The plot is thickening on the Department of Justice search of former President Donald Trump's Florida home and subsequent seizure of top-secret documents. But the storyline peddled by the Trump camp is dramatically different than that presented by Trump critics and the criminal justice community. The ending is still to be written.
Here's what we know - and what we don't know:
Trump had top-secret documents at his home.
The documents made public Friday showed that FBI agents removed 20 boxes, including 11 sets of classified documents from the Mar-a-Lago estate: four sets of top-secret documents, three sets of secret documents and three sets of confidential documents.
The intelligence community takes classification very seriously, even when individuals have been cleared to read it. For example, if members of Congress want to read certain bills related to Intelligence funding, they must take a special elevator to a sensitive compartmented information facility (SCIF) to read them, and they cannot take cell phones with them. They cannot discuss the classified information during floor debate on those very bills.
The unauthorized possession of classified documents alone is a serious offense. Under a law signed by Trump himself in 2018, removing and retaining classified documents without authorization is a felony punishable by up to five years in prison.
Trump defenders have suggested it's not significant, since presidents have broad authority to declassify materials. However, there is a process involved, and the authority does not continue once the president is out of office.
We don't know why Trump had these documents. Did he want to keep them from being reviewed? Was he planning to use them for his own purposes? Nothing in the records released Friday provides a clue.
The Espionage Act and obstruction of justice were cited as potential underlying crimes to justify the search warrant.
This was perhaps the most shocking part of the warrant, since it raises the possibility that a person elected to lead the world's most prominent democracy was working to undermine his own country and cover it up. The crimes cited carry a maximum term of 10 years in prison. Obstruction carries a penalty of up to 20 years behind bars.
The warrant and account of materials received do not, however, mention Trump by name. While the search was of Trump's home, it is conceivable that the crimes listed include other suspects.
It's still not clear whether Attorney General Merrick Garland will charge Trump.
The citing of serious crimes as a justification to obtain the warrant could indeed mean that DOJ will pursue those charges against Trump - or even others, if the documents themselves lead investigators to other crimes. Or, Garland could be satisfied with just getting back very sensitive documents that could cause harm to national security if they fell into the wrong hands.
Garland also needs to weigh the public impact of a prosecution of a former president, particularly on such serious charges. Failing to prosecute could be viewed by the left as a capitulation to right-wing rabble-rousers who claim Trump is a victim. Prosecuting him and winning would mark an unprecedented punishment of a former commander in chief. And prosecuting - then losing - would not satisfy any political camp.
We know the documents retrieved were sensitive, but we don't know exactly what they are.
One document was described as being related to the president of France, but the warrant papers mainly referred to the classification level of materials retrieved.
The Washington Post reported Thursday evening that some of the documents were related to nuclear weapons, without stating whether they were weapons held by the U.S. or other countries. The Department of Justice has declined to comment on it. The nature of the charges for which Trump is being investigated do not exclude nuclear weapons, but they do not necessarily include nuclear programs, either. The section of the Espionage Act code cited in the warrant - 18 USC 793 - refers to documents, photos and other materials "relating to the national defense."
Trump on Friday morning called the reference to nuclear information a "hoax" and accused FBI agents of planting damaging material at his home without elaborating on the claim.
We know Justice tried to get documents from Trump without resorting to a search warrant. We don't know how they know there was more to be found.
The National Archives disclosed in January that it had retrieved 15 boxes of materials from Trump - including classified materials. Garland said this week that Justice had asked Trump for more documents and materials and issued a subpoena, without success, forcing them to get a search warrant.
We don't know how Justice knew there was more to be found. Is there a mole in Trump-land? Someone at Mar-a-Lago? It's a question personally vexing to Trump, who values loyalty.
Republicans are still largely standing behind Trump. But it's gotten more complicated.
After the FBI searched Trump's home, Republicans went into full outrage mode, suggesting that if the FBI could search Trump's home, they could do it to any American - which is true, if the FBI obtains a search warrant by showing probable cause of a crime and that evidence of that crime is in the structure.
Sen. Susan Collins of Maine called the search "shocking" Wednesday and added that if it "only had to do with disputes over documents" it was an "excessive move on the part of the Justice Department." Right-wing members of the party went much further, speculating that the search was ordered as political retribution by the Biden White House and that the FBI may have planted evidence. The White House has said that President Joe Biden had no advance knowledge of the search, and Attorney General Merrick Garland responded angrily at the suggestion of wrongdoing on the part of federal agents.
Friday morning, the day after the FBI office in Cincinnati came under attack by a man with a nail gun, House Republicans canceled a pre-planned press conference on the FBI search. On social media, there was an increase of threats against law enforcement and references to civil war. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida decried the threat but also used the occasion to attack Democrats.
"Anyone threatening violence over the Mar-A- Lago raid should be arrested," Rubio tweeted. "But where was the outrage & condemnation from the left & many in the media when the threats were against Supreme Court justices over the abortion ruling?"
Republicans who raced to Trump's side earlier this week will have a hard time separating themselves now, since the MAGA base may turn on them. But if Trump weakens under the investigation, the GOPers may suffer with him.
Garland was underestimated - by people in both parties.
For months, frustrated Democrats have been complaining that Garland wasn't moving quickly or aggressively enough against Trump, with midterm elections looming. It turns out Garland and his Justice Department lawyers were toiling away on a matter that may not even be related to the accompanying investigation of the Jan. 6 insurrection, resulting in an unprecedented search of Trump's home. And those who thought misplacement of a few documents was small potatoes? Espionage, in fact, is very serious business.
Republicans, meanwhile, baited Garland - and lost. Garland had kept the search quiet, per Justice protocol, but once Trump himself revealed the search, Republicans screamed for Garland to explain himself and release the warrant.
Garland said sure - but not if the former president wants it kept under wraps. That put the ball in Trump's court and led to the disclosure Friday of damning information about the man who is mulling a 2024 run for the presidency.
Trump may survive and flourish. Or he may see the end of his career in business and politics.
The former president revels in martyrdom and has been aggressively raising money off the search. It could be, as Trump once observed, that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and not lose a single vote.
Or Garland's quieter assessment may prevail: "No person is above the law in this country," the attorney general said last month.
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