Emails: FBI Lacked Probable Cause for Mar-a-Lago Raid

Interviews with witnesses had also not yielded any proof that sensitive intelligence files remained hidden at the former president’s estate since a trove of them was returned on June 3, 2022.

Washington Field Office Special Agent in Charge of Counterintelligence Tony Riedlinger and DC field office boss Steven D’Antuono were included on that email exchange.

Trump later accused the dozens of plainclothes FBI agents of having “raided, and occupied” his home and breaking into a safe during the search for classified records and national defense information.

The former president wasn’t on site, as he and his family had decamped to the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, NJ. Only a skeleton staff and groundskeepers remained.

Agents turned on their lights and sirens before swarming the complex, entering even first lady Melania Trump’s Versailles Master Bedroom, while a professional safe cracker later helped access items in his office, sources and Eric Trump later revealed.

Special counsel Jack Smith’s deputy Jay Bratt apparently did not expect to “negotiate” with the Trump attorney when serving an earlier grand jury subpoena because DOJ officials didn’t expect compliance, according to new FBI emails from June 2, 2022.

Earlier emails reveal DOJ officials wanted a search warrant ready as soon as June 6, 2022, for a meeting with Corcoran in case the president didn’t play ball — and were “adamant that no accommodation” be given to extend an earlier May deadline for the documents.

The scope of the search was later “widened” in July to only specify it wouldn’t include “guest rooms.”

An Aug. 1 email drafted to send to Corcoran listed “[a]ll boxes/containers present in the storage room,” “[t]he 45th Office at MAL,” “MAL Owner’s Quarters,” “[a]ll other spaces currently used to store USG [US government] documents from January 2021 to present,” “[a]ny relevant local off-site storage facilities.”

Smith charged Trump with dozens of counts in June 2023 related to his alleged hoarding of sensitive intelligence files in bedroom, bathroom, ballroom and basement locations at his Mar-a-Lago resort.

South Florida US District Judge Aileen Cannon later dismissed the case, ruling that Smith was unlawfully appointed special counsel without congressional approval.

In its letter to Grassley handing over the files, FBI Assistant Director Marshall Yates said the disclosures were aimed at restoring trust in the bureau.