Biden FBI knew they had no probable cause to raid Trump's Mar-a-Lago home: internal docs

Documents released by Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley on Tuesday have revealed that the Biden administration’s Department of Justice believed that it did not have probable cause to launch a raid on Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in August of 2022, after Trump had left his first White House term. 

Grassley wrote, "Received shocking new docs 2day from DOJ & FBI showing FBI DID NOT BELIEVE IT HAD PROBABLE CAUSE to raid Pres Trump's Mar-a-Lago home but Biden DOJ pushed for it anyway. Based on the records Mar-a-Lago raid was a miscarriage of justice." 

An unidentified assistant special agent said in one of the internal records that the FBI’s Washington Field Office (WFO) "does not believe (and has articulated to DOJ [counterintelligence]) that we have established probable cause for the search warrant for classified records at Mar-a-Lago. DOJ has opined that they do have probable cause, requesting a wide scope including residence, office, storage space."

"In WFO’s opinion, if a primary goal of this investigation is to identify and recover classified records quickly, so as to protect the information, the 6 weeks spent fixated on probable cause for a search warrant have been counterproductive. Continued investigation and additional interviews have not found any witness who has reported seeing classified records at Mar a Lago since the return of records via [redacted] compliance on June 3, 2022."

The released documents include a chain of emails in which officials discuss a draft of the search warrant. On July 13, one person wrote in part, "what is the guidance for continuing to work on this document without any new information?"

Another person chimed in, "[redacted] asks a fair question. We haven’t generated any new facts, but keep being given draft after draft after draft. Absent a witness coming forward with recent information about classified on site, at what point is it fair to table this."

The records revealed that the Department of Justice wanted the FBI to have a search warrant ready by June 6 of that year so that "when, assuming non-compliance with the [redacted], the FBI would immediately serve the SW." 

The Washington Field Office had "some concerns about how realistic that is, considering DOJ’s timeline and our need to place resources where they need to be in order to accomplish such a search." The email stated that special counsel Jack Smith’s deputy Jay Bratt "did not intent to 'negotiate'" with then-Trump attorney Evan Corcoran, "or have any further discussions with him. Rather, he was going to send a letter providing the morning of 6/6 as the compliance date of the [redacted]. WFO has not seen this letter, and we were informed as of an hour ago, it had not been sent to Corcoran."

On August 8, 2022, Trump announced that the FBI had raided his Florida home, saying that the residence was "under siege, raided, and occupied by a large group of FBI agents."

"These are dark times for our Nation, as my beautiful home, Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, is currently under siege, raided, and occupied by a large group of FBI agents," he began. "Nothing like this has ever happened to a President of the United States before."

"After working and cooperating with the relevant Government agencies, this unannounced raid on my home was not necessary or appropriate," he said.