OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
The FBI raid on President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home has been a benefit to him politically as many had predicted.
A new Politico/Morning Consult poll showed a 10 point swing of some voters from Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as the preferred candidate in 2024, to the former president.
As for what this all means politically, it appears that Trump is benefitting from a small rally-around-the-flag effect among Republicans:
In mid-July , 53% of Republican voters and Republican-leaning independents said they would vote for Trump if the 2024 primary were being held today.
Our polling today finds Trump with 57%. The next closest candidate is Florida Gov. RON DESANTIS at 17% — down from 23% in the July poll. No other candidate breaks double digits.
Democrat, and HBO host of “Real Time,” Bill Maher, was furious with the raid because he believed, as this poll showed, that it benefitted the former president.
“If it turns out to be the real deal, if it turns out that Donald Trump has violated the Espionage Act, that is a serious crime, and he should be held to account,” his guest, Piers Morgan, said. “If it doesn’t turn out to be there, that there are legitimate questions, I think, from the Trump supporters about the different standards applied to Donald Trump that hasn’t been applied to Hillary Clinton to James Comey to Hunter Biden and the others.”
“His fortune was finally falling. The Big Lie was finally losing momentum. DeSantis was beating him in the polls — you know who hates this more than anybody? DeSantis,” the host said.
“‘I had this in the bag, and now I got to run against President Martyr,'” he said, mimicking the Florida governor.
“And this is saving Trump politically because now, of course, all the Republicans — what do they do?” he said, correctly suggesting that Republicans would rally behind Trump.
The reason why more than two dozen FBI agents were unleashed on former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence on Monday has been revealed, according to a late Wednesday report.
The Washington Post claimed that, according to unnamed sources, agents were searching for highly classified documents on “nuclear weapons.”
Not surprisingly, the Post’s account didn’t provide any specifics regarding whether the alleged documents were about U.S. nuclear weapons or those possessed by another nation. Also, the Post’s report did not reveal what agents actually recovered during the search.
“If that is true, it would suggest that material residing unlawfully at Mar-a-Lago may have been classified at the highest classification level,” offered David Laufman, the former chief of the Justice Department’s counterintelligence section, which is responsible for investigating classified leaks.
“If the FBI and the Department of Justice believed there were top secret materials still at Mar-a-Lago, that would lend itself to greater ‘hair-on-fire’ motivation to recover that material as quickly as possible,” he told the Post.
Justice Dept. lawyers have filed a motion to have the search warrant unsealed, a move that Trump readily agreed should happen.
“The public’s clear and powerful interest in understanding what occurred under these circumstances weighs heavily in favor of unsealing,” the motion says. “That said, the former President should have an opportunity to respond to this Motion and lodge objections, including with regards to any ‘legitimate privacy interests’ or the potential for other ‘injury’ if these materials are made public.”
“Not only will I not oppose the release of documents related to the unAmerican, unwarranted, and unnecessary raid and break-in of my home in Palm Beach, Florida, Mar-a-Lago, I am going a step further by ENCOURAGING the immediate release of those documents, even though they have been drawn up by radical left Democrats and possible future political opponents, who have a strong and powerful vested interest in attacking me, much as they have done for the last 6 years,” Trump said in response Thursday evening.
“My poll numbers are the strongest they have ever been, fundraising by the Republican Party is breaking all records, and midterm elections are fast approaching. This unprecedented political weaponization of law enforcement is inappropriate and highly unethical. The world is watching as our Country is being brought to a new low, not only on our border, crime, economy, energy, national security, and so much more, but also with respect to our sacred elections!” he said.
“Release the documents now!” he concluded.
