that the Trump administration built and installed, but Joe Biden has since abandoned. Now, the first of Governor Ducey's projects is a thousand foot gap near the town of Yuma, Arizona. In the coming weeks, they will fill in three more gaps for a grand total of 3,000 feet. Said the governor on Friday, Arizona has had enough. We can't wait any longer. The Biden administration's lack of urgency on border security is a dereliction of duty. Now, to that point, the governor did not get Joe Biden.

Biden's permission to do this. The federal government did not chop off, even though the containers are actually on federal land. Instead, he just did it. I'll let you decide if that was the right call. And with that, one more thing before I'd let you go, Rebecca in Danville, Virginia asked if I am a Republican or a Democrat, and whether that affects how I put together at the PDB. Awesome question. We'll be right back. Who cares about your poops? Ali does. That's why Ali's science-backed gut health lineup

helps support your family's regularity. From daily probiotics to fibergummies, your kiddos will love. Find it all on ali.com. That's all-l-l-y.com. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. All right, welcome back to the PDB, ladies and gentlemen. I've got one more thing before I'd let you go.

Rebecca and Danville, Virginia, wrote in asking if I am a Republican or a Democrat and whether that affects how I put together the PDB each and every day. Well, this is a great question, Rebecca, and I really appreciate you writing in. And I'm going to give you the answer, but first, let me tell you not just who I am politically, but why I am the way I am politically. And for that, we have to go back in time. On September 19th of 1796, President George Washington, released his farewell speech to the nation.

And that in and of itself that he was resigning, well, that was actually pretty remarkable. You see, there was no constitutional requirement at the time that he stepped down after two terms. In fact, he could have run again and again and again until he died in office. But that's exactly what he feared. He feared it would set a bad precedent for his young country.

And so with his second term ending and he was in poor health, he stepped aside. And he warned his nation. In that farewell speech, he could see what was coming. People even back then were breaking into factions, political parties, and he felt like it would ruin the nation. And so he made the case that when Americans vote according to party loyalty rather than the common interest of the nation, it would foster what he called a spirit of revenge and enable the rise

of, quote, cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men who would usurp for themselves the reins of government. Those are pretty powerful words. He was a man who knew that a country governed by party wouldn't be governed for long. 160 years later, there was another man on his way to the White House, John F. Kennedy. He gave a speech where he said something that has always stuck with me, pretty similar to the words of President Washington, actually. So here is what Jack Kennedy said. Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democrat answer, but the right.

So if you put those two things together, Rebecca, first a warning by our founding president about party politics, and then a reminder of the same thing by another president 160 years later, well, that is what makes me tick politically. That is the foundation for how I view the country and our problems. Now, it's true that I came from a conservative family of mostly old school Democrats and some Republicans, and it's also true that for a time I was a Democrat and I left the party and later became a Republican. But my family and I ultimately embraced the wisdom of Washington and Kennedy on how we ought to govern the nation.

Country first, party second. Now, it's true that a lot of people say this, of course, but very few mean it. But I do. It's what guides me throughout my life, and it's, in fact, what guided me at the CIA. We came up with operations that protected the country, not to protect Democrats or protect Republicans to protect fellow Americans. So when I put together the PDB, most especially my counsel to you all, it is all centered on America first, not party. So bottom line, I embrace the Constitution. I salute the flag. And I thank God that I was born in the greatest country that has ever graced this planet. Now, it's true, we are facing dark times. But with some hard work and with God's hand, we will absolutely be around for a very long time to come.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, concludes your morning brief. As always, we close out the show reminding each other of why we are here, talking about our country and our world. It's the creed of every good spy and every smart American. It's from John chapter 8, verse 32. And you shall know the truth. And the truth shall make you free. Good day. Pay off your home, travel for life, drive a Ferrari.

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