Status: 08/09/2022 08:31 a.m
The FBI has searched the property of ex-President Trump in Mar-a-Lago – apparently it is regarding documents that Trump took following his term in office. Republicans are already trying to take advantage of the raid.
Much is still unclear, but commentators on US television agree on one thing: a search of the former US President’s house is absolutely extraordinary. It’s a “huge thing,” says the presenter of the television channel CNN, which reported almost exclusively on the breaking news throughout the evening.
Just like many other broadcasters, for example the conservative broadcaster Fox News, which Trump’s son Eric used as a platform to defend his father: “My father worked so well with you all months. His lawyer was also shocked because it “There was such a good relationship with the people. All of a sudden, without notice, they send 20 cars and 30 FBI agents. This is just political persecution of Donald J. Trump.”
Trump himself announced the search of his Mar-a-Lago property in Palm Beach, Florida early Monday evening on his Truth Social platform. His “beautiful home” Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach is being besieged, searched and occupied by a large group of FBI agents, he wrote. He was visibly outraged and wrote that the FBI had even searched his safe. US media reports that the search is said to have focused on the area of the property where Trump lives and has his office.
It is now known that the FBI very likely investigated whether Trump brought confidential documents from the White House to Florida following his presidency. Trump is said to have several boxes of documents in Mar-a-Lago that actually belong to the National Archives. The search must have been authorized by a judge.
FBI raids Trump’s Florida home
Tagesschau 09:00 a.m., August 9, 2022
The White House is said not to have been informed
But the White House apparently didn’t know regarding the FBI’s plans, according to CNN’s chief White House correspondent, Kaitlin Collins: “We were told that the White House didn’t know anything. They also only heard regarding it when everyone others heard regarding it. Even President Joe Biden didn’t know anything. The Justice Department is not commenting on the incident, we wanted more information from them, but they are not commenting.”
On the occasion of the raid, both opponents and supporters of Trump gathered in front of his property.
Picture: REUTERS
Trump is currently facing several legal battles: He is being investigated in connection with the events of January 6, 2021, when his supporters stormed the Capitol. He is also being investigated for handling secret documents. There are also a number of civil lawsuits once morest him.
But the fact that Trump himself made the FBI search public shows that he has hope that it will be of use to him. He probably wants to run once more as a candidate for the Republicans in the presidential election in two years. Anything that enrages his supporters once morest the current government benefits him.
Minority leader in the House of Representatives, Republican Kevin McCarthy, is among the first to issue a threat that the attorney general will face an investigation if Republicans win a majority in November’s midterm elections. “If the Republicans retake the House of Representatives, we will conduct immediate oversight of this department, investigate the facts and leave no stone unturned,” he wrote on Twitter.
The raid on Trump: The Republicans will know how to use it for themselves.
FBI searches Donald Trump’s home
Lena Stadler, ARD Washington, 08/09/2022 06:01 a.m
