The lack of transparency from the FBI about their Monday night raid of Mar-a-Lago and the Trump team not releasing the search warrant has left a lot of room for incendiary and impotent hot takes. And it left one MSNBC national security analyst, Clint Watts, room to suggest that the secrecy surrounding the raid was on par with the secrecy of the Navy SEAL raid that killed Osama bin Laden. The network also lamented that this was a distraction from Biden’s “big legislative wins” this week.
Shortly before lunchtime, host Aaron Gilchrist noted that “we heard from local officials that they didn’t have any prior knowledge about a search happening at Mar-a-Lago.” He looked to Watts and wondered “How closely held would this have been? Exceptionally so, or sort of in a standard way?”
According to Watts, “I would say second only to the bin Laden raid if I had to guess.” He went on to suggest that the raid was something the FBI would have “rehearsed” and prepared contingencies for:
I mean, they probably didn’t let anyone really in on it except for a very small circle. I imagine they prepared it well out in advance in terms of how to control the scene, how to control the scenario, and they probably even rehearsed reactions to things that might unfold like media being alerted, other people showing up.
And oftentimes, you know, search warrants, they can go wrong, meaning people don’t understand what the situation is. And we’ve seen a very confrontational president before. So, I would imagine they went in quite prepared.
“So, in terms of who knew and how many, I would say a very select group of people knew and they kept it probably tighter than just about anything in the history of the Department of Justice,” he added.
MSNBC would have us believe that the FBI phoning the Secret Service in advance, driving up in some SUVs, and walking out with some boxes is on par with flying Blackhawks under the cover of darkness into unfriendly airspace, engaging in a firefight, and getting out before reinforcements or another military force arrives?
Some 10 minutes later, Gilchrist led White House correspondent Monica Alba in lamenting how this was supposed to be “a week for big legislative wins for President Biden and a chance to put those front and center.”
“This has to be frustrating for the White House looking ahead to the midterms having to now deal with the former President again in the news cycle,” he added.
Sounding more like she’s auditioning to take floundering White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre’s job, Alba boasted: “this is a White House that has always said we can talk and chew gum at the same time.”
“Well, it’s nothing new to this White House, officials tell me. They’re used to this. They know there have been, in their words, sometimes distractions, other things that take over the news cycle. And they continue, they say, to press ahead and focus on the work of this administration and its agenda,” she reassured MSNBC’s liberal viewer base.
These hot take from MSNBC were made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from Prevagen and Verizon. Their contact information is linked.
The transcript is below, click “expand” to read:
MSNBC Reports
August 9, 2022
11:20:52 a.m. Eastern(…)
AARON GILCHRIST: You know, Clint, we heard from local officials that they didn’t have any prior knowledge about a search happening at Mar-a-Lago. The FBI, we know, alerted the Secret Service a few just hours before that search was executed. How closely held would this have been? Exceptionally so, or sort of in a standard way?
CLINT WATTS: I would say second only to the bin Laden raid if I had to guess. I mean, they probably didn’t let anyone really in on it except for a very small circle. I imagine they prepared it well out in advance in terms of how to control the scene, how to control the scenario, and they probably even rehearsed reactions to things that might unfold like media being alerted, other people showing up.
And oftentimes, you know, search warrants, they can go wrong, meaning people don’t understand what the situation is. And we’ve seen a very confrontational president before. So, I would imagine they went in quite prepared.
Separately, in terms of the way they conduct this, you always keep it to the bare minimum number of people that need to know about a search warrant because you wouldn’t want anyone inside or with access to the evidence to potentially destroy it or try to hide it or move it to another location. This is essential to all investigations.
So, in terms of who knew and how many, I would say a very select group of people knew and they kept it probably tighter than just about anything in the history of the Department of Justice.
(…)
11:30:38 a.m. Eastern
GILCHRIST: And this was supposed to be a week for that, Monica, a week for big legislative wins for President Biden and a chance to put those front and center. This has to be frustrating for the White House looking ahead to the midterms having to now deal with the former President again in the news cycle.
MONICA ALBA: Well, it’s nothing new to this White House, officials tell me. They’re used to this. They know there have been, in their words, sometimes distractions, other things that take over the news cycle. And they continue, they say, to press ahead and focus on the work of this administration and its agenda. And they’re going to continue to tout what we’re going to see here tomorrow, for instance, which is the President signing this legislation that will benefit veterans exposed to burn pits.
He’s going to do that in the Rose Garden similarly to what we saw today with this major $280 billion investment in chips and semiconductor manufacturing.
So, this is a White House that has always said we can talk and chew gum at the same time. We don’t want to be necessarily distracted by what’s going on outside of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. But the political reality is clear, that it does overshadow, given, of course, many questions about what could happen in 2024 if former President Trump does decide to run given this huge news yesterday down in Florida, Aaron.
(…)