America
New Files Cast Doubt on FBI’s Mar-a-Lago Raid
There was “zero reason” for armed agents to risk confrontation with Trump’s Secret Service.
federal government may well have had copies of the documents in Trump’s possession, raising questions about the need for the raid. Many on the right see the search as
T BY JULIE KELLY
op officials at the dep- artment of Justice are down- playing recently disclosed documents showing FBI
agents were authorized to use deadly force during their 2022 raid of Donald Trump’s Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago. Responding to Trump’s claim that
“Joe Biden was locked and loaded, ready to take me out and put my fam- ily in danger,” FBI Director Christo- pher Wray said the bureau was follow- ing “standard operating procedure” as it executed a search warrant on Aug. 8, 2022, regarding classified material that the former president was holding. While noting that Trump was not
present during the raid, Attorney Gen- eral Merrick Garland dismissed the claim as “false” and “dangerous.” Gar- land said the same language was used in a later search warrant seeking clas- sified documents President Joe Biden
was storing in various locations. But critics argue that there was
nothing ordinary about the Mar-a- Lago raid, in which more than 30 FBI agents descended on Trump’s Palm Beach estate, potentially creating a dangerous situation with the armed Secret Service agents on site.
“There was zero reason to
create an unnecessary, even one in a thousand chance, of a blue-on-blue situation with firearms,” former Secret Ser- vice agent and political commentator Dan Bongino said on his podcast. “The FBI, DOJ, and management
30
ARMED AGENTS RAIDED
MAR-A-LAGO
part of a broader effort by the Depart- ment of Justice to intimidate its politi- cal enemies that includes the armed morning raid on the home of Trump associate Roger Stone in 2019; the arrest of anti-abortion activist Mark Houck by dozens of armed agents in 2022, a year after he was accused of pushing someone outside a Philadel- phia clinic; and the DOJ’s aggressive efforts to find and charge to date more than 1,400 people connected to the Jan. 6 protest at the Capitol. Recent court disclosures also underscore the very different treat- ments the department has accorded to Trump and the Biden family. Trump, who has asserted that his presidential authority empowered him to retain and declassify documents, got a surprise nine-hour raid a few months before announcing his plans to run for reelection. Biden, who never had the
authority to declassify or take home classified records as a
of the Secret Service effed this up royally.” No former president was ever
the subject of an FBI search warrant before Trump. A recently discovered Department of Defense memo suggests that the
The FBI’s warrant application contained false information, Trump’s attorneys argue, and the raid violated the warrant.
30 NEWSMAX | AUGUST 2024
senator or vice president, received the courtesy of at least two consensual FBI searches, presumably unarmed. Trump’s attorneys have asked
Judge Aileen Cannon, who is pre- siding over Special Counsel Jack Smith’s espionage and obstruction case against Trump in Florida, to prohibit Smith from using any of the materials seized during the Mar-a- Lago raid at trial. The FBI’s application for the war-
rant contained false information, the attorneys argue, and the raid violated even the very broad terms of the war- rant. — RealClearInvestigations
EVA MARIE UZCATEGUI/GETTY IMAGES
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