Former President Donald Trump supporters furious thatFBIexecuted search warrant in his Palm Beach,Florida,, returned home as part of a criminal investigation into whether he had unlawfully mishandled government records, including highly classified documents.
The search of Trump's residence at the mansion known as Mar-a-Lago was part of a lengthy Justice Department investigation into Trump's possession of documents, according to sources familiar with the investigation. rice field. He had to be returned to the National Archives and Records Administration (Nara) when he stepped down in January 2021. It has been occupied by a group," he said, and among other things, had "break into" a safe belonging to him. He also said, without providing evidence, that the raid on the Palm Beach residence was "prosecutorial misconduct" and that "weaponizing the judicial system" meant preventing him from running for president in 2024.
Many prominent Republicans, who have traditionally identified themselves as allies of law enforcement, have called for retaliation against federal law enforcement at large and accused the Biden administration of being unjust. responded with an accusation. persecute Trump.
Justice Department officials have not issued an official statement on Trump's raid, but House Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has taken a belligerent approach to Attorney General Merrick Garland. issued a statement.
"The Justice Department has reached an intolerable state of weaponized politicization," he said. When Republicans take back the House, we will immediately monitor this department, follow the facts, and do whatever it takes.Attorney General Garland, keep your papers, clear your calendars.
Rep. Marco Rubio of Florida, one of Trump's home state senators, said the FBI mimicked the actions of former Soviet law enforcement agencies, he said on Twitter. condemned.
"The use of governmental power to persecute political opponents has been seen many times in Marxist dictatorships in the Third World, but never in the United States." he said.
Protesters in front of Trump Tower in New York after news that the FBI raided President Donald Trump's Mar Arago, Florida home
Another of Trump's most ardent congressional supporters, Georgia Rep. The reaction was even more candid.
While the raid on the former president's home has completely taken many in Washington, including the White House and much of Congress, law enforcement action is the latest in a long-running dispute with the former president. It was only a chapter - the president and government once headed a document deemed to contain national defense secrets.
Under U.S. law, a sitting president has full authority to declassify any classified information he decides to make public, and the U.S. You can access all of the high information. US government.
Trump supporters protesting near a golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey
(Reuters)
But that authority expires when the president's term expires. If Trump knowingly kept government records (classified or not) without permission, he would have violated multiple federal laws. Such U.S. criminal law provisions do not allow "willful harm or looting of United States property," or "willful and unlawful concealment, deletion, mutilation, erasure, or destruction of government documents." It stipulates severe penalties, including imprisonment, for those who
The FBI raided Trump's home to discuss the former president's inappropriate retention of records he ordered removed from the White House before the end of his term. A previous visit, according to a source familiar with the matter, after investigators had previously visited there.
Trump continues to own federal records since January when the National Archives and Records Administration announced it had recovered 15 boxes of his government records from the former president's home. that is being scrutinized. The contents of these boxes, which reportedly contained letters from North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un to Mr. Trump, are said to contain highly classified material, so the defense intelligence
Bradley Moss, a Washington, DC attorney who specializes in national security law, states thatTrump told The Independent that he lost the right to own classified information when he became a private citizen. Also, if letters and other classified materials from Kim were brought to Maralago by any means other than the authorized means for transmitting such materials, the former president was charged with mishandling classified documents. said it could be done.
"I have absolutely no idea how they were classified," he said at the time, noting that Mr. Trump's allegations of unlawful storage of such material would open the door to "criminal prosecution." It could be a very simple case of
Justice Department officials appear to be seeking just such a lawsuit against the former president.
According to the New York Times, the Justice Department began presenting evidence to a grand jury earlier this year about Mr. Issued. A box of classified documents recovered from Mar-a-Lago. An investigation into his record-keeping habits by the Justice Department has led to Trump's attempt to overturn the 2020 election and the resulting attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021. is separate from his two grand jury investigations.
Donald Trump: Aerial footage for Mar-a-Lago estate
Former federal prosecutor Nick Ackerman, who was on the Justice Department team that investigated Richard Nixon in the Watergate scandal, said The Independent 79}, obtaining a search warrant for Trump's property is a very high hurdle, given his status as former president.
"To deal with a former president, this must be bulletproof. We need all the details. Not a simple probable cause affidavit, but perhaps beyond reasonable doubt." will be,' he said.
Trump is not the only person associated with the previous administration facing legal jeopardy over illegally retained records. Last week, Justice Department attorneys filed a lawsuit against former White House trade adviser Peter Navarro, asking a judge for a warrant for Leprevin. Mr. Navarro refuses to give Nara copies of emails from personal accounts that conducted government business.
Asked why the government would not follow Trump's path, Ackermann said Trump's penchant for destroying documents, including flushing them down the toilet, is known. , said it probably highlighted why the Justice Department sought representation. Rather than pursue the recovery of the documents in civil court, he will execute a search warrant.
"He shouldn't use a search warrant unless he believes there is danger that the person is trying to destroy things," he said.