OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
When a group of nearly two dozen FBI agents conducted a raid on Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate last August, it was an unprecedented action taken against a former president. Trump’s allies vehemently criticized the move, characterizing it as a clear act of political retaliation by a left-wing administration aiming to undermine their leading contender for the 2024 presidential race.
Of course, the Biden administration firmly denied any political motives and asserted that the raid was simply the natural progression of an ongoing investigation into a suspect believed to have unlawfully obtained sensitive materials.
However, recent testimony from senior FBI official Steven D’Antuono has raised suspicions that the raid may indeed have been politically motivated, with the objective of targeting President Joe Biden’s primary competitor.
D’Antuono testified recently before the House Judiciary Committee that he had “strong concerns” about several procedural violations that occurred ahead of the August 2022 raid at Trump’s estate.
D’Antuono — a former Assistant Director of the FBI’s Washington Field Office — pointed out a number of rule violations he says were made by FBI officials during the raid, all of which were detailed in a letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland from the committee’s chairman, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).
Jordan “noted several unusual features in the Department’s handling” of the raid in the letter he sent to the head of Biden’s Justice Department.
The former FBI agent detailed “several irregularities” within the FBI ahead of the raid of Trump’s residence, while going on to point to an apparent lack of concern from the bureau regarding stacks of classified documents discovered in President Joe Biden’s garage at one of his Delaware homes and elsewhere.
He also said he couldn’t understand why the Trump raid was assigned to Washington Field Office instead of the Miami office, which is geographically closer to Mar-a-Lago. That decision alone concerns the raid was likely more political in nature than a true law enforcement operation. In addition, he revealed that the bureau had not obtained consent to search Trump’s home before obtaining the search warrant. Agents who took part also did not wait for Trump’s attorney to arrive on-site before forcibly entering by cutting locks and conducting the search.
Finally, the Justice Department did not assign a U.S. attorney to oversee the raid, which is highly unusual.
In a recent Fox News interview, Trump’s attorney Alina Habba said she could not envision any scenario where Trump would take a plea deal from Biden’s Justice Department to avoid being convicted on any charges.
“No, I could never imagine,” Habba told host Shannon Bream. “I know I would never advise that. Especially when he’s not done anything wrong. You take a plea deal to make something go away. That’s an admission of guilt. He would never admit guilt because there was nothing wrong with declassifying documents, taking documents with you…”
“The only thing that was wrong was the raid on his home and the complete dual-tier system of justice that we’re seeing here when the Biden family is being treated completely differently than the Trump family,” she continued. “So to plea is exactly what they would want.”
The indictment says that Trump, as president, “had lawful access to the most sensitive classified documents and national defense information gathered and owned by the United States government, including information from the agencies that comprise the United States Intelligence Community and the United States Department of Defense.”
If convicted, Trump faces “decades” behind bars, Bream noted.
“I don’t think he’s thinking of it that way, and I don’t really think that’s a realistic way to think about this case,” Habba responded. “He’s done nothing wrong. He said that. This is completely politically motivated. It’s election interference at its best by a political opponent. So to his credit, and the world should understand, an indictment is a one-sided document. He has a defense. The defense is real.”
