Former President Donald J. Trump has long hinted that he plans to run for the office again in 2024. According to sources close to Trump, a recent F.B.I. raid on his Mar-a-Lago estate could make it even more likely.
“Honestly, I hope – and I’m saying this for the first time – I hope he goes out and beats these guys again because honestly, this country can’t survive this nonsense,” said the former president’s son, Eric Trump, Monday, according to FOX News.
Eric Trump said he informed his father of the raid.
“If he wasn’t running before, he is now,” said an unnamed person close who wasn’t authorized to speak on the record of Donald Trump, according to NBC News. “It pisses him off that they can do this to him. One way to get it to stop is to control the government again.”
FOX also reported that Trump posted “a campaign ad-style video on his social media platform Truth Social early Tuesday morning.”
The New York Times reported Monday night that Trump said the F.B.I. searched his Palm Beach, Fla., estate and in the process had broken a safe. Unnamed sources cited by the outlet said the investigation at Mar-a-Lago “appeared to be focused on,” materials Trump brought from the White House to the private club when he left office, including boxes containing “many pages of classified documents.”
In April, Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.), chair of the House Oversight Committee, sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland regarding 15 boxes of documents recovered from Mar-a-Lago.
“The Oversight Committee is investigating potential violations of the Presidential Records Act (PRA) by former President Donald Trump, including the removal of records from the White House and potential destruction of records,” said the letter. “As part of this investigation, the Committee requested documents and information from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), including an inventory of 15 boxes of documents recovered from the former president’s Mar-a-Lago residence. I write today because the Department of Justice is preventing NARA from cooperating with the Committee’s request, which is interfering with the Committee’s investigation.”
Trump delayed returning the boxes to the NARA for many months, said The New York Times. His advisers said the boxes contained mementos and that there was no “bad intent” in keeping them.
However, Trump – who criticized Hillary Clinton’s practice of maintaining a private email server for government-related messages during his 2016 presidential campaign – allegedly often tore up material meant to be stored in the presidential archives during his term in office.
In an interview with CNN’s “Erin Burnett Out Front” this week, former Trump White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said that Trump did not handle documents correctly.
While the F.B.I. raided the Florida estate, Trump was at Trump Tower in New York, according to the outlet. He addressed the raid during a tele-rally for former Alaska governor and vice president candidate Sarah Palin, who is now running for Congress.
“In an earlier statement, he said his home was ‘under siege,’” The Washington Post reported.
A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment when asked whether Attorney General Merrick Garland approved the search and the F.B.I. has also declined to comment, according to reports.
Trump has claimed in the past that the F.B.I. is a tool Democrats intend to use against him. His supporters, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) criticized the bureau as news of the raid got out.
Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio) sent a letter to the F.B.I. demanding “immediate answers” about the raid.
Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat who resigned amid sexual misconduct allegations, also called for the Department of Justice to explain the raid’s purpose.
According to an unnamed source cited by Jonathan Martin of the New York Times, senior White House officials said they had no notice of the raid.
In order to get a search warrant for Trump’s estate, the F.B.I. would have “needed to convince a judge that it had probable cause that a crime had been committed, and that agents might find evidence at Mar-a-Lago,” The New York Times explained. A warrant would also likely require approval from top bureau officials.
In the past, at least one person who has served as a government official – David Keyser, an Asia expert with the State Department – has received jail time for keeping sensitive documents in his basement. For Trump, penalties for breaking that law preventing removal of official records could potentially include disqualification from holding any federal office, though there is some disagreement on that possibility.
The search of his private residence comes as part of a stream of setbacks for Trump, who is considered a leader in the Republican party.
Last month, the House Select Committee said that Trump tried to overturn the 2020 presidential election, which he lost to current President Joe Biden. Pennsylvania State Sen. Doug Mastriano, the Republican candidate for Pennsylvania governor who has supported Trump’s unfounded claims of 2020 election fraud, was set to appear before the committee Tuesday. Recently released text messages from conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, including communication with Trump allies, were also handed over to the committee this week.
Former Trump strategist Steve Bannon was recently convicted of contempt of Congress for failing to comply with the committee. Additionally, the Justice Department is moving forward with an inquiry into Trump’s efforts to remain in office after the 2020 election and he is facing multiple lawsuits.
Trump’s camp appears to be aiming to make the most of the current F.B.I. raid news, however. A fundraising push went out on the heels of the news, and members of the Republican Study Committee conservative caucus of House Republicans, are planning to have dinner with him in a show of solidarity Tuesday.
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