The Federal Bureau of Investigation has been under attack for an image that featured documents taken from Mar-a-Lago and scattered around the floor. Some have called the photo “staged .”
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The photo was part of a DOJ submission late Tuesday. It opposed President Donald Trump’s request for an independent examination of documents seized by the FBI from Trump’s estate earlier in the month.
The photo which contained several documents that had been redacted and some marked “TOP SEECRET” quickly went viral after it was submitted by the DOJ to Federal Judge Aileen. Cannon.
“DOJ wins the daily PR battle, with photo showing classified documents strewn all over Mar-a-Lago floor,” Washington Examiner chief journalist Byron York observed. Trump is accused of mishandling classified documents. Just look at the photos scattered across the floor. Can you believe it?”
York then shared a screenshot of a tweet from verified user Cheri Jacobus who posted the DOJ photo and said, “This is how Trump stored Top Secret material he stole.”
Is this how the documents were discovered? Twitter users are unanimous in their belief. Tweet: Representative tweet: “This is Trump’s Top Secret Material Stolen.” 2/11 pic.twitter.com/PThhyppTow
Trump and his allies quickly attacked the FBI for publishing the photo, leaving some Democrats with the impression that Trump had left the documents spread across the floor.
“FBI photo of documents strewn on floor implies Trump behaved carelessly with government documents,” New York Post columnist Betsy McCaughey tweeted. It was the FBI who placed documents on the floor to take a photo. This kind of dishonest “law enforcement” could make you too. #FBI”
FBI image of documents on the floor suggests that Trump was careless with government documents. The FBI actually placed the documents on floor in staged photo. This kind of “law enforcement” could make you a victim too. You should be aware. #FBI
” I love staged photos ops,” Trump attorney Alina Habba said to Charlie Kirk Wednesday. ” “It’s incredible how they specifically placed it in response,” she said.
But they’re arguing that everything is too sensitive, so we can’t have a special master. They could put exhibit F which was the image of the entire floor with top-secret documents, although it wasn’t top secret. I think it’s typical “we’re trying to back up our story since we don’t own one image” scenario.
Kash Ptel was a former Trump Administration official named in highly redacted Mar-a-Lago warrant affidavit. He also claimed that the FBI had “staged” the photograph of the documents.
“It is first staged. It was not my place. Although I do not know how they discovered them, I am skeptical. And those red and yellow things that you see on the floor cover sheets, those aren’t classified,” Patel told Benny Johnson on Wednesday.
Former TOP Intel Republican EXPOSES FBI after BOMBSHELL photo proves FBI mishandled Trump documents at Mar-a-Lago raid pic.twitter.com/PZxP11s4w6
“I see this raid continuing its backfire, because it’sn’t being run law Enforcement. It’s being ran by government gangsters like Chris Wray (FBI Director) and Merrick Garland (Attorney General).” Patel stated.
He claimed that the FBI raid of Mar-a-Lago was conducted by government officials and is connected to those involved in Russia collusion.
“These guys knew they were close to releasing other documents from Russia that Devin or I couldn’t release. Donald Trump was declassified, so what did they do? Patel stated. They go to Mar Lago, and they say, “Uh!” We don’t have any more information. We have an open investigation.'”
Richard Grenell noted that the documents in the photograph were not classified by Trump. He also made a comparison between Trump’s handling and Hillary Clinton’s.
“These papers were all classified (not available digitally), and they were kept in an office of a former President – protected by the United States Secret Service.” Grenell tweeted. “Hillary wasn’t President. Her documents weren’t declassified. They were available online for hackers .”
All papers were declassified (not digitally accessible) and stored in the former president’s office, which was guarded with the United States Secret Service.
Hillary wasn’t President. Her documents weren’t classified and are all digitally available online for hackers. https://t.co/SXUVm5EbVi
Former Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), who chaired the House Oversight Committee, called the FBI’s photograph “a public relations effort.”
“I got the impression that this was an effort in public relations. Chaffetz stated that this isn’t necessary in court documents to present the case to the judge.” Chaffetz made the remarks during an appearance on Fox News. This was done knowing they would be sent out to the media .”
Former TOP Intel Republican EXPOSES FBI after BOMBSHELL photo proves FBI mishandled Trump documents at Mar-a-Lago raid pic.twitter.com/PZxP11s4w6
” The idea that they laid them on the ground and began taking photos does not inspire confidence in our ability to do justice,” Chaffetz said.
Townhall contributor Chris Stigall claimed that the DOJ created a propaganda photo .”
” The DOJ made a pro-terrorist photo. Why couldn’t Trump’s lawyers be there if the DOJ were going to make photo shoots, and then publish the documents on the internet? If we can see these documents, why couldn’t Trump’s attorneys?” Stigall tweeted.
The DOJ made a pro-terrorist photo. If the DOJ were going to publish photos and documents on the internet, why couldn’t Trump’s attorneys be there? These documents are available for us to see, so why wouldn’t Trump’s lawyers be able to view them?
Others speculated that Trump’s federal investigation was a political plot to get Trump’s name out there in order to help vulnerable Democrats who are facing a difficult battle for the midterm election.
“I still think it’s just a tactic to put Trump back at the center of the news to help Dem election prospects,” tweeted The American Conservative cofounder Scott McConnell.
I still believe it is a tactic for Trump to be back in the centre of news, to aid Dem election prospects. pic.twitter.com/ywzcaCGwHj
Trump also participated in the FBI’s photo shoot of documents taken from Mar-a-Lago. Trump said:
Terrible the way the FBI, during the Raid of Mar-a-Lago, threw documents haphazardly all over the floor (perhaps pretending it was me that did it! They then began taking photos of the documents for public viewing. They wanted their secrets kept secret? Lucky, I was Declassified
He also fought the Democrat narrative, that he scattered the documents across the floor.
“There seems to be confusion as to the ‘picture’ where documents were sloppily thrown on the floor and then released photographically for the world to see, as if that’s what the FBI found when they broke into my home,” Trump said.
“Wrong! Trump said that they took the cartons out and scattered them on the floor, creating the illusion of a large ‘find’. Trump continued, “They dropped them. Not me. It was very deceiving.” They were instructed to stay outside .”
Jordan Dixon-Hamilton is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter.
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