Judge Unseals Mar-a-Lago Raid Warrant, Reveals Why FBI Is Investigating Trump

President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump walk towards Marine One as they depart the White House en route to Mar-a-Lago, the President's private club, where they will spend Christmas and New Years Eve in Washington on Dec. 23, 2020. Samuel Corum/AFP via Getty Images

The seven-page warrant that authorized the FBI to search former President Donald Trump’s property on Aug. 8 was unsealed Aug. 12, and it shows that Trump is under federal investigation for obstruction of justice and other alleged violations.

Trump is under investigation for alleged violations of 18 USC 2071—concealment, removal, or mutilation; 18 USC 793 of the Espionage Act—gathering, transmitting, or losing defense information; and 18 USC 1519—destruction, alteration, or falsification of records in federal investigations, according to the warrant, which was unsealed by Judge Bruce Reinhart on Aug. 12. A conviction under these statutes can lead to imprisonment or fines.

The search and seizure warrant shows FBI agents targeted “the ‘45 Office,’ all storage rooms, and all other rooms or areas within the premises used or available to be used by FPOTUS (former president of the United States) and his staff and in which boxes or documents could be stored, including all structures or buildings on the estate.”

Agents were granted authority to seize “all physical documents and records constituting evidence, contraband, fruits of crime, or other items illegally possessed,” according to the warrant. That includes documents with classification markings and presidential records that were drafted between Jan. 20, 2017, and Jan. 20, 2021—when Trump was in office.

The FBI didn’t try to obtain access to search private guest rooms, including members of Mar-a-Lago, according to the warrant. Earlier this week, the judge ordered the Department of Justice to file a response after several groups requested the warrant unsealed.

Federal agents also took a set of alleged “top secret/SCI” documents, four sets of “top secret” documents, three sets of “secret” documents, and three sets of “confidential” documents, according to a property receipt unsealed alongside the warrant Aug. 12. It’s not clear what the documents entailed.

Response

Trump’s lawyers have argued that the former president used his authority as president to declassify the material before he departed office in early 2021.

“The Biden administration is in obvious damage control after their botched raid where they seized the President’s picture books, a ‘hand-written note,’ and declassified documents,” Trump spokesman Taylor Budowich told Fox News as the warrant was unsealed Aug. 12. “This raid of President Trump’s home was not just unprecedented, but unnecessary—and they are leaking lies and innuendos to try to explain away the weaponization of government against their dominant political opponent. This is outrageous.”

Local law enforcement officers in front of the home of former U.S. President Donald Trump at Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., on Aug. 9, 2022. Giorgio Viera/AFP via Getty Images

The Department of Justice on Aug. 11 filed a motion to unseal the warrant unless Trump objects to the move. The filing came around the same time Attorney General Merrick Garland announced that he personally approved the FBI’s search in Florida.

“Not only will I not oppose the release of the documents,” Trump wrote Aug. 11, referring to the FBI’s warrant. “I am going a step further by encouraging the immediate release of those documents,” he said.

And on Aug. 12, Trump posted that the documents the FBI alleged seized were “all declassified” and agents “they could have had [the documents] anytime they wanted without playing politics and breaking into Mar-a-Lago.” He added, “It was in secured storage, with an additional lock put on as per their request.”

Trump also wrote that Former President Obama “kept 33 million pages of documents, much of them classified. How many of them pertained to nuclear? Word is, lots!”

The Washington Post, citing unnamed sources, reported Aug. 11 that some documents relating to nuclear weapons were among the items sought by the FBI. But Trump early Aug. 12 said the report is a hoax and a continuation of the Trump-Russia collusion narrative that was pushed by legacy news outlets starting in late 2016.

Republicans have said the unprecedented FBI raid is a politicized attempt to target a former president who is currently mulling a 2024 run. Since Aug. 8, several GOP lawmakers have called on federal agencies to release the affidavit, which would provide more details as to what information the FBI was acting upon when it attempted to obtain the warrant.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) wrote on Twitter Aug. 12 that the Department of Justice “must release the information as to why a warrant was necessary, not what was taken ... they can redact the names and other sensitive information, but DOJ must lay their cards on the table.”