The FBI repeatedly objected to raiding Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in summer 2022, warning agents did not believe the Biden Justice Department had sufficient evidence to establish probable cause that the former president violated the law in handling classified documents, according to bombshell memos turned over Tuesday to Congress.
“WFO [FBI’s Washington Field Office] has conducted approximately [Redacted] interviews related to this matter. Very little has been developed related to who might be culpable for mishandling the documents,” a June 1, 2022 FBI memo stated. “WFO has been drafting a Search Warrant affidavit related to these potential boxes, but has some concerns that the information is single source, has not been corroborated, and may be dated.”
Just the News reported that more than a month later, FBI agents raised additional concerns, including about the legality of searching Trump’s personal residence.
“DOJ has inquired as to an Ops Plan for a SW of MAL [Mar-a-Lago]. I let them know we are not in agreement for PC [probable cause] on the SW [search warrant],” a redacted FBI agent wrote in a July 12, 2022 email. “However, WF-[Redacted] does not believe we have PC for the 45 Office or the bedroom due to recency and issues of boxes versus classified information.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel declassified the memos and provided them to Congress.
“Received shocking new docs 2day from DOJ & FBI showing FBI DID NOT BELIEVE IT HAD PROBABLE CAUSE to raid Pres[ident] Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home, but Biden DOJ pushed for it anyway,” Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley tweeted Tuesday. “Based on the records, Mar-a-Lago raid was a miscarriage of justice.”
The emails were turned over ahead of Wednesday’s planned deposition of ex-special prosecutor Jack Smith, who inherited the classified documents case months after the August 2022 raid that shocked the political world ahead of the 2024 election.
The declassified emails chronicle specific concerns that DOJ under former President Joe Biden had not met the standard for a search warrant but proceeded regardless. Jay Bratt, then chief of DOJ’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section and a future member of Smith’s team, was instrumental in pushing for the raid.
“We haven’t generated any new facts, but keep being given draft after draft after draft. Absent a witness coming forward with recent information about classified on site, at what point is it fair to table this?” an FBI official wrote in a July 13, 2022 email.
“As everyone is tracking, WFO does not believe (and has articulated to DOJ CES) that we have established probable cause for the search warrant for classified documents at Mar-a-Lago,” an FBI official wrote July 20, 2022. “In WFO’s opinion, if a primary goal of this investigation is to identify and recover classified records quickly, so as to protect the information, the six weeks spent fixated on probable cause for a search warrant have been counterproductive.”
The FBI raided Trump’s Florida resort in August 2022 with authorization from then-Attorney General Merrick Garland. Biden’s attorney general selected Smith in November 2022 to lead twin criminal investigations into Trump related to classified documents and the Capitol riot.
The Biden White House was also linked to the investigation. The National Archives told Trump’s lawyers in early May 2022 it “will provide the FBI access to the records in question, as requested by the incumbent President [Biden].”
Smith and Biden DOJ charged Trump in June 2023 over allegations related to improper retention of classified documents. Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed Smith’s case in July 2024, ruling he had been unlawfully appointed as special counsel. Smith dropped his appeal after Trump won the 2024 election.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan wrote in a subpoena letter that Smith “possesses information that is vital to its oversight of this matter.” Smith’s lawyer indicated the former special counsel will comply with Wednesday’s deposition.
