The FBI was officially granted a search warrant into the Florida home of former President Donald Trump in an attempt to discover classified documents that could aid the Jan. 6th committee in their investigation of the capitol riots last year. Eric Trump has spoken to the press about this raid, sharing with Fox News the surprise that his family had regarding this sudden search, where “The purpose of the raid was, from what they said, was because the National Archives wanted to corroborate whether or not Donald Trump had any documents in his possession… And my father has worked so collaboratively with them for months. In fact, the lawyer that’s been working on this was totally shocked. He goes, ‘I have such an amazing relationship with these people and all of a sudden, on no notice, they send 20 cars and 30 agents?'”
Trump expressed his dismay at the situation, saying that he was informed that the search was taking place while he was not present in Mar-a-Lago, but rather in Trump Tower in New York City and that the FBI “broke into” his safe stored in his Florida home. While the FBI left the Mar-a-Lago property with boxes of documents in their possession, apparently President Joe Biden was completely unaware of their intentions to raid the former President’s primary residence in the first place. Despite Biden’s obliviousness to the situation, Republicans were obviously quick to blame the current president, claiming that this search was instigated by Biden in an attempt to thwart Donald Trump’s plans to re-run for president in the upcoming 2024 election.
Based on the extreme allegiance that Trump supporters have to their former president, bordering on celebrity fan behavior, MAGA hat-clad Americans lined the streets yesterday surrounding Trump’s Florida house protesting the raid, with Republican politicians calling the raid “shameful” and “unlawful.” However, former federal prosecutor Brian Jacobs shared with NPR that this search plainly has nothing to do with the future presidential election, considering the potential criminal charges that Trump is facing regarding his involvement in the Jan. 6th insurrection that precede his announcement to run for reelection in two years. Jacobs defended the FBI conducting the search, saying “I think prosecutors in the Department of Justice all know that they are not allowed to select the timing of investigative steps or criminal charges for the purpose of affecting any election.”
Since these documents were only seized yesterday, they are still currently awaiting review by the appropriate federal departments investigating Trump’s case, and Americans are now anxiously anticipating the next Jan. 6th hearing to see what information will be revealed through these newly obtained classified files.
