John Ratcliffe was the director of national intelligence under former President Donald Trump.
John Ratcliffe, the former director of national intelligence under former President Donald Trump, said nothing he saw in the heavily redacted affidavit for the Mar-a-Lago search warrant justified what seemed like an “extreme” approach by the FBI and Justice Department.
Ratcliffe made the comments in a Friday interview with CBS News senior investigative correspondent Catherine Herridge.
“Well, as expected, it was heavily redacted in places,” Ratcliffe said, giving his reaction to the Friday. “You know, I think it provided a general recitation of the fact that the FBI and the Department of Justice believed that there were classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. But I didn’t really see anything in the affidavit that justified what still seems like an extreme approach by the FBI and the Department of Justice to retrieve those documents if in fact they were classified.”
The affidavit stated that there was “probable cause” that evidence of obstruction would be found at Mar-a-Lago, and that “probable cause exists to believe that evidence, contraband, fruits of crime, or other items illegally possessed in violation 18 U.S.C. §§ 793(e), 2071, or 1519 will be found at the PREMISES.”
Trump had urged for the release of the affidavit, and multiple media organizations, including CBS News, filed a request for its release.
