FBI repeatedly warned DOJ didn't have probable cause to raid Trump home: 'Not been corroborated'

The FBI in summer 2022 raised repeated objections to raiding Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago home in Florida, warning agents did not believe the Biden Justice Department had enough evidence to establish "probable cause" that the then-former president had broken the law in handling classified documents, according to bombshell memos turned over Tuesday to Congress.

"WFO [FBI's Washington Field Office] has conducted approximately [Redacted] interviews related to this matter. Very little has been developed related to who might be culpable for mishandling the documents," a June 1, 2022 FBI memo declared. "From the interviews, WFO has gathered information suggesting that there may be additional boxes (presumably of the same type as were sent back to NARA [National Archives] in January) at Mar-a-Lago."

"WFO has been drafting a Search Warrant affidavit related to these potential boxes, but has some concerns that the information is single source, has not been corroborated, and may be dated. DOJ CES [Counterintelligence and Export Control Section] opines, however, that the SWs [search warrants] meet the probable cause standard," that memo read.

Over a month later, FBI agents raised more concerns, including about the legality of searching Trump's personal residence at the Mar-a-Lago residence, the memos show.

"DOJ has inquired as to an Ops Plan for a SW of MAL [Mar-a-Lago]. I let them know we are not in agreement for PC [probable cause] on the SW [search warrant] and that we already had an Ops Plan in place that will [sic] can be quickly updated between FBI/MM [Miami Field Office] and FBI/WF [Washington Field Office]," a redacted FBI agent in the nation's capital wrote in a July 12, 2022 email. "However, WF-[Redacted] does not believe we have PC for the 45 Office or the bedroom due to recency and issues of boxes versus classified information. Therefore, as we are in disagreement on the SW and its scope, we are not yet finalizing a SW as we are missing relevant logistics and details."

Just the News obtained a copy of the memos after Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel declassified them and turned them over to Congress.

"Received shocking new docs 2day from DOJ & FBI showing FBI DID NOT BELIEVE IT HAD PROBABLE CAUSE to raid Pres[ident] Trump's Mar-a-Lago home, but Biden DOJ pushed for it anyway," Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley tweeted on Tuesday afternoon. "Based on the records, Mar-a-Lago raid was a miscarriage of justice."

The emails were turned over to the Senate and House Judiciary committees, ahead of a planned deposition Wednesday from ex-special prosecutor Jack Smith, who inherited the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case just months after the August 2022 raid of Trump's home that rocked the political world ahead of the 2024 election.

It has long been rumored that some FBI agents disagreed with the decision to raid Trump's home to look for classified documents at the request of the National Archives.

But the declassified emails chronicle the specific concerns that DOJ under President Joe Biden had not met the standard for a search warrant, but proceeded anyway, officials said.

Jay Bratt, at the time the chief of the DOJ’s CES and a future member of future special counsel Jack Smith’s team, was key in pushing for the Mar-a-Lago raid. An FBI official sent an email on June 2, 2022 stating that “we learned from Jay Bratt that he did not intend to ‘negotiate’ with [Trump lawyer Evan] Corcoran, or have any further discussions with him.”

Brett Reynolds, a trial attorney at CES, appeared to send a draft of a search warrant on July 8, 2022. Michael Thacker, an assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of Florida, appeared to send another draft version of a search warrant on July 13, 2022.

“We haven't generated any new facts, but keep being given draft after draft after draft. Absent a witness coming forward with recent information about classified on site, at what point is it fair to table this? It is time consuming for the team, and not productive if there are no new facts supporting PC?” an FBI official wrote in a July 13, 2022 email.

“As everyone is tracking, WFO does not believe (and has articulated to DOJ CES) that we have established probable cause for the search warrant for classified documents at Mar-a-Lago," an FBI official wrote in another email dated July 20, 2022. "DOJ has opined that they do have probable cause, requesting a wide scope including residence, office, and storage space. In WFO’s opinion, if a primary goal of this investigation is to identify and recover classified records quickly, so as to protect the information, the six weeks spent fixated on probable cause for a search warrant have been counterproductive.”

The raid became a flash point in the battle between Biden and Trump ahead of the 2024 election, leading to two federal indictments against Trump that were ultimately dismissed in what Republicans argue were politically weaponized acts by a Democrat-run DOJ designed to influence the 2024 election.

The FBI raided Trump’s Florida resort home of Mar-a-Lago in August 2022 with the authorization of then-Attorney General Merrick Garland. The Biden attorney general picked Smith in November 2022 to lead the twin criminal investigations into Trump related to classified documents and the Capitol riot.

The House Judiciary Committee issued a subpoena recently compelling Smith to give a closed-door deposition Wednesday as part of the committee's probe into the federal prosecutions of Trump.

"The Committee on the Judiciary is continuing to conduct oversight of the operations of the Office of Special Counsel you led — specifically, your team's prosecutions of President Donald J. Trump and his co-defendants," Chairman Jim Jordan wrote in the letter accompanying the subpoena two weeks ago. "Due to your service as Special Counsel, the Committee believes that you possess information that is vital to its oversight of this matter."

Peter Koski, a lawyer for Smith, indicated that the former special counsel will comply.

Ahead of Smith's appearance, House Democrats are trying to force the release of a classified version of his final report on his investigation. Trump's legal team has gone to court to try block the release.

The Biden White House was also linked to the classified documents investigation into Trump.

Trump returned an initial batch of fifteen boxes from Mar-a-Lago to the National Archives in January 2022. However, the National Archives said it had found some records with classified markings and believed Trump continued to possess other records, and in February 2022, it referred the issue to the Justice Department.

Debra Wall, then the acting archivist at the National Archives and Records Administration, sent a May 2022 letter to Trump’s lawyers informing them that an initial review “identified items marked as classified national security information.”

The archivist said this resulted in Biden and the White House being made aware of the situation as the FBI sought access to the records.

The National Archives told Trump’s lawyers in early May 2022 that it “will provide the FBI access to the records in question, as requested by the incumbent President [Biden].”

“NARA informed the Department of Justice about that discovery, which prompted the Department to ask the President to request that NARA provide the FBI with access to the boxes at issue so that the FBI and others in the Intelligence Community could examine them,” Wall wrote in the letter. “On April 11, 2022, the White House Counsel’s Office — affirming a request from the Department of Justice supported by an FBI letterhead memorandum — formally transmitted a request that NARA provide the FBI access to the 15 boxes for its review within seven days.”

The National Archives letter in May 2022 was shortly followed by a grand jury subpoena, then by a June 2022 visit to Mar-a-Lago by federal investigators, and finally by the August 2022 raid.

Garland quickly said he “personally approved the decision to seek a search warrant” for the FBI’s unprecedented raid of Mar-a-Lago back in August 2022.

Smith and the Biden DOJ charged Trump in June 2023 over allegations related to the improper retention of classified documents, followed by a superseding indictment the next month. The charging documents alleged that “the unauthorized disclosure of these classified documents could put at risk the national security of the United States.”

Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed Smith’s classified documents case against Trump in July 2024, ruling that Smith had been unlawfully appointed as special counsel. Smith attempted to appeal the ruling but soon dropped it after Trump won the 2024 election against then-Vice President Kamala Harris.