Witness in Trump's classified documents case asked FBI not to record interview

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: UK Independent

55 minutes ago


A witness who spoke to federal investigators about Donald Trump was so afraid of repercussions for cooperating with the FBI that he asked agents not to record his voluntary interview. The FBI officials were speaking to the witness — whose name is redacted in documents — as part of their probe into how documents with classification markings ended up at the former president’s Palm Beach, Florida home long after the end of his term in office.

According to a copy of an FD-302 — an FBI form memorialising the contents of a witness interview — the witness, a former Trump White House official, spoke to investigators on 2 November 2022. The investigators, including Department of Justice attorneys Jay Bratt and Julie Edelstein, advised the witness — referred to as “Person 16” in the heavily redacted document — that it is unlawful to lie to federal investigators.

The FD-302 form states that after he acknowledged the warning, the witness “refused recording of the interview” even though he was told such behaviour would be “anomalous” because other witnesses had consented to being recorded. Despite that caution from the government, the witness told investigators he “accepted ‘that risk’” because having his interview with FBI agents recorded would be “a far bigger risk to him in the Trump world”.

The FBI form documenting the interview of “Person 16” is one of several internal government documents related to the case that have been turned over to Mr Trump’s defence team as part of the pre-trial discovery process. Although it would ordinarily be shielded from public view by a protective order barring Mr Trump’s team or the prosecution from disseminating it to unauthorised parties, the heavily redacted version of the document has been made public as an attachment to a court filing submitted late Monday.

Read more: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-classified-documents-witness-fbi-b2532877.html

[bluestarone]

1. I just hope ths doesn't give Cannon an excuse

To NOT allow it? (hope not)

[riversedge]

2. ..According to the FBI form, the witness known as "Person 16" is someone who had "free access" to Mr Trump and the Oval

Well, the FBI form did give us some information about Person 16.


...............According to the FBI form, the witness known as “Person 16” is someone who had “free access” to Mr Trump and the Oval Office on a “daily” basis during Mr Trump’s presidency. It states that he regularly observed Mr Trump or an aide carry documents back from the West Wing to the White House residence, including classified documents.

While some former Trump aides have posited that the ex-president issued an order declassifying any document which he removed from the White House, the witness told investigators there was “no standing declassification order” and said such an idea appeared to have originated during the FBI probe into Mr Trump’s alleged unauthorised possession of national defence information in 2022.

He also told investigators that another former Trump White House aide known as “Person 24” in the redacted document was “pushing the ‘declassified everything’ line of thinking”.

Based on the description of “Person 24” — a former White House aide who “bragged a lot about ... access” while working for an unnamed US Congressman, The Independent understands “Person 24” to be former Trump aide Kash Patel.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

9. I'm guessing Person 16 might be Meadows. . . . nt

[Irish_Dem]

3. Who had free access to the Trump Oval Office on a daily basis?

- "the witness known as “Person 16” is someone who had “free access” to Mr Trump and the Oval Office on a “daily” basis during Mr Trump’s presidency."

And what are "the risks in the Trump world" for speaking out?

[BWdem4life]

4. It's Mike Pence.

I kill myself sometimes.

[Irish_Dem]

6. Funny yes.

Trump probably never talked to Pence much at all.
Except when he threatened to have him hanged.

[Captain Zero]

11. JARED

He had daily access when he wasn't in the middle east, soliciting bribes from and extorting the Saudis and others.

[JoseBalow]

5. Easier to deny if it's your word against the Deep-State

If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to record it, did it even happen?

[Irish_Dem]

7. That is what I thought.

Clever way to trick the federal officials.

[Hekate]

8. Effing murderous mob boss...

[republianmushroom]

10. 39 months and counting (includes foot dragging)