Who filed phony document in Trump Mar-a-Lago search case?
An aerial view of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, on Aug. 31. Photo by Steve Helber/The Associated Press.
An inmate with a history of mental illness could be the source of a phony document filed in the federal case involving the search of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach, Florida.
That’s the conclusion of the Associated Press, which reviewed court records and interviewed sources before determining that the document could have been the work of a “serial forger.”
The document was filed Sept. 13 and was still online Sept. 19. It started out this way: “The U.S. Department of the Treasury through the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Marshals Service have arrested Seized Federal Securities containing sensitive documents, which are subject to the Defendant Sealed Search Warrant by the FBI arrest.”
Two fake warrants were attached. One said CNN should “maintain leaked tax records” in its custody. Another said it had been “served without incident” to the office manager of a towing company.
According to the AP, the warrants were identical to paperwork filed by the inmate in another case.
“The case was thrown out, as were the array of other frivolous lawsuits the man has filed from his prison cell,” the story reports.
In one case, the inmate claimed to be a DOJ employee.
The inmate is being held at a prison medical center in Butner, North Carolina, after being found incompetent to stand trial on an accusation of planting a fake explosive at a Detroit building.
The United States filed a motion to strike the phony document in the Mar-a-Lago case Sept. 19. The motion said the United States has confirmed that the pleading was not submitted by the Treasury Department.
According to the AP, the incident “highlights the vulnerability of the U.S. court system and raises questions about the court’s vetting of documents that purport to be official records.”
See also:
ABAJournal.com: “Meet Raymond Dearie, the judge picked to oversee Mar-a-Lago documents review”
ABAJournal.com: “Trump requests special master for review of documents seized by FBI”
ABAJournal.com: “Could Trump be banned from office if he’s convicted of taking government documents?”
ABAJournal.com: “DOJ files motion to unseal warrant, property receipt relating to search of Trump’s home”
ABAJournal.com: “Judge who signed Trump search warrant is targeted; critics seek ‘judgment of God’”
ABAJournal.com: “Trump search-warrant affidavit, released on judge’s orders, cites sensitive documents, possible obstruction”
