OPINION: This article contains commentary which may reflect the author’s opinion
As the story of the raid of former President Trump’s home in Florida by the FBI unfolds, new factors are exposed.
For instance, the documents under question seem to have been addressed earlier, and documents personal to the former president were taken.
Questions of “attorney-client privilege” arise, as do questions of “executive privilege.”
And the questions as to who knew what when and why are cropping up as fast as answers are being given.
According to a Fox News update Saturday evening, an attorney certified in June that no classified documents remained at the palatial estate, which is located in Palm Beach, Fla., citing two sources familiar with the situation.
“Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigations executed a search warrant of former President Trump’s Florida estate on Monday and seized items which include 11 sets of material that are listed as classified,” the update continued, adding:
Trump’s lawyers previously held a high-level meeting with people from the Justice Department and the FBI, which the former president briefly attended, but it’s unclear if the letter was signed during the meeting.
Lawyers for former President Trump could face serious legal consequences if they knowingly gave false information to law enforcement.
But attorney-client privilege means confidentiality.
In addition, Fox News reported that the FBI seized sensitive attorney-client privilege documents during the raid.
“Sources familiar with the investigation told Fox News Saturday that the former president’s team was informed that boxes labeled A-14, A-26, A-43, A-13, A-33, and a set of documents—all seen on the final page of the FBI’s property receipt —contained information covered by attorney-client privilege,” the outlet reported.
“Attorney-client privilege refers to a legal privilege that keeps communications between an attorney and their client confidential,” Fox News added.
The report went on to note that sources said some of the records could also be covered by executive privilege, which provides the president and others within the Executive Branch authority to withhold certain items deemed sensitive such as advice and consultation between the president and his senior aides and advisers.
But Fox News reported that, at this point, it’s not clear if those records pertain to communications between Trump and his private attorneys, White House counsel during his term, or both.
In an interview this past week, Trump’s lawyer stated that he watched the search form outside the search area.
Regarding the raid itself, Trump lawyer Christina Bobb said that the former president and many family members watched the FBI during “the whole” raid, meaning it is possible that they could have seen parts of the search that were in view of the cameras, as Trump suggested last week.
“It’s kind of funny. I think the folks in New York, President Trump, and his family, probably had a better view than I did because they had the CCTV, they were able to watch,” Bobb told the streaming network Real America’s Voice, according to the New York Post.
Bobb said that the FBI had initially instructed Trump’s staff and his attorneys to shut off the closed circuit TV security system, but they refused to do so and allowed it to remain in operation the entire raid.
It has not been reported exactly how much of the search Trump and his family could actually see on the closed-circuit TV at the home.
Now, it has come to light that Trump had sent an inquiring message in the spirit of collaboration to the AG prior to the search.
It seems his open-ended question is now being taken as a specific permission regarding that specific search.
According to The New York Times, the former president sent a private message to Attorney General Merrick Garland prior to the latter’s press conference following the raid in which Garland said he “personally approved” the search.
The message was relayed to Garland by someone close to Trump shortly before the press conference, to which Garland was around 35 minutes late.
“The country is on fire. What can I do to reduce the heat?” said Trump’s message, according to the Times.
During the presser, Garland only spoke for a few moments and did not take any questions from assembled reporters, Conservative Brief reports.
“First, I personally approved the decision to seek a search warrant in this matter,” Garland admitted during the press conference. “Second, the Department does not take such a decision lightly.
Where possible, it is standard practice to seek less intrusive means as an alternative to a search, and to narrowly scope any search that is undertaken.”
Trump reacted again to the raid on his Truth Social platform.
“The RAID was Politics, the Midterm Elections, and 2024. It’s another form of Election CHEATING – That’s all the Radical Left Democrats know what to do. They use the FBI & DOJ to try and dirty up their opponents, but the people of our Country are wise to them like never before. Be careful what you wish for!” he wrote.
Source: The Republic Brief