Last Updated on August 15, 2022
Former President Trump has claimed that FBI agents confiscated his passports when they raided his Mar-A-Lago estate last week. “Wow! In the raid by the FBI of Mar-a-Lago, they stole my three Passports (one expired), along with everything else,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
JUST IN: Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that the FBI seized his three Passports at the Mar-a-lago raid. pic.twitter.com/q5zch0Dwe2
— Patriot911 (@Patriot911News) August 15, 2022
FBI agents conducted a broad search on Trump’s Mar-A-Lago property on August 8. The raid, which was green lit by Attorney General Merrick Garland, yielded several boxes of documents that agents did not verify.
Documents unsealed Friday say the Justice Department is investigating whether Trump broke three laws pertaining to official records, including the Espionage Act of 1917.
The seizure of an individual’s passports generally indicates that law enforcement views them as a flight risk.
The FBI did not list passports in its list of property taken in the July 8 raid. It did note that agents seized 27 boxes of documents, two binders of photographs and a handwritten note, among other items.
After the search warrant and inventory were unsealed Friday, Trump claimed that the documents in question had already been declassified and that the FBI search was unnecessary.
“They could have had it anytime they wanted without playing politics and breaking into Mar-a-Lago,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “It was in secured storage, with an additional lock put on as per their request. They could have had it anytime they wanted—and that includes LONG ago. ALL THEY HAD TO DO WAS ASK.”
Beyond Attorney General Garland’s confirmation that he signed off on the raid, both he and FBI Director Chris Wray have said very little about the raid. Director Wray did defend the FBI’s integrity and called for action against those criticizing the bureau’s conduct.
The raid comes after years of sensational allegations against Trump have not come to fruition. The years-long, wide reaching Mueller probe found that the Trump campaign did not have contact with the Russian government, which was the basis for the probe.
Mueller’s investigation was marred by serious allegations of misconduct on the part of the FBI, which was instrumental in the allegations against Trump. FBI Attorney Kevin Clinesmith falsified court documents while leading agents assigned to the case — including Peter Stzrok, who opened the investigation — trashed Trump in private messages.