Fishing expedition it is.

On August 8th, 2022, the FBI raided former president Trump's residence at Mar-a-Lago.  Coming three months before the mid-term elections, the timing seemed off.  Trump is clearly a potential political opponent of Biden in terms of the 2024 election.  Any such raid almost inescapably could not avoid looking like a political job.

The FBI position was not enhanced when there were miscommunications and cross-communications.  Did the White House know in advance (White House said no, then yes, then no)?  Was the unprecedented raid based on black-letter law and due to a clear crime?  It quickly emerged that this was to do with the murky area of regulations covering records retention.  The underlying crime was never explicated.

There was plenty to be suspicious about.  Plenty of leaks from the FBI.  Plenty of spin from the Department of Justice.  Plenty of denials from the White House.  Plenty of miscommunication.  The FBI shared pictures that were intimated to be indicative of careless document retention and storage but which quickly transpired to be staged photos by the FBI.   

If one were a Trump supporter, this was clearly a fishing expedition with no strong basis in law against a formidable political opponent.  If one were a Democrat, then this incident was merely one more step in the long effort to bring Trump to justice.  

For perhaps two or three weeks the accusations went back and forth.  And then, like most opaque stories with few clear facts, it disappeared from the headlines.  

So what was the outcome of the Mar-a-Lago raid?  Was there a real crime?  Are there indictments to be handed down?  Why was it launched just before midterms?

I do not have a subscription to the Washington Post where they appear to have released the findings of the investigation.  Those findings do not seem to be supportive that this was a stand-up neutral and real investigation.  From Investigators see ego, not money, as Trump’s motive on classified papers by Devlin Barrett and Josh Dawsey.  The subheading is A review by agents and prosecutors found no discernible business interest in the Mar-a-Lago documents, people familiar with the matter said.

As usual for the mainstream media, the entire article uses the rhetorical technique of negative adverbs and adjectives wherever possible.  Trump does not simply desire something, he has "pugilistic desires."

The article concedes immediately that the investigation is on-going and that no charges are likely to be made until the conclusion of the special master investigation.  But motive for an alleged crime is usually pretty critical to an allegation and the Department of Justice has so far found no motive.

Federal agents and prosecutors have come to believe former president Donald Trump’s motive for allegedly taking and keeping classified documents was largely his ego and a desire to hold on to the materials as trophies or mementos, according to people familiar with the matter.

As part of the investigation, federal authorities reviewed the classified documents that were recovered from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home and private club, looking to see if the types of information contained in them pointed to any kind of pattern or similarities, according to these people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation.

That review has not found any apparent business advantage to the types of classified information in Trump’s possession, these people said. FBI interviews with witnesses so far, they said, also do not point to any nefarious effort by Trump to leverage, sell or use the government secrets. Instead, the former president seemed motivated by a more basic desire not to give up what he believed was his property, these people said.

[snip]

The people familiar with the matter cautioned that the investigation is ongoing, that no final determinations have been made, and that it is possible additional information could emerge that changes investigators’ understanding of Trump’s motivations. But they said the evidence collected over a period of months indicates the primary explanation for potentially criminal conduct was Trump’s ego and intransigence.

There is no known crime which has been committed and there is no apparent motivation for a possible crime.  

This would seem to be as bad a black eye for the Department of Justice and the FBI as was originally claimed.  Sometimes the passage of time makes the obscure more clear.  Sometimes it makes what seemed like a fishing expedition against a political opponent seem . . . more like a fishing expedition.