Former President Donald Trump dismissed a White House claim that it didn’t know about the FBI raid on his Florida home.
“The ‘White House’ just announced that it had NO KNOWLEDGE of the early morning RAID on Mar-a-Lago, or the break in of Melania’s closets, my safe’s, or the secured and locked storage area where unclassified documents were safely held, and which the FBI knew of, was shown, and made recommendations that another lock be added (which they cracked, but not with the safecracker that they brought with them!),” Trump said in a
statement on his Truth Social platform on Aug. 13.
“Does ANYBODY really believe that the White House didn’t know about this?” Trump continued. “WITCH HUNT!”
Trump was referring to comments made by White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Aug. 9, when she said President Joe Biden “was not briefed” and “was not aware of” the FBI raid. She also said, “No one at the White House was given a heads up.”
FBI agents recovered what they deemed to be documents marked as confidential, classified, and top secret from Trump’s resort on Aug. 8, according to a warrant and a property receipt
unsealed by Judge Bruce Reinhart on Aug. 12. However, Trump has said that the documents were “
all declassified.”
The warrant said the FBI was investigating the former president for possible violation of three different statutes. One of the laws, the Espionage Act,
prohibits a broad range of actions regarding sensitive government records, including gathering, transmitting, or losing information related to national defense.
Republican lawmakers on the House Intelligence Committee, including House GOP Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), held a press conference on Aug. 12 to push back on the FBI raid.
“The FBI raid of President Trump is a complete abuse and overreach of its authority,” Stefanik
said. “President Donald Trump is Joe Biden’s most likely political opponent in 2024, and this is less than 100 days from critical midterm elections.
“House Republicans are committed to immediate oversight, accountability, and a fulsome investigation to provide needed transparency and answers to the American people regarding Joe Biden and his administration’s weaponization of the Department of Justice and FBI against Joe Biden’s political opponent,” she added.
In a separate Truth Social post on Aug. 13, Trump claimed that he would emerge from the probe “victorious.”
“Like all of the other Hoaxes and Scams that they’ve used to try and silence the voice of a vast majority of the American People, I have TRUTH on my side, and when you have TRUTH, you will ultimately be victorious!” Trump
wrote.
Minutes later, he published another
post, “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
