As reported last week, Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency David Cohen was one of two detainees thrown overboard en route to Guam for trying to incite a prisoner revolt. What follows is an account of the investigation that led to his arrest.

On April 3, an envelope arrived at 1100 S Ocean Blvd, Palm Beach, Florida, home to the lawfully elected POTUS, Donald J. Trump. It was similar in appearance to the hundreds of innocuous pieces of correspondence that each day arrived at the front gate and got sorted and screened in a guest house that Trump’s security had adapted into a mailroom—piles of hate mail amid scores of fan letters. Packages were screened for explosives, and white mail was tested for contact poison and toxins such as ricin. The screeners ensured no harmful substances escaped their watchful eyes. Hate mail, however, sometimes reached Trump’s desk, and he routinely shredded offensive letters after reading only a single sentence.