He said these were boxes of documents that Trump brought with him from the White House and that his father has been cooperating with the National Archives on this matter for months.
The Justice Department has been investigating the discovery of boxes of records containing classified information that were taken to Mar-a-Lago after Trump’s presidency had concluded. The Washington Post reported that the National Archives and Records Administration said it had recovered 15 boxes of records containing classified information from Mar-a-Lago earlier this year. Trump has previously maintained that the presidential records were handed over “in an ordinary and routine process.”
A Trump supporter walks past his Mar-a-Lago estate, following news of the attack. Credit: AP
Depending on what the search uncovers, the issue could be a powder keg for Trump because of a section of the US Code that makes it a crime if someone in possession of government documents “conceals, removes, mutilates, obliterates, falsifies or destroys voluntarily and illegally”. ” they.
Those convicted under the law face up to three years in prison and disqualification from holding office.
Trump has been teasing for months that he will launch another bid for the White House in 2024, despite his ongoing legal troubles on multiple fronts.
Over the past year, a congressional committee has also investigated the 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, culminating in a series of explosive hearings accusing the former president of knowingly inciting the incident as apart from a deliberate and coordinated attempt to overthrow. the 2020 elections.
The former president is expected to announce his 2024 bid for the White House in the coming months. Credit: AP
Trump, famous for exaggerations and lies, claimed he was once again being politically persecuted by “radical left-wing Democrats” and compared the events to Watergate, the 1972 burglary that led to the biggest political scandal of his time. age.
“What’s the difference between this and Watergate, where agents broke into the Democratic National Committee?” he asked, before stating, “In reverse here, the Democrats broke into the home of the 45th president of the United States.”
Within hours, Trump used the incident to raise campaign cash. Its fundraising arm, Save America, sent an email with a clip of former adviser Stephen Miller on Fox News describing the act as an “abomination,” with a link to “Donate to Save America.”
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Supporters had also gathered outside Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate to protest the former president’s treatment, holding signs and shouting obscenities.
The execution of the search warrant raises the stakes for the Justice Department, which earlier Monday in a legal filing defended its decision to seize the phone of John Eastman, the lawyer who help design Trump’s strategy to reverse the results of the 2020 election.
It comes three months before the midterm elections, and as candidates who defend Trump’s false claims that the last presidential election was stolen are also steadily advancing in their primaries.
That has worried the Republican Party’s old guard who fear some of these candidates are too extreme to appeal to mainstream voters, especially in the suburbs where elections are won or lost.
The latest case study of Trump’s brand of electoral denial emerged on Tuesday in Arizona, where three Republicans who support his lies won key positions in the swing state.
The White House has yet to respond to the matter, referring questions to the Justice Department, which must also respond.
The Justice Department has indicted about 800 people for their roles in the Jan. 6 attack, but has been criticized for moving too slowly in investigating Trump and his inner circle.
Attorney General Merrick Garland simply said the department would “follow the facts, wherever they lead.”
“No person is above the law in this country,” Garland said in June.
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Top House Republican Kevin McCarthy, who wants to be speaker if Republicans win the midterms, said the department had “reached an intolerable state of weaponized politicization.”
“When Republicans take back the House, we will conduct immediate oversight of this department, follow the facts and leave no stone unturned,” McCarthy tweeted. “Attorney General Garland, preserve your documents and clear your calendar.”
– with Reuters