PALM BEACH, Fla. — There are new details available on what went on behind the scenes in the lead-up to the FBI search of former President Donald Trump’s home in Florida.
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Federal agents arrived at President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate Monday with a warrant, indicating that they had reason to believe there was evidence of a crime in the home, and a less intrusive method of obtaining it was not possible.
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The process of obtaining a federal search warrant is exhaustive. A copy of that warrant is now in the possession of either the former president or his attorneys.
When Trump’s time in office came to an end on January 20, 2021, the former president reportedly took with him at least 15 boxes of documents that may have contained classified information.
NEW: White House Press Secretary says President Biden was not briefed about the FBI search at former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property and was not given any notice beforehand. She says DOJ investigations are independent.
— Samantha Manning (@SamManningNews) August 9, 2022
Now, it appears those boxes and the documents they contain may have led to Monday’s search of the former president’s home in South Florida.
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“To send this kind of FBI team to the former president’s home, there has to be something more than just a presidential records act violation,” ABC News Chief Legal Analyst Dan Abrams said. “They have to know something that we don’t know about yet.”
As Abrams notes, executing a physical search means there is potentially more at stake than just the removal of classified documents, and that entering the residence with a search warrant was the only way to retrieve them.
Agents would have to have gone before a judge and provided an affidavit under oath stipulating what items they were after and what probable cause there is that those items are evidence of a federal crime, and that the investigation could lead to an indictment.
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The standard for such a warrant is high, even more so when-in this case- the warrant involves the former President of the United States and a search of his private residence.
President Trump or his attorneys could release the warrant if they chose to do so. Congressional Republicans have been pressuring the Department of Justice to both release the warrant and provide more information about the search at Mar-a-Lago.
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