Yesterday, the FBI delivered to the Senate Judiciary Committee emails relating to the search of President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home. Senator Charles Grassley has released what I take to be all of the responsive documents.
Comments you may have seen on the emails are correct: the FBI didn’t think there was probable cause to search Trump’s home, but Merrick Garland’s Department of Justice insisted. The FBI thought they should communicate with Trump’s lawyer and likely be able to reach an agreement. Garland’s DOJ refused. The FBI pointed out that President Trump likely had a good legal argument on the documents; DOJ didn’t care.
Here are some extracts from the emails. “WFO” stands for the Washington Field Office of the FBI:
“PC on the SW” is probable cause on the search warrant:
Based on these exchanges, it appears obvious that the FBI hated the idea of a Mar-a-Lago raid, both because there was no probable cause for a search warrant and because the matter was being handled in an unprofessional and needlessly confrontational way by Merrick Garland’s DOJ. This incident is one of many illustrating the fact that under Joe Biden and Merrick Garland, the Department of Justice was bent to political ends and weaponized against the administration’s opponents in a way that, to my knowledge, is unique in American history.
