Array
The FBI’s stunning search of former President Trump’s Florida home was legally justifiable to the judge who approved it, but the move still could be viewed as an abuse of power so damaging to the bureau’s credibility that it may never recover, former agents told The Washington Times.
“The FBI has been at a tipping point since the Comey-McCabe false Russian collusion investigation,” said Kevin Brock, a former FBI assistant director of intelligence. “That could be cited as an isolated operation that didn’t affect the FBI’s credibility, but now there has been a cascade of events that have pushed the FBI to the precipice in the minds of half the country.”
“I don’t know if they can come back from this, I just don’t,” he said.
Agents on Monday searched Mr. Trump’s home at his Mar-a-Lago estate and private club, in what appears to be part of an investigation into whether classified documents were sent there instead of the National Archives when Mr. Trump left office.
Thomas J. Baker, who spent 33 years as an agent and served as an instructor at the bureau’s training academy in Quantico, Virginia, said the raid was legally sound, but also an abuse of power.
“They had a federal judge sign off on it. The Justice Department, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of Florida approved the affidavit so it was legal, but that doesn’t make it right,” he said. “There are a lot of things that happen that are legal, but still an abuse of authority.”
The search marks a dramatic escalation of the legal investigations into Mr. Trump and unprecedented law enforcement scrutiny of a former president.
Few answers were provided Tuesday amid swirling questions about what prompted the FBI to send 37 armed agents to Mr. Trump’s home, or what investigators hoped to find.
More than 24 hours later, the Justice Department and FBI remained silent about the reasons behind the raid.
The White House was also mum. At a bill signing, President Biden did not answer questions shouted at him by reporters about the raid.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre insisted Mr. Biden wasn’t given a heads up about the action taken against his possible opponent in the 2024 presidential election.
“It would not be appropriate for us to comment on any ongoing investigations,” she told reporters, stressing the independence of the Justice Department.
She did say that Mr. Biden was not given advance notice about the raid and has not been debriefed since it occurred. However, she declined to say whether Mr. Biden spoke with Attorney General Merrick Garland late Monday or Tuesday.
“The president learned about this just like you all did — through the public reports and we learned about this just like the American people did,” Ms. Jean-Pierre said.
