As news of the FBI’s raid on Mar-a-Lago continues to evolve, there is a rather large contingent of Americans growing every angrier.
They see the stunt as a political fishing expedition that wasn’t likely constrained by the parameters of the search warrant cited by authorities. Instead, they believe that Donald Trump’s political future is being targeted, out of fears of his potential landslide victory in 2024 presidential race.
This week, Trump stoked those fears again, declaring that his passports had been seized during the siege – something that the DOJ attempted to deny.
Trump had proof, however.
On Monday, former President Trump claimed on his social media site TruthSocial that the FBI “stole” his passports during the raid that shook the political world last week.
“In the raid by the FBI of Mar-a-Lago, they stole my three Passports (one expired), along with everything else,” he said. “This is an assault on a political opponent at a level never seen before in our Country. Third World!”
As Breitbart News noted, the passports were “not independently itemized on the FBI’s property receipt of the 28 inventory items federal agents seized.”
“The warrant, which Attorney General Merrick Garland says he approved and was signed by Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart, did not state that they could take Trump’s passport,” the report noted. “Typically, the government needs a separate court order to seize someone’s passport, even temporarily.”
Here is where it gets odd:
According to Norah O’Donnell of CBS News, a DOJ official said the former president’s passports were in their possession, one of which presumably would have been a diplomatic passport.
“According to a DOJ official, the FBI is NOT in possession of former President Trump’s passports. Trump had accused the FBI of stealing his three passports during the search of his Mar-a-Lago home,” O’Donnell announced on Monday.
Shortly after Norah’s post, Taylor Budowich, the former president’s communications director, shared an email from Jay Bratt, the top counterintelligence official in the Justice Department’s national security division, confirming that three passports were seized in the raid and that they would be returned to the former president soon.
“We have learned that the filter agents seized three passports belonging to President Trump, two expired and one being his active diplomatic passport. We are returning them, and they will be ready for pick up at WFO at 2 PM today,” the email to Trump’s attorneys read.
The move, while possibly not nefarious, still demonstrates a rather abysmal reality of the bumbling FBI, and will only fuel further criticism of the already-imperiled agency.
