As a lawyer, former federal prosecutor, and current member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I have a few questions about the FBI’s raid of Mar a Lago.
First, did Attorney General Garland personally sign off on this action?
Second, why break into the safe rather than seize it, take it into custody, and then seek a warrant to open it?
Third, why obtain and execute a search warrant rather than first seeking the items in question either through an informal process or with a subpoena?
Fourth, if this really is about presidential records, why would the former president — who was himself in charge of declassifying documents at the time he obtained and had unfettered access to them — be subject to prosecution to hanging onto classified documents?
Fifth, perhaps there’s something here we don’t know—something that, once known, will clarify the reasons for the raid. If there is, FBI needs to bring forward the justification for this unprecedented action—as soon as possible. But if there isn’t, we’ve got problems at the FBI.
Sixth, classification authority belongs to the president of the United States — and NOT to bureaucrats at the National Archives.
Seventh, if this turns out to be the product of the growing political weaponization of federal law enforcement agencies, shouldn’t this incident cause all Americans to be even more outraged by the Democrats’ plan to hire an additional 87,000 agents?
Eighth, how is this aggressive action defensible in light of the FBI/DOJ treatment of Hillary Clinton, who was never subjected to a raid like this, even though she (1) mishandled classified material, and (2) destroyed evidence?
Ninth, what should we make of the fact that this is occurring while FBI and DOJ have taken no discernible action regarding (for example) flagrant violations of the law by (a) Hunter Biden, or (b) pro-abortion extremists threatening Supreme Court justices at their homes?
Tenth, why should we assume that the FBI is above targeting Republicans when it creates documents like this one, which encourages agents to be suspicious of people who display the Betsy Ross Flag or the “don’t tread on me” Gadsden Flag? Image
Eleventh, did FBI Director Christopher Wray intentionally wait to carry out the raid until after his oversight hearing with the Senate Judiciary Committee last week?
Twelfth, shouldn’t all Americans be suspicious of the FBI based on its use of warrantless “backdoor searches” under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (about which Christopher Wray expressed very little concern when I questioned him at last week’s hearing)?