Everything we know so far about the FBI's Mar-a-Lago raid
What's in the box?
More than a dozen FBI agents executed a search warrant on former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago club and residence Monday as part of the Justice Department's investigation into whether Trump broke any laws when he improperly took at least 15 boxes of material to Florida when he left office, people familiar with the raid told multiple news organizations. Eric Trump told Fox News on Monday evening that "the National Archives wanted to corroborate whether or not Donald Trump had any documents in his possession."
Some of the material recovered from Mar-a-Lago in February contained highly classified national security information, the National Archives said at the time. "The law governing the preservation of White House materials, the Presidential Records Act, lacks teeth, but criminal statutes can come into play, especially in the case of classified material," The New York Times reports. "Officials can face up to five years in prison for removing classified materials to an unauthorized location," The Wall Street Journal adds.
Technically, a conviction on charges of removing, concealing, or destroying government records would also disqualify Trump from holding federal office again, the Times reports, though legal experts said enforcing that clause would require litigation.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Mar-a-Lago was closed and Trump was in New York City during the raid. He has spent much of the the summer at his Bedminster golf club in New Jersey, "preparing for a deposition with the New York attorney general in a civil matter related to his finances," the Times reports. Trump lawyer Christina Bobb, who was present during the search, said FBI agents "seized paper."
"Searching a former president's property to look for possible evidence of a crime is highly unusual and would require approval at the top levels of the Justice Department," as well as sign-off from a federal magistrate, The Washington Post says. White House officials said President Biden and his aides learned of the raid from news reports.
"There has been nothing like this in recent decades," John Q. Barrett, a law professor at St. John's University in New York, tells the Journal. "No person is above the law, and we have many Supreme Court decisions about occupants of high office not being above the law, but when someone is out of office, he's just a person like everyone else, living in his home and subject to obeying the law."
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
Why Captchas are getting harder to solve
Under The Radar If the process continues to get harder, it could cause problems for people trying to book tickets for popular shows
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Today's political cartoons - April 28, 2024
Cartoons Sunday's cartoons - airline safety, teleprompter gaffs, and more
By The Week US Published
-
5 doom 'n' gloom cartoons about the mess we're in
Cartoons Artists take on long-term pessimism, dystopian fears, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Justices set to punt on Trump immunity case
Speed Read Conservative justices signaled support for Trump's protection from criminal charges
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
'Biden is smart to keep the border-security pressure on'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
Arizona grand jury indicts 18 in Trump fake elector plot
Speed Read The state charged Mark Meadows, Rudy Giuliani and other Trump allies in 2020 election interference case
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
'Voters know Biden and Trump all too well'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
Who will win the 2024 presidential election?
In Depth Election year is here. Who are pollsters and experts predicting to win the White House?
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
National Enquirer helped Trump in 2016, ex-boss says
Speed Read David Pecker says the tabloid published fabricated content to hurt Trump's rivals
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Sitting in judgment on Trump
Opinion Who'd want to be on this jury?
By Susan Caskie Published
-
How could the Supreme Court's Fischer v. US case impact the other Jan 6. trials including Trump's?
Today's Big Question A former Pennsylvania cop might hold the key to a major upheaval in how the courts treat the Capitol riot — and its alleged instigator
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published