A federal judge overseeing former President Donald Trump’s classified documents case unsealed a new trove of documents on Monday, revealing the FBI’s code name for the investigation and how the FBI spoke about performing “loose surveillance” on the former president’s aircraft before an unprecedented raid in 2022.
The name, “Plasmic Echo,” was revealed in unredacted court filings that were made public by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon. A February 2022 case file that was attached was marked with, “[Redacted] PLASMIC ECHO; Mishandling of Classified or National Defense Information.” Notably, the FBI has used unusual names for prior investigations such as Crossfire Hurricane, Varsity Blues, Tin Panda, and Lemon-Aid.
Among the documents the judge released Monday also included an FBI claim from June 2022 in which a counterintelligence official, whose name was not included, talked about carrying out “loose surveillance” on President Trump’s plane to see if “boxes were loaded onto the plane.”
It’s not clear what aircraft was being discussed. The Trump Organization notably owns a Boeing 757 dubbed “Trump Force One,” which he has used for various campaign stops.
The documents that were made public on Monday were part of a motion that the former president’s attorneys had submitted earlier this year to obtain more discovery evidence in the case, brought by special counsel Jack Smith who has accused the former president of illegally retaining classified documents. Previously, Judge Cannon ruled that the documents should be made public but stipulated that the witness names and other details should be redacted.
The judge also unsealed an FBI document that detailed the FBI raid targeting the former president’s Mar-a-Lago residence in South Florida in August 2022 when agents combed through his property to retrieve the documents. The documents describe the individuals who were involved, including details on when the agents arrived at Mar-a-Lago.
“A search warrant, 22-mj-8332-BER, issued in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida on August 5, 2022, was executed at 1100 South Ocean Boulevard, Palm Beach, Florida 33480 at 10:33 a.m. on August 8, 2022,” the unsealed record stated, adding that officials accessed a “45 Office” safe before they took the documents back to a field office in Washington.
“Prior to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) team’s entry onto the MAL premises, FBI leadership informed and coordinated with local United States Secret service (USSS) leadership. Local USSS facilitated entry onto the premises, provided escort and access to various locations within, and posted USSS personnel in locations where the FBI team conducted searches,” the file said.
In the newly unsealed filing, it noted that four agents from the FBI Washington field office, 25 agents from the FBI Miami office, one FBI official from the agency’s headquarters, one Department of Justice (DOJ) counterintelligence and export control lawyer, and one official from the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Southern District of Florida were involved.
More documents released Monday included an alleged witness giving an interview to the FBI. They were identified only as “Person 16” who allegedly worked in the Trump White House.
It said that Trump co-defendant Walt Nauta was allegedly told by President Trump’s “people” that the FBI “investigation was not going anywhere, that it was politically motivated and ‘much ado about nothing.'” He was also told “that even if he gets charged with lying to the FBI, FPOTUS will pardon him in 2024.”
The alleged witness also visited the Mar-a-Lago estate several times after the former president departed the White House in January 2021. The witness told the FBI that he spoke to President Trump in November 2021, saying that he should give “whatever” back to the National Archives.
“Let them come here and get everything. Don’t give them a noble reason to indict you, because they will,” the witness told President Trump, according to that individual’s account released Monday by the judge.
Both Mr. Nauta and the former president have pleaded not guilty in the case. Neither President Trump nor Mr. Nauta have responded via their attorneys to the release of the documents.
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Earlier this month, lawyers for President Trump’s co-defendants asked Judge Cannon again to dismiss the classified documents case. Mr. Nauta and Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira made the request, which has been opposed by the special counsel’s team.Lawyers for the two argued that there is no allegation that either man knew that the boxes contained sensitive government documents.
“The Superseding Indictment does not allege that Mr. De Oliveira ever saw a classified document. It does not allege that Mr. De Oliveira was aware of the presence of any classified documents in the boxes that he moved,” lawyers for Mr. De Oliveira wrote in court filings. There is also no evidence he was aware of the classified documents investigation, it said.
President Trump has also filed multiple motions seeking to dismiss the charges against him. But Judge Cannon denied two last month.
