FBI Agents executed a search warrant Monday at Mar-a-Lago, the Florida home of former President Donald Trump in what appeared to be a search connected to classified material that was allegedly at the home.
The investigation is “focused on material that Trump had brought with him to Mar-a-Lago, his private club and residence, after he left the White House,” The New York Times reported. “Those boxes contained many pages of classified documents.”
Reports later confirmed the raid’s primary point of focus was the missing White House records.
The initial report alleged that Trump delayed the return of 15 boxes of material to the National Archives and that those boxes included documents that were “marked as classified national security information.”
A grand jury investigation was opened back in May by federal prosecutors over whether classified material that ended up in the Trump home had been mishandled or not.
These types of investigations are usually for federal authorities and are primarily focused on determining if classified material was compromised. Intelligence officials can then take steps to protect sensitive sources and methods. Prosecutors will seek to learn every aspect of the documents’ handling from when they left the White House until they were returned to the National Archives.
In order for prosecutors to prove that a crime was committed, they would need evidence proving that the involved parties knew that removing the documents was against the law and that the involved parties were aware the documents were classified.
Trump also faces a criminal investigation from the Justice Department over alleged “efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.”
The report alleges that there are two major areas in which the DOJ is attempting to ensnare Trump, including “seditious conspiracy and conspiracy to obstruct a government proceeding.” This charge was what some of the January 6 protesters were charged with. The other charge would involve potential fraud using fake electors, or pressuring government officials to claim the election was rigged.
Prosecutors have allegedly questioned former White House officials about any conversations that Trump or his advisers may have had about trying to replace electors in states that Biden won with pro-Trump electors. They have also reportedly asked about Trump’s alleged attempts to pressure Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the results of the election and any instructions that Trump may have given his legal team about fake electors. These conversations were reportedly carried out in the presence of a grand jury.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said during a recent interview with NBC News that the criminal investigation into January 6 was “the most wide ranging investigation in its history,” and there will be things that the DOJ finds that the House Select January 6 committee “haven’t found.”
Anchor Lester Holt asked about whether indicting Trump would “tear the country apart,” to which Garland responded, “We intend to hold everyone, anyone who was criminally responsible for the events surrounding January 6, for any attempt to interfere with the lawful transfer of power from one administration to another, accountable.”
“That’s what we do,” he continued. “We don’t pay any attention to other issues with respect to that.”
Garland was then asked if Trump’s potential second campaign for the presidency would impact how the DOJ would proceed with the case, and responded, “I’ll say again that we will hold accountable anyone who was criminally responsible for attempting to interfere with the transfer, legitimate, lawful transfer of power from one administration to the next.”
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