It’s a small bombshell that rocks the 2024 presidential campaign before it even begins. Monday’s raid, unprecedented in modern American history, at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago, Fla., home was denounced as “persecution” by the person concerned. According to US media, FBI agents were searching for confidential documents the former president allegedly took when he left the White House. But even if legal problems cannot be ruled out, Donald Trump seems more determined than ever to declare himself a candidate.
What do we know about the search?
About 30 FBI agents knocked on Donald Trump’s house Monday morning. They searched his home in Mar-a-Lago, Fla. for several hours, including breaking into a safe. A dozen boxes of documents were confiscated, according to the Wall Street Journal. The former president was in New Jersey, where he is staying for the summer. The secret service, which ensures his protection and that of his residence, has been notified.
What was the FBI looking for?
The FBI and the Department of Justice, which the federal agency reports on, do not comment. According to US media, the case appears to be linked to White House documents Donald Trump took with him to Florida. In January he was forced to hand over 15 boxes containing secret files to the National Archives. According to CNN, FBI agents then came for a cordial visit in early June. They urged Donald Trump to better secure a room where he kept other documents. He had a lock installed. Monday’s search — in lieu of a subpoena for the documents — represents a major escalation of the case. According to the New York Times, it’s not related to the investigation into the Capitol violence or the 2020 election.
How did the FBI get his arrest warrant?
The search was approved by a Florida judge. That means the judge was confident that there was a high probability that the FBI would find evidence that Donald Trump or those around him broke the law.
Is it illegal for a President to take documents when leaving the White House?
A Presidential Documents Act requires that all official documents of an incumbent President be turned over to the National Archives upon his departure. But this law provides no real sanctions. On the other hand, American law strictly forbids anyone to keep secret documents, and it has been used on numerous occasions, including imprisonment. However, a president has the power to release anything he wants, provided he does so before the end of his term.
What is Donald Trump risking?
“All indications are that the search is the result of a criminal proceeding involving a grand jury,” said Bradley Moss, a Washington national security attorney. If they were just simple administrative documents that weren’t submitted to the National Archives, a civil proceeding would have sufficed, Moss said. But the proven presence of confidential documents in the documents filed in January makes matters much more serious for Donald Trump. Will he be charged? There are too many unknowns at this point. “November 2024 is theoretically enough time to indict and prosecute Donald Trump if the government decides,” the attorney said. With the prospect of tearing apart a country that is already divided in two a little more.
Could Donald Trump be declared ineligible?
There is a dispute among lawyers. Attorney Marc Elias, who opposed Donald Trump’s appeals in the 2020 presidential election, Note on Twitter that a statute in the US Criminal Code provides for possible injunction but recognizes that a President’s case is covered by the Constitution. And according to Bradley Moss, Congress cannot declare Donald Trump ineligible on the basis of a criminal conviction. This is only possible after a conviction in an impeachment trial or by invoking the 14th amendment in the event of an insurgency. “Theoretically, Donald Trump could also run in prison,” emphasizes Moss.
Can Donald Trump capitalize on what he denounces as “persecution”?
A search of an ex-president who apparently wants to declare himself a candidate is unknown. Republicans come to his aid, promising to investigate the Justice Department’s actions if they regain control of the House of Representatives in November’s midterm elections. Even some Democrats, such as ex-governor Cuomo or former candidate Andrew Yang, believe the department must come to terms with the perceived instrumentalization of the Justice Department for political ends, at the expense of playing in Donald Trump’s game.
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Donald Trump already took advantage of the search with an email on Tuesday morning to collect donations. And he posted a long, scary clip about “a country in decline” and increasingly flirted with a candidacy. He has a keen interest in going fast: it will be even easier for him to yell for vendetta when he is a candidate. And if he wins in 2024, he would be shielded from potential prosecution by the Justice Department’s policy of not indicting a president while in office.