Unpresidented: FBI raids Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence
FBI agents raided Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida on Monday. Officials have yet to release the affidavit supporting the search warrant or what agents found. Speculation says federal officials searched Trump’s residence to obtain classified documents Trump took from the White House in violation of the Presidential Records Act when he left in January 2021. Trump himself was out of state.
The National Archives and Records Administration retrieved 15 boxes of documents from Mar-a-Lago in January this year, some classified. Department of Justice officials would have to convince a judge Trump retained still others to obtain Monday’s search warrant.
Trump “is a guy who is flushing documents down the toilet,” former federal prosecutor Daniel Goldman told CNN this morning. Officials may have worried that Trump would fight a subpoena and perhaps destroy others. The FBI acted to repossess public property via a search warrant instead. Agents reportedly left with boxes of material that may not have been properly secured.
CNN’s Kaitlan Collins reports, “In early June, investigators made a rare visit to Mar-a-Lago seeking more info about material taken from the White House. The 4 officials, including Jay Bratt, chief of Counterintelligence & Export Control at DOJ, met w/ two of Trump’s attorneys. Trump stopped by briefly … Days later, Trump’s attorneys got a letter asking them to further secure the room. Aides subsequently added a padlock, I am told.”
Simply padlocking the room would not have been adequate for classified documents, Jason Baron, former Director of Litigation for the National Archives, told CNN this morning.
Trump issued his reaction online claiming his compound was “under siege,” adding, “They even broke into my safe!”
MAGAstan, conservative pundits, and Republican politicians reacted with rage. Whataboutism flowed freely on Fox News. Trump supporters and a few critics gathered outside the resort Monday evening.
“When does the shooting start?” said one TheDonald commenter NBC News’ Ben Collins reports. Others commenters echoed the sentiment.
“The posts on these pro-Trump forums tonight are as violent as I’ve seen them since before January 6th. Maybe even moreso,” Collins tweeted.
More MAGA reaction to FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago (archived by Ron Filipkowski):
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) issued a threat against Attorney General Merrick Garland.
There is, of course, lots of tough talk from MAGAstan from the kind of Trump supporters who stockpile weapons and itch for a new civil war. Jan. 6 digital investigator John Scott-Railton and others observed “the possibility of something lone wolf is *very real* and terrifying.”
Trump himself may be feeling a tightening in his chest that has nothing to do with his heart or his diet. U.S. Code Title 18, Section 2071 specifies that if convicted of mishandling or destroying federal documents, he could be barred from ever holding public office.
But don’t hold your breath. Any such prosecution will take time. Other state and federal investigations into Trump already underway may get to him first.
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