OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Nearly a week after the FBI raided former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, the Biden administration is warning federal and local law enforcement about the possibility of “domestic terrorism.”
The Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security, FBI, and Customs and Border Protection also issued warnings using very similar language, CBS News reported.
“Last night, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice issued a Joint Intelligence Bulletin, accessible via the Homeland Security Information Network, providing information on the potential for domestic violent extremists to carry out attacks on federal, state, and local law enforcement and government personnel or facilities,” CBP Commissioner Chris Magnus wrote in a memo to employees this weekend.
He said the warnings were necessary “in light of an increase in threats and acts of violence, including armed encounters, against law enforcement, judiciary, and government personnel, in reaction to the FBI’s recent execution of a court-authorized search warrant in Palm Beach, Florida.”
In a statement, an FBI spokesperson said the agency is “always concerned about violence and threats of violence to law enforcement, including the men and women of the FBI.”
“We work closely with our law enforcement partners to assess and respond to such threats, which are reprehensible and dangerous,” the statement continued. “As always, we would like to remind members of the public that if they observe anything suspicious to report it to law enforcement immediately.”
For his part, Attorney General Merrick Garland is also facing a slew of questions.
While speaking to reporters at the Department of Justice last week, Garland announced that the DOJ filed a motion to unseal the search warrant for Mar-a-Lago.
Garland said he “personally approved” the matter against the former president.
The FBI’s raid was allegedly tied to boxes of classified information that Trump had supposedly taken to his Florida estate.
Attorney General Merrick Garland on FBI's search of former President Trump's Mar-a-Lago home: "I personally approved the decision to seek a search warrant in this matter." pic.twitter.com/h3Ek1vCaAx
— CSPAN (@cspan) August 11, 2022
However, an exclusive report from the New York Post painted a different story, arguing that the search warrant “focused solely on presidential records and evidence of classified information being stored there.”
Even so, the FBI reportedly searched Mar-a-Lago for over nine hours.
Some reports even suggested agents searched through former First Lady Melania Trump’s closets and wardrobes, raising even more questions.
Another issue for Garland is that Trump told the NY Post that several of his attorneys “had been cooperating fully with federal authorities on the return of the documents to the National Archives and Records Administration.”
Assuming that is true, it certainly raises questions about why the FBI needed to conduct an unannounced raid just to retrieve the documents.
Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul slammed the raid and called for an investigation into Garland.
“Without question, I think the order to allow the raid on Mar-a-Lago on Trump’s house has to be revealed,” Paul said. “It’s going to have to wait until November till there’s a full investigation.”
“And I’ve never been a fan of overusing impeachment, but I think there has to be an investigation. And if it warrants it, there’s going to have to be a look at whether or not the attorney general has misused his office for political purposes. Have they gone after a political opponent? I mean, this is beyond the pale.”
“No one would have ever imagined before that we would be using or one political party would be using the FBI to attack their political opponents,” Paul said. “Now, this is really something that’s going to require an investigation. And I wouldn’t be surprised if the investigation leads to abuse of power that this could even lead to an impeachment of the attorney general.”
Trump attorney Lindsey Halligan said that the warrant was “sealed” when agents showed up to search Trump’s estate.
Another Trump lawyer, Christian Bobb, meanwhile, told streaming network Real America’s Voice: “When I arrived and kind of announced myself as the legal representation for President Trump. I asked to see a copy of the warrant.”
