Former President Donald Trump said on Oct. 5 that the August raid conducted by the FBI had backfired by generating “about $5 billion worth of free publicity” for his Mar-a-Lago residence.
Mar-a-Lago came under the spotlight following the raid, as Trump described, with “helicopters flying over” it. According to Trump, the intensive coverage has helped boost his estate’s promotion free of charge.
“It has given us about $5 billion worth of free publicity, I will say. People said, ‘That’s a nice house.’ If it weren’t so nice, they probably wouldn’t be doing it because it gets ratings,” Trump said.
He again called the raid a hoax, a charade. He repeated that the political attack on him was an effort to oust him from the 2024 presidential run.
“Now the failing Biden regime wants to start investigating me, and the only reason is because I’m leading everybody in the polls, both Republicans and Democrats, by a lot,” Trump contended.
Trump further rejected the allegations lodged against him, such as obstruction of justice and mishandling of presidential records, after federal investigators claimed to have found dozens of classified and top secret documents at Mar-a-Lago.
“Everyone knows we’ve done nothing wrong. They are targeting me because they want to silence me, silence you, and silence our amazing MAGA movement. There’s never been a movement like this in the history of our country,” Trump said at the event.
Since the raid, Trump had stated that he declassified a range of materials when he was president. His lawyers have yet to provide details about those declassification orders in court papers.
“Different people say different things, but as I understand it, if you’re the president of the United States, you can declassify just by saying it’s declassified, even by thinking about it,” he told Fox News.
“Because you’re sending it to Mar-a-Lago or wherever you’re sending it. There doesn’t have to be a process. There can be a process, but there doesn’t have to be,” Trump said. “You’re the president … you make that decision on whether to declassify.”
The classified documents are currently being investigated by the court-appointed special master.
On Wednesday, Trump called out the unfair persecution he has been facing.
Regarding the handling of presidential records, “no other person has been harassed and persecuted,” Trump said.
