How the Trump fear factor loomed over Mar-a-Lago search "Upholding the rule of law means applying the law evenly, without fear or favor," Attorney General Merrick Garland said Aug. 11, 2022, after the FBI searched Donald Trump's residence at Mar-a-Lago. "Under my watch, that is precisely what the Justice Department is doing." Garland has emphasized this high-minded goal as his department's work has put it on a collision course with the former president. The reality of scrutinizing the former president, of course, is much more complicated. And that's reinforced, in spades, by an authoritative new Washington Post look at the buildup to the Mar-a-Lago search. The exclusive report from The Post's Carol D. Leonnig, Devlin Barrett, Perry Stein and Aaron C. Davis lays out the disagreements that preceded the search, with the FBI often urging a more cautious approach than Justice Department prosecutors. Disagreements, as they note, are inherent to such high-stakes processes. But, even as such concerns didn't ultimately carry the day, Trump's long-standing efforts to instill fear in and make life hell for those who run afoul of him obviously loomed as a factor in the decision-making. Let's walk through what they reveal: - Lead prosecutor Jay Bratt was advocating an unannounced search by early May, when preliminary interviews with witnesses indicated there were many more boxes of presidential records at Mar-a-Lago that might contain classified materials.
- But some FBI agents viewed that as premature and overly combative, given the situation involved a former president. Ultimately, it was agreed that they would subpoena Trump.
- After Trump's lawyers turned over additional documents marked classified in early June, some FBI field agents wanted to close the criminal investigation altogether — on the (it turns out false) assumption that Trump had turned over everything.
- In late June, the government subpoenaed surveillance footage and discovered someone had moved boxes from where the documents had been stored, not long after the subpoena was issued. This raised the prospect of more classified-marked documents to be found.
- By mid-July, prosecutors were again pushing for a search. But FBI agents were still reluctant. Per The Post's report, prosecutors "heard from top FBI officials that some agents were simply afraid: They worried taking aggressive steps investigating Trump could blemish or even end their careers, according to some people with knowledge of the discussions."
- About a week before the Aug. 8 search, the head of the FBI's Washington Field Office, Steven M. D'Antuono, argued strongly against a surprise search. (Others worried that coordinating the search with Trump's team might allow evidence to be hidden or destroyed.) He "complained how bad it would look for agents with 'FBI' emblazoned on their jackets to invade a former president's home." Ultimately, it was decided that agents would wear white polo shirts and khakis instead of the traditional blue "FBI" jackets.
- D'Antuono and FBI agents worried about Bratt demurring when asked whether Trump was a target of the investigation. "They feared any of these features might not stand up to scrutiny if an inspector general or congressional committee chose to retrace the investigators' steps," The Post's report says.
- Even shortly before the Aug. 8 search, some FBI agents wanted to call Trump lawyer Evan Corcoran when they arrived for the search, allowing him to fly down and join it. FBI headquarters also asked for a one-day delay to avoid a conflict with an FBI announcement.
Ultimately, the surprise search was conducted on the planned date, without waiting for Corcoran. But The Post's report states that some inside the investigation said the disagreements delayed the search "by months." That could reduce the amount of time prosecutors have to decide on whether to file charges. The reporting provides one of the most fulsome pictures to date of how Trump's attacks on his foes loom over such officials. Yes, there was also fear of missteps like those that took place in the Clinton and earlier Trump investigations. And the concerns weren't necessarily Trump-specific (as opposed to concern about searching a former president, period). But perhaps nobody in modern American politics has wielded fear as a political weapon as successfully as Trump has. It's not just Trump firing former FBI director James B. Comey over "this Russia thing," pressuring his attorney general to fire deputy director Andrew McCabe, and making then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions's life hell. It's also Trump's routine attacks on those who voted to impeach him and those leading investigations into him. It's Trump and his allies putting the fear of God into Fox News. It's lawmakers and elections officials apparently fearing for their safety and often heading for the exits. It's Trump continuing to promote violent rhetoric, despite how his supporters interpreted such statements ahead of Jan. 6, 2021. (One of Trump's other frequent targets, former FBI agent Peter Strzok, responded to The Post's story Wednesday by saying, "In 20 years of working cases involving classified information, I never — not once — encountered prosecutors who wanted to get a search warrant and reluctant … agents. The other way around, sure.") And sure enough, shortly after the search on Aug. 8, some Republicans assailed the search as a political attack. Trump and his allies quickly lodged baseless conspiracy theories about planted documents and the like. It's only human to consider the blowback that might come with scrutinizing Trump — and such considerations aren't always necessarily conscious. But we've seen over and over how effectively he's used fear as a tool. And that's something we should remember as various entities confront potential criminal charges against him. |
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