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The FBI raided Donald Trump’s home in Mar-a-Lago in August 2022 to recover classified documents.
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Prior to the search, FBI agents were reluctant to launch a surprise attack, according to The Washington Post.
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Some agents wanted to believe Trump’s lawyer’s claims that they had already conducted a thorough investigation.
Two months before the FBI launched an unprecedented raid on a former president’s home, seizing more than 100 classified documents, some agents wanted to believe that Donald Trump’s lawyers had stolen the Mar-a-Lago building in Palm Beach, Florida, had already thoroughly searched. .
A Wednesday report from The Washington Post revealed how FBI agents and Justice Department prosecutors clashed over how to proceed with a criminal investigation into Trump’s handling of classified documents prior to the 8 months leading up to the Mar-a-Lago raid. August 2022. .
While some FBI officials pushed for Trump’s permission to search his property, other field agents sought to close the criminal investigation entirely in early June after Trump’s lawyers claimed they “zealously searched” Mar-a-Lago, according to well-known people. with the discussions and who spoke to De Post on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive investigation.
On June 3, 2022, a pair of FBI agents and a DOJ official met in Mar-a-Lago to retrieve the remaining classified documents in Trump’s possession. Christina Bobb, one of Trump’s attorneys, signed a letter confirming that a careful search of the home had been completed, according to a court record.
This claim convinced some at the FBI that the criminal case should be closed, people in the know told the Post.
A senior law enforcement official told the publication that closing the investigation was not considered by the FBI leadership and would not have been approved.
Despite misgivings about the investigation from some FBI agents, prosecutors were adamant about collecting more evidence and told the FBI to conduct more witness interviews and obtain Mar-a-Lago surveillance footage, The Post reported.
Video obtained by investigators showed someone removing boxes from an area where documents were stored, alarming prosecutors, according to The Post report. The New York Times previously reported that security footage showed a longtime Trump aide removing boxes from a storage unit before and after the DOJ issued a subpoena asking for all classified documents in May.
Legal experts told The Post that FBI agents may not have been able to retrieve the classified documents if the criminal case had been closed earlier in June.
The FBI declined to comment.
Read the original article on Business Insider
