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The White House ripped Joe Biden after documents declassified by President Donald Trump on Monday revealed internal strife between the former president’s Department of Justice (DOJ) and the FBI’s Washington Field Office (WFO) before carrying out a raid on Mar-a-Lago in 2022.
In the months leading up to the raid, internal emails between FBI agents in the field office expressed frustration that the DOJ, led by then-Attorney General Merrick Garland, was unresponsive to their requests and unwilling to consider alternative options to raiding Trump’s estate in Palm Beach, Florida a year-and-a-half after he left office after his first term.
Fox News Digital exclusively reported on the internal emails, which show the FBI didn’t believe it had probable cause to execute the warrant, in December.
“Spying on political opponents is weaponization of law enforcement, plain and simple,” the White House said Tuesday. “This is further proof the Biden administration weaponized the DOJ to target political opponents. Those responsible must be held accountable.”
President Donald Trump’s administration secured an interim Supreme Court victory allowing it to continue third-country deportations while the legal battle plays out. (Getty Images)
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An email dated May 24, 2022, with the subject line “PE (Plasma Echo) Next steps – timeline preference – UNCLASSIFIED,” the special agent in charge of the counterintelligence division of the WFO sent an internal email detailing a proposed timeline for the investigation, ending with the execution of a search warrant. That target date was June 6 of that year. The raid would eventually take place on Aug. 8, 2022.
Another agent replied asking the first to loop the DOJ in on the timeline. What followed was skepticism that the raid was even necessary.
“[REDACTED] and I also agreed if there was a way to obtain the records via the [REDACTED], without the execution of the SW (search warrant), it would be preferable,” the special agent in charge said.
Another batch of internal emails from June 1-2, 2022, shows the FBI seeking a potential off-ramp from the investigation that was heading towards the execution of the raid.
An aerial view of President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, Aug. 10, 2022, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)
“Even as we continue down the path towards a search warrant, WFO believes that a reasonable conversation with the former President’s attorney, [REDACTED], ought not to be discounted,” the email said. “At a minimum, even if the former President’s attorney is correct and that the documents were all declassified (or believed to be declassified), it can be reasonably argued that the documents remain sensitive and should be properly secured until the matter of classification is sorted out. This conversation could easily be accomplished at the same time that WFO presses forward with the investigation and continues building out the search warrant.”
The emails noted that Trump’s defense attorneys would likely argue that the president has the absolute authority to declassify documents and expressed frustration that the DOJ, despite being asked, had not provided the FBI with a list of the charges they might file.
An internal email from July 13, 2022, less than a month before the raid, the assistant special agent in charge of the WFO said flatly that the FBI didn’t believe there was probable cause for the raid.
Attorney General Merrick Garland takes questions from reporters during a news conference at the Department of Justice Building in Washington, D.C., on May 23, 2024. The Justice Department filed a lawsuit seeking to break up Live Nation, alleging the Ticketmaster parent company violated antitrust laws and harmed consumers. (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)
“WFO does not believe (and has articulated to DOJ CES), that we have established probable cause for the search warrant at Mar a Lago. DOJ has opined that they do, requesting the a wide scope including residence, office, storage space,” that email says.
The agent annoyedly continued by implying that the DOJ wasn’t interested in recovering the allegedly mishandled classified documents, intimating that there may have been an ulterior motive.
“Finally, if the goal is to identify and recover classified records quickly, so as to protect the information, the 5 weeks spent fixated on probable cause for a search warrant have been counterproductive,” the email said.
The agent offered other solutions to the raid, including re-interviewing Trump’s attorney and attempting to find other material witnesses.
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Joe Biden speaks during the opening of the Barack Obama Presidential Center in Chicago, Illinois. (Kent NISHIMURA / AFP via Getty Images)
“A reasonable step would be to recontact the attorney and inquire about any further documents. WFO has made numerous suggestions to DOJ over the course of this investigation that the most expedient way to ensure recovery of all classified documents would be to go through [REDACTED]. DOJ has persistently disagreed.
Other documents declassified by the White House Monday showed that the FBI tapped now-White House chief of staff Susie Wiles’ phone and tracked the movements of Melania and Barron Trump.
The raid on Trump’s Florida estate was viewed as politically driven by many, as Trump was at the time mulling what became a successful bid for the presidency in 2024.
President Donald Trump arrives to host a dinner in the Rose Garden of the White House on Sept. 2, 2026, in Washington, D.C. Trump invited Republicans running in competitive races ahead of the November elections. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
DOJ-appointed special counsel Jack Smith investigated the alleged retention of classified materials. Trump pleaded not guilty to all 37 felony charges from Smith’s probe, including willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice and false statements.
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A superseding indictment charged Trump with three more alleged crimes: another count of willful retention of national defense information and two additional obstruction counts.
Trump pleaded not guilty, and Smith dropped after Trump won the 2024 presidential election.