Weekend Listen: The Secret History of the Mar-a-Lago Document Seizure

Matt Topic (0:00)

Is anyone gonna abide at any point here? Sorry, that's the extent of my Big Lebowski references.

Jason Leopold (0:06)

Well, I'll tell you who's not the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Tear it up.

I'm investigative journalist Jason Leopold. I spend most of my days getting documents from the government.

Matt Topic (0:19)

I'm attorney Matt Topic, and I fight them in court to open their files when they don't want to.

Jason Leopold (0:23)

From Bloomberg and No Smiling, this is Disclosure, a podcast about prying loose government secrets, the Freedom of Information Act, and the unexpected places that takes us. Matt, we are so back for season two.

Matt Topic (0:40)

Are you excited?

Jason Leopold (0:41)

I'm super excited. I mean-

Matt Topic (0:43)

Are you super pumped?

Jason Leopold (0:44)

I'm pumped.

Matt Topic (0:45)

Nice.

Jason Leopold (0:46)

Since we ended last season, I want you to guess what I've been doing.

Matt Topic (0:52)

Have you been making FOIA requests?

Jason Leopold (0:54)

Matt, I have been filing multiple FOIA requests per day. Just listen to some Slayer and I'm ready to go.

Matt Topic (1:01)

All right.

Jason Leopold (1:02)

Last night, I watched The Big Lebowski. Have you ever seen that movie?

Matt Topic (1:07)

Well, interesting you ask that. The answer is once. The answer is I can never watch it again.

And the reason is I find milk to be utterly disgusting. The mere thought of drinking it makes me sick. Watching other people drink it, forget it. So when he drinks those god-awful White Russians, and the cream gets all stuck in his beard and mustache, I throw up in my mouth a little bit. So I can't watch Big Lebowski anymore. I'm sorry.

Jason Leopold (1:34)

Well, speaking of throwing up in your mouth, that's why Big Lebowski actually reminds me of what we're going to be talking about. Let's get into it.

Matt Topic (1:44)

Let's do it.

Jason Leopold (1:44)

Matt, you remember Donald Trump's old pal, Jack Smith?

Matt Topic (1:50)

Yeah. You mean deranged Jack Smith, as Trump calls him? You mean deranged Jack.

Jason Leopold (1:54)

He's a deranged individual. That is the Jack Smith I am referring to.

Matt Topic (1:59)

For anyone who's not been listening to the news or paying attention, Jack Smith is the special counsel appointed in November of 2022 to take over the two ongoing criminal investigations into Donald Trump. One of those investigations was, of course, Trump's alleged mishandling of classified presidential documents that resulted in the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago.

Jason Leopold (2:23)

And you know, I have been filing FOIA requests endlessly for a wide range of documents that relate to that investigation. I think several of which we've sued over and we've been waging this, this FOIA battle over the past four years since the news first surfaced about Trump taking these documents to Mar-a-Lago. By any chance, did you catch the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing where Jack Smith testified at recently?

Matt Topic (2:52)

I didn't watch it. I've seen some of the reporting.

Jason Leopold (2:55)

It really was a spectacle. I mean, a four-hour spectacle.

One senator called Jack Smith a dirtbag. Another said...

Mandy Hull (3:03)

You make me want to throw up in my mouth.

Jason Leopold (3:06)

It was kind of unhinged.

Matt Topic (3:08)

Yeah.

Jason Leopold (3:08)

Republicans brought in Jack Smith for a real specific purpose, right? They wanted to essentially catch Jack Smith in a lie so they could then make a referral to the Justice Department that Jack Smith perjured himself.

Matt Topic (3:26)

Can you tell me more about that?

Jason Leopold (3:28)

Senator Eric Schmidt tried to catch Jack Smith in a lie and the lie hinged on a basketball game.

Matt Topic (3:36)

On a basketball game?

Jason Leopold (3:37)

On a basketball game, seriously, but his plan totally backfired.

Matt Topic (3:40)

Oh, do tell.

Mandy Hull (3:41)

What would you say if I had a series of text messages from your team that said you were in Atlanta at a Warrior Hawks game on February 3rd, 2024, the day after Willis and Wade announced their affair?

Jason Leopold (3:52)

Schmidt was trying to accuse Smith of secretly being in Atlanta the day after a Georgia district attorney, the one who brought the Georgia election interference case against Trump, announced that she was having an affair with the special prosecutor she hired to lead the case. Schmidt claimed he had a text exchange from his team that he was going to play Smith at an Atlanta Hawks game.

Matt Topic (4:19)

Sounds like you blew the whole thing open.

Jason Leopold (4:21)

It certainly seemed that way, right? Jack Smith, we caught you.