It is not clear whether this is classified information, but according to the American newspaper the search does emphasize ‘how great the fear is that the documents will fall into the wrong hands’.
Earlier this week, with the raid on the Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, the FBI decided to take exceptional legal action against the former president. With the permission of Attorney General Merrick Garland, dozens of FBI agents searched Trump’s home and vault for hours.
Garland confirmed on Thursday that the raid was made as part of the investigation of documents. Trump may have taken official government documents with him when he left the White House. This could be a violation of the Presidential Records Act, which requires all official communications – from letters and emails to memos – to be archived.
Anonymous sources sign up now The Washington Post that these are documents with information about nuclear weapons, but do not want to give any further details. It remains unclear whether any information was actually found during the search. The FBI has not yet released an official statement about the search.
The US Department of Justice has filed a request to make the search warrant public ‘in the public interest’. That will have to be decided by a judge, but Trump can object to the disclosure of the information.
Threats
It is highly unusual for a former president’s house to be searched by the FBI. In addition to approval from the ministry, an independent judge must also sign. In addition, the current president, Joe Biden, is said to have been unaware of the search.
Thanks in part to its exceptional nature, the raid caused a great deal of commotion this week. Opponents of Trump welcome the move and want the former president to be prosecuted for violating protocol. Former employees say Trump regularly tore up official documents or flushed them down the toilet during his presidency.
Trump supporters and party members call the raid ‘corrupt’. The search would be disproportionate compared to previous investigations of senior government officials. Trump himself also condemned the unannounced search. He argues that “radical-left Democrats” are pulling out all the stops to block his potential candidacy for the 2024 presidential election.
Since the search of Trump’s Florida estate, the FBI has received dozens of threats from Trump sympathizers. Another attack on the FBI’s Cincinnati office was thwarted Thursday in Ohio. An armed man who tried to raid the office was shot by police after an hours-long chase and died of his injuries. His motive is still unclear, but is believed to be related to the Trump investigation. NBC News reports that the suspect was also present at the Capitol storming last year.