A large tranche of documents were unsealed by Judge Aileen Cannon on Monday, revealing the FBI’s code name for the probe.
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.
