A lawyer for former President Donald Trump said the ex-commander-in-chief is not fazed by the recent FBI raid on his Florida home.
Echoing statements made by Trump and his other lawyers, Habba said that the documents were declassified.
“They were being given to [the National Archives and Records Administration], given to the [Department of Justice], given to the FBI in coordination with the president, with his attorneys that are handling this issue,” Habba said.
Trump’s lawyer added that the FBI search is a “pretext” ahead of the 2022 midterms, and “the president is leading in the polls.”
The former president announced on Aug. 8 that the FBI had undertaken a surprise search of Mar-a-Lago. He previously said his team was complying with the federal government’s requests.
“[T]hey didn’t need to ’seize' anything,” Trump said in a Truth Social post on Aug. 12. “They could have had it anytime they wanted without playing politics and breaking into Mar-a-Lago. It was in secured storage, with an additional lock put on as per their request ... they could have had it anytime they wanted—and that includes LONG ago. ALL THEY HAD TO DO WAS ASK.”
Trump is under federal investigation for possible violations of the Espionage Act as well as obstruction of justice, a search warrant made public on Friday showed. Neither the FBI nor the DOJ issued public comments on why he is being investigated under those alleged violations, and neither agency has released the affidavit.
FBI agents removed 11 sets of allegedly classified documents including some marked as top secret, according to the DOJ.
The only public statement made by either agency was when Attorney General Merrick Garland announced during a press conference on Aug. 11 that the DOJ was filing court documents in a bid to unseal the warrant. Garland admitted that he personally authorized the warrant for the raid.
“First, I personally approved the decision to seek a search warrant in this matter,” Garland said. “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.”
