Declassified documents from the FBI have recently been provided to Congress, casting new light on the legal underpinnings of the August 2022 search of President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. These documents have reignited discussions in Washington, as lawmakers revisit the actions of the Biden Justice Department during the investigation.
The source of the controversy stems from internal FBI communications that surfaced, indicating that senior bureau officials harbored significant reservations about the sufficiency of evidence to justify the unprecedented raid. Fox News Digital and Just the News reviewed the records, which revealed that FBI officials recommended exploring less intrusive means to retrieve sensitive materials and expressed sustained concerns over the probable cause in the weeks leading up to the search.
A key memorandum from the FBI's Washington Field Office, dated June 1, 2022, highlighted the lack of clarity from numerous interviews about the mishandling of documents. It pointed out that assertions of additional records being at Mar-a-Lago were predominantly based on single-source information that lacked corroboration. The memo underscored the unreliability of such evidence in justifying a search.
Draft search warrant affidavits, according to the same memo, relied on uncorroborated and potentially outdated information. Despite this, the DOJ's Counterintelligence and Export Control Section believed the threshold for probable cause had been met. However, FBI officials proposed renewed dialogues with Trump's legal representatives, suggesting that these less confrontational approaches could achieve the objective without raising tensions.
Disagreements escalated in July 2022, as reflected in a July 12 email where an FBI agent stated the bureau did "not in agreement" with the DOJ on the matter of probable cause, especially concerning Trump’s personal office and bedroom. The email highlighted doubts about the evidence's recency and the contents of storage boxes, which weakened the case for a comprehensive search.
By July 20, objections were reinforced via email correspondence from the Washington Field Office, which concluded that probable cause for a warrant had not been established. The agent expressed that the focus on obtaining a warrant had been counterproductive to the goal of swiftly securing documents for national security purposes.
Despite these internal warnings, preparations for the search continued. An August 4 email described efforts to execute the search discretely and professionally, quoting then–Deputy Assistant Attorney General George Toscas as being indifferent to the "optics" of the situation. The FBI cautioned that the DOJ's aggressive stance could lead to unnecessary confrontation and safety concerns.
The search, authorized by then–Attorney General Merrick Garland, took place shortly after, with agents seizing boxes that Trump's attorneys later claimed contained potentially privileged documents. This led to disputes over search procedures and reviews by a taint team.
The records were declassified following approval from Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel, leading to their release to Congress. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley described the revelations as "shocking," stating that the FBI "did not believe it had probable cause," and called the raid "a miscarriage of justice."
These documents were brought to light ahead of a closed-door deposition by former Special Counsel Jack Smith, who had been appointed after the raid and charged Trump with multiple felony counts related to classified documents. However, Trump pleaded not guilty, and in July 2024, Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed the case, ruling that Smith's appointment had been unlawful. Smith dropped his appeal following Trump’s victory in the 2024 presidential election, effectively closing the case.
The declassification of these FBI records provides a new dimension to the narrative surrounding the Mar-a-Lago raid, raising questions about the decision-making process within the DOJ and the FBI at the time.
