Yesterday morning, 12 federal agents visited the Florida homeEx-president Donald Trump, with search warrants in his hand. It was not a raid — there were no doors toppled, and nobody was left in the yard calling their attorney in their underwear — but it was not friendly. Agents were there all dayDoing their job, going so far as crack a safeIf Trump is to be believed, then they walked out into a new world, which had changed under their feet, if they were to be believed.
Before we get into the details of what these agents were looking for let’s take a moment to marvel at their presence. Although other countries hold their former and present presidents accountable for their actions, in the United States, there has never been a presidential crime severe enough to warrant a full-fledged accounting with the law. It is no small irony that the visit to Trump’s home took place on the 48th anniversary of the resignation of Richard Nixon, who was later pardoned by Gerald Ford, thus escaping the larger punishments meted out to his subordinates in the gaudy aftermath of Watergate.
It appears that the search of Trump’s home was done by the book from beginning to end. He and his followers can call the event whatever they want, but it was definitely extrajudicial.
According to reports after the “visit,” the agents were there in search of top-secret documents Trump had illegally taken from the White House when he left two Januarys ago. The National Archives had attempted to subpoena Trump to retrieve the documents, but only 15 boxes were returned. This is why the agents decided to use the warrant as their blunt tool and eschewed subpoenas.
The agents knew sensitive documents were still floating around Mar-a-Lago — how they knew is the subject of wide whispering regarding an insider in Trump’s circle pointing the way — and they did not trust Trump to return them intact, or at all. Recently published photographs shredded documents at the bottom of a White House toilet added urgency to the agency’s actions. Indeed, floating around Mar-a-Lago.
To make this happen, a judge would need to examine the evidence and give his approval on the legality of the action. FBI Director Christopher Wray — a Trump appointee — would have had to sign off on it. Attorney General Merrick Galrland would have had to approve the action as the subject was the former president. Keith Reed writesFor The Root:
[W]HatIt’s almost an aside that they went looking for it. The Federal Bureau of Investigation actually obtained search warrants for the residence of a person who was the elected leader of this executive branch of government from 20 months ago. That’s world changing. The Feds believe that the last president of this country might have evidence of an illegal act. It means they didn’t even bother with a subpoena and waiting to see if Trump and his team would comply.
It means they treated a billionaire former president, who’s currently considered a front-runner for the Republican nominee for that same office in 2024, like they treated my homeboy who did a couple years for some petty weight. Trump wasn’t home when the alphabet boys hit, but again, that doesn’t matter. If my cousin’s hood wisdom has any truth to it, the agents went to Mar-A-Lago knowing exactly what they were looking for, and having a pretty good idea that it was exactly where they were looking for it.
The immediate, predictable response: Screams for blood from the MAGA/QAnon corners. “After news broke that the FBI searched former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in Florida on Monday, his supporters openly called for an armed violent response, and ultimately, civil war,” reports Vice News AccordingTo NBC News reporter Ben Collins, “The posts on these pro-Trump forums tonight are as violent as I’ve seen them since before January 6th. Maybe even moreso.”
It is hard to imagine Garland and co. It is hard to imagine Garland and his associates kicking that particular cage because of misplaced paperwork. It is important to note that Trump could have bragging to his courtiers about the details of the top secret material, selling it, or using them to blackmail. This would at least partially explain Trump’s bizarre gravitational pull over even his most stubborn followers in government.
Garland has crossed an important Rubicon here, but I have to believe there’s more to it than the boxed documents Trump should leave behind when he left in defeat. Based on the usual practice of prosecutors it is likely that the paperwork was the basis for the search. However, the agents went in with wide eyes looking for evidence of other crimes.
“As long as agents are conducting a legitimate search, they are authorized to seize any obviously incriminating evidence they come across,” writesAndrew McCarthy, conservative National Review. “I believe that principle is key to understanding the FBI’s search of former president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Monday. The ostensible justification for the search of Trump’s compound is his potentially unlawful retention of government records and mishandling of classified information. The real reason is the Capitol riot.”
One man’s opinion. The speculation will continue to the Justice Department holding a press conference and explaining itself.
The accent in his Florida home search is the search for it. the symphony of legal troublesPresently, Trump is being surrounded by chaos. He faces questions under oathThe gross mythology of Trump’s net worth will be revealed in the coming days. Cushman & Wakefield, a commercial real estate firm that performed appraisals of various Trump properties, just handed over nearly 36,000 Trump-related documents to New York’s attorney general after getting smacked with a contempt charge. A federal appeals court has ruled that the House Ways and Means committee can obtain Trump’s tax records from the IRS. Georgia’s district attorney labors on, as does the House Select Committee on the January 6 attack.
It may be good news for many to see a lawless president spinning as the walls close in. But the fact we are here is nothing to celebrate. The potential for right-wing violence in this area is all too real.
For today, and only today, I am determined to be content. I have seen something I had never expected to see and something I have not seen before. I will be content today knowing that a filthy, spoiled, miserable man who has lived his whole life running in the raindrops is finally getting soaked. The universal truth of The Wire, “Anyone can get got.” Now Trump knows it, too.
