Trump Accuses FBI and DOJ of ‘Leaking’ at ‘Levels Never Seen Before’

Former President Donald Trump waves while walking to a vehicle outside of Trump Tower in New York on Aug. 10, 2022. Stringer/AFP via Getty Images

Former President Donald Trump on Thursday accused the Department of Justice of trying to circumvent the 1978 Presidential Records Act during this month’s FBI raid on his Florida residence, while claiming the agency is leaking information to the press.

“It can not be circumvented, for me or any other President,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “They illegally Raided my home, and took things that should not have been taken. They even broke into my safe, an unthinkable act!”

Around the same time, the 45th president accused the FBI and Department of Justice of “leaking” information to the media “at levels never seen before” in regards to the raid and investigation.

He did not elaborate on a specific instance of agency leaks to the media about the raid or investigation. However, during the early stages of Trump’s presidency, legacy news outlets would frequently cite alleged anonymous sources and officials within the Justice Department and FBI, including for the more spurious claims relating to the Russian collusion narrative.

Mueller’s Investigation

Later, former special counsel Robert Mueller wrote he found no evidence that Trump’s 2016 campaign colluded with Russia. And a memo released by the Justice Department on Wednesday afternoon showed that two Department of Justice officials in 2019 wrote that Trump also did not obstruct justice, and even if he did, he should not be prosecuted for it because he’s the president.

“We conclude that the evidence described in Volume II of the Report is not, in our judgment, sufficient to support a conclusion beyond a reasonable doubt that the President violated the obstruction-of-justice statutes,” said the unredacted document, dated March 2019. “In addition, we believe that certain of the conduct examined by the Special Counsel could not, as a matter of law, support an obstruction charge under the circumstances.”

Trump, in a statement released via his Save America PAC, hailed the release of the memo and thanked the left-wing Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics for filing a lawsuit to seek its release.

“In the nine-page memo it was revealed that ‘Nothing would warrant a prosecution for obstruction of justice,’” Trump’s statement read. “It underscored that ‘Mueller had not found sufficient evidence to charge any underlying crime,’ and that the president ’reasonably believed that the Special Counsel’s investigation was interfering with his governing agenda.'”

On Thursday, the Department of Justice is ordered to submit a redacted affidavit that was used to obtain the FBI search warrant to U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart, who signed off on the warrant earlier this month.

Department of Justice lawyers had argued the affidavit should not be released in any capacity, while Reinhart has signaled earlier this week that he is willing to make it public.

The Epoch Times has contacted the Justice Department for comment.