THE DAILY NEWSLETTER - TUESDAY, AUGUST 9, 2022

Media Winners & Losers

MEDIA WINNER:
Peter Schorsch

Peter Schorsch, the publisher of FloridaPolitics.com, appears to be the first to report that the F.B.I. searched Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence on Monday.

"Scoop — The Federal Bureau of Investigation today executed a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago, two sources confirm to [Florida Politics]," Schorsch tweeted on Monday.

"'They just left,' one source said. Not sure what the search warrant was about," he added. "TBH, I'm not a strong enough reporter to hunt this down, but it's real."

The scoop was certainly real, and was later confirmed by CNN and the New York Times once Trump released a statement on the raid.

"Trump says the raid was unannounced and adds, 'They even broke into my safe,'" tweeted CNN's Kaitlan Collins.

"Trump says MAL has been searched by feds," Maggie Haberman also tweeted, sharing an image of Trump's statement.

So, Schorsch broke one of the nation's biggest political news stories with a simple tweet ... and just the right amount of self-deprecation.

Thanks to Schorsch'simpressive scoop,theTimes, citing two sources close to the raid, later reported Trump’s residence was searched in relation to 15 boxes, some containing classified documents, that he took with him after leaving the White House.

Props to Schorsch, a local reporter in Florida, for beating out the top reporters on the Trump beat and landing himself a massive story that will likely make headlines for quite some time.

MEDIA LOSER:
Mark Levin

Fox News weekend host Mark Levin went apoplectic in response to the FBI raid on Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence on Monday.

Levin phoned in to Hannity on following news of the FBI search on Monday night, declaring that there was "no justification" for the raid while ignoring that the FBI is run by a Republican appointed by Trump.

“This was well orchestrated, so this has been going on for weeks,” Levin told Sean Hannity. “Now, you keep asking your guests, what’s the justification? There is no justification."

Levin went on to claim, "There is no justification for sending 30 friggin’ FBI agents to the former president’s compound in Mar-a-Lago in early morning and conducting themselves this way or in any other cases in which they’ve done exactly the same thing."

The justification? Trump allegedly took 15 boxes, some of which contained classified documents, to his residence after leaving the White House. 

"The FBI is corrupt," Levin declared nonetheless, later deeming the search to be the most egregious attack against the United States in modern times.

“This is the worst attack on this republic in modern history. Period,” he exclaimed.

“And it’s not just an attack on Donald Trump. It’s an attack on everybody who supports him. It’s an attack on anybody who dares to raise serious questions about Washington, D.C., and the establishment in both parties."

Levin's meltdown was just one of several bonkers takes about the raid on Fox News. 

The A-Block

FBI raids Mar-a-Lago

Former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence was raided by the FBI on Monday night.

In a statement made through his Save America PAC, Trump called the search "prosecutorial misconduct" and "an attack by Radical Left Democrats who desperately don’t want me to run for President in 2024."

"Such an assault could only take place in broken, Third-World Countries," he added.

According to the New York Times, the raid focused on 15 boxes, some containing classified information, that Trump allegedly brought to Mar-a-Lago when he left the White House last year.

CNN's Kaitlan Collins later reported that the Biden White House was “blindsided” by the news that the FBI had executed a search warrant on Mar-A-Lago.

"They found out when we all did, when the former president put out that press release," Dana Bash said of the raid.

The FBI's search also prompted Trump supporters to protest outside of Mar-a-Lago while pro-Trump politicians and media figures railed against the raid on air and online.

Mediaite's Dan Abrams reacted to the FBI raid on Good Morning America Tuesday, predicting that there is more to the search than a violation of the Presidential Records Act.


In Other News...

White House Reportedly ‘Blindsided’ by Mar-a-Lago Raid: ‘Found Out When We All Did’

Pro-Life Charlie Sykes Warns Republicans They’re Going too Far on Abortion: ‘Wildly Out of Step with the Mainstream Electorate’

January 6 Committee Reportedly Obtains Alex Jones’ Text Messages Leaked to Sandy Hook Lawyers

Olivia Newton-John Dies at Age 73

RATINGS: In Battle of Guest Hosts, Steele and Brown Tie as Payne Wins the 4 P.M. Demo

Must See Clip

'I don’t know if that was consensual'

Alex Jones sent an “intimate photo” of his wife to Roger Stone, a lawyer for Sandy Hook parents claimed Monday.

“I’m a little concerned about it because that intimate photo was sent to Roger Stone, and I don’t know if that was consensual,” attorney Mark Bankston said in an interview with TYT Network. 

“And if it wasn’t consensual, and Mrs. [Erika] Wulff Jones should know about that,” he continued.

“And there might be something that needs to be done about that. Then again, it could be totally consensual. But when I see that – and I don’t see any indication that it was – I’m concerned something might not be on the up and up with that. There are certainly laws in certain states about that.”

Watch here.

Links We Like

- Peter Kafka, Axios
Oz and the 'not ready for prime time' Republicans  
- Gerard Baker, The Wall Street Journal
The inevitable Politicization of the FBI's Mar-a-Lago raid
- Philip Bump, The Washington Post
Nuzzi investigates what was in Trump's raided safe
- Olivia Nuzzi, New York Magazine
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