Informant Reportedly Tipped Off FBI On Where To Search Trump’s Home In Mar-a-Lago Raid

A confidential informant told the FBI the location of classified documents seized during the agency’s Monday raid of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home, Newsweek reported, citing two senior government officials.

FBI agents raided Trump’s home early Monday and seized roughly ten boxes of documents in connection with files sought by the National Archives that Trump had brought to his home from the White House, according to multiple reports. The agents were executing a search warrant signed by Judge Bruce Reinhart.

The officials, one of whom is part of the Justice Department with three decades of FBI service, told the outlet the raid intentionally happened while Trump was not there to avoid a confrontation with the president and undue attention in the press. The FBI veteran called that decision a “spectacular backfire” despite terming the raid “a routine law enforcement action, stripped of any political overtones.”

The officials added that the documents had been illegally removed from the White House, according to Newsweek.

The other official said the goal was “to avoid any media circus,” according to Newsweek. The individual admitted that “even though everything made sense bureaucratically and the FBI feared that the documents might be destroyed, they also created the very firestorm they sought to avoid, in ignoring the fallout.”

Former US President Donald Trump raises his fist while walking to a vehicle outside of Trump Tower in New York City on August 10, 2022. - Donald Trump on Wednesday declined to answer questions under oath in New York over alleged fraud at his family business, as legal pressures pile up for the former president whose house was raided by the FBI just two days ago. (Photo by STRINGER/AFP via Getty Images)

Former US President Donald Trump raises his fist while walking to a vehicle outside of Trump Tower in New York City on August 10, 2022. STRINGER/AFP via Getty Images

Trump’s son Eric claimed the raid occurred over official presidential records the former president had brought from the White House, according to Reuters. (RELATED: Trump Alleges FBI Blocked Lawyers From Watching Raid, Says He Hopes FBI Wasn’t Planting Evidence)

The Presidential Records Act only allows presidents to take official documents “of a purely private or nonpublic character,” the outlet reported. It disqualifies those who “willfully and unlawfully” remove other official records from all U.S. offices, fines them $2,000 or imprisons them for up to three years, according to Newsweek.

Newsweek’s two sources claimed the FBI claimed the documents the FBI raided Mar-A-Lago to recover were highly classified and had been taken from the White House illegally.

Trump and the FBI did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

TK

Source: The Daily Caller