In the aftermath of the shocking FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago this week, political experts and pundits have been working overtime in an attempt to uncover the motive behind the inflammatory action.
The move represents a severe escalation in the American political universe, bestowing some gravity to the events that deserves a hearty explanation. Otherwise, the raid will be seen as a political stunt. Thus far, the reasons revealed for the stunt have been less than satisfactory, leading to speculation that the entire fiasco could be an attempt to keep Donald Trump from ever running for office again.
The FBI search of the Florida resort was related to Trump’s handling of presidential records, including classified documents, after leaving office, sources told CNN. The search warrant was connected to the National Archives, a senior government official told NBC News.
Such reporting had Marc Elias, the top lawyer for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign who has drawn scrutiny for his role in pushing Trump-Russia collusion claims, pointing to U.S. Code Title 18, Section 2071. “The media is missing the really, really big reason why the raid today is a potential blockbuster in American politics,” Elias said in a tweet.
Here’s why:
The first subsection says: “Whoever willfully and unlawfully conceals, removes, mutilates, obliterates, or destroys, or attempts to do so, or, with intent to do so takes and carries away any record, proceeding, map, book, paper, document, or other thing, filed or deposited with any clerk or officer of any court of the United States, or in any public office, or with any judicial or public officer of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.”
With no other reason apparent for the raid, it is becoming increasingly plausible that Trump’s 2024 reelection campaign was the true target of the FBI’s brazen actions – not a series of documents that the National Archives wishes to retrieve.
