FBI seizes documents at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home – live reaction

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George Conway, a lawyer and a Washington Post contributing columnist, has appeared on CNN early this morning in the US from Ventnor City in New Jersey, questioning what could have made US Attorney General Merrick Garland sign off a search like this. Conway said:

You have to meet the basic standard of any search warrant. You have to show probable cause that someone – might not be Donald Trump – committed a crime and probable cause that there is evidence of that crime in the location being searched. And you have to particularise exactly what it is that you’re looking for. And you have to put that all in an affidavit that a federal judge reviews and then makes a determination that there is sufficient cause to invade someone’s privacy and to come into someone’s home and to do this.

That’s one thing, but this is a former president, and the political consequences, the national consequences, of going over your skis on this are just too huge for anything. But [it would take] the most significant evidence I think, that would justify Merrick Garland, who is a cautious person, to authorise this, and it had to be authorised by him personally.

And so you have to ask, what is it about this particular circumstance that has led the Justice Department to this step? Obviously, they don’t quite trust him [Trump], because they obviously don’t think that subpoenaing or requesting documents from him, will get them the answers they want, but what is it that they want?

Over at the Washington Post, in his analysis piece, Aaron Blake goes straight for what he sees as a weakness in Republican arguments that the FBI executing a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago is an unprecedented politically motivated abuse of the justice system. He writes this morning:

Trump has marshalled his army of supporters to declare, in knee-jerk fashion, any legal scrutiny of him a deep-state operation. It’s also an army that, it bears noting, was once quite consumed with the import of document security by would-be presidential candidates — and quite happy to promote the idea that their preferred candidate ought to “lock” such an opponent “up.”

Trump’s handling of government documents has long been a focal point. The question from there is whether this is a matter that merits a search warrant. That the Justice Department would go this route would seem to suggest it sees something potentially incriminating beyond merely shoddy record-keeping and document retention. The department knows this decision will be harshly scrutinized; going down this path only for its destination to be a minor finding, ending in a slap on the wrist, isn’t worth the blowback it’ll get from 40 to 45 percent of the country.

It also bears noting that this portion of the country was once quite laser-focused on keeping tabs on potentially sensitive government documents. Trump’s best attack on Hillary Clinton during the 2016 campaign was her private email server. Many of those who raised alarm bells about that were very quiet when we learned that government documents had made their way to Mar-a-Lago.

If you missed it earlier, the Guardian’s Washington bureau chief David Smith offered this analysis, saying that Republicans have dusted off a familiar playbook to weaponise the FBI’s Mar-a-Lago search:

Republicans responded furiously to the development, following Trump’s lead in claiming that the search showed the justice department waging a politically motivated witch-hunt. Their florid rhetoric will do little to assuage fears that a prosecution of Trump could lead to social unrest and even political violence.

Ronna McDaniel, chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, said: “Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Countless times we have examples of Democrats flouting the law and abusing power with no recourse.

The Republican response on Monday drew from a familiar playbook: Trump has long maintained that the Russia investigation, for example, was a “hoax” and part of a “deep state” conspiracy against him. Scrutiny of his removal of presidential records, or his role in the January 6 insurrection, is likely to produce a similar backlash.

David Axelrod, ex-strategist under Barack Obama, said: “This is why Trump is going to run. He wants to portray any criminal probe or prosecution as a plot to prevent him from once again becoming POTUS. Many of his followers will believe it – as they did his lies about the LAST election.”

Read more of David Smith’s analysis here: Republicans dust off familiar playbook to weaponise Mar-a-Lago FBI search

You may recall Alexander Vindman, the retired United States Army lieutenant colonel who retired claiming he had been bullied by President Trump and administration officials after he responded to a subpoena and testified in front of Congress during the hearings for Trump’s first impeachment.

Vindman has clearly woken up with a zing in his step today, and has fired off this tweet:

Hey GOP/MAGA/Fox News , if Trump and his henchmen can launch a campaign of harassment, intimidation, and retaliation against a serving Army Officer for testifying before Congress, it can happen to anyone.

Overnight Donald Trump launched a new campaign video on his Truth Social network, just hours after he had complained bitterly about his Mar-a-Lago residence being searched by the FBI.

The nearly four minute video paints a bleak picture of life in the United States during a lengthy black and white section which opens “we are a nation in decline, we are a failing nation”, then bursts into colour later on with a promise from Trump that “the best is yet to come”.

The video stops short of saying that Trump will run for 2024, but is as close as you can get to an election campaign video.

Clearly filmed before the FBI executed their search warrant, nevertheless at one point in the video Trump tells viewers “We’re a nation that has weaponized its law enforcement against the opposing political party like never before. We’ve never seen anything like this. We’re a nation that no longer has a free and fair press. Fake news is about all you get. We are a nation where free speech is no longer allowed.”

After news broke that the FBI executed a search warrant at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence, some of his supporters gathered outside the resort in Palm Beach, Florida.

The scene also drew protestors.

Here is a video clip of what it all looked like.

If you need a quick catch-up, then here is a handy list of the current lawsuits and investigations that former US President Donald Trump is facing. They include missing national records, which appears to have been the aim of the FBI’s search of Mar-a-Lago, as well as investigations over the attack on the US Capitol on 6 January, election tampering in Georgia, E Jean Carroll’s defamation case and a criminal inquiry in the state of New York.

You can find them all here: What lawsuits and investigations is Donald Trump facing?

Hello and welcome to our coverage of the continuing reaction to former US president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate being raided by the FBI. We’ll also be bringing you the rest of the day’s US politics news as it develops. Here is a summary of where things stand at the moment:

Former US President Donald Trump claimed FBI agents raided his Mar-a-Lago estate on Monday and broke into his safe, adding that his estate “is currently under siege, raided, and occupied.”
The FBI executed a search warrant around 6pm ET which appears to have been related to an investigation into Trump unlawfully taking White House classified documents with him to Mar-a-Lago after his presidency.
The search appeared to concern boxes of classified documents that Trump brought with him from the White House to the Florida club, the New York Times reported, citing two unnamed people familiar with the investigation.
Trump released a lengthy statement following the search, comparing the FBI raid to “Watergate” and blaming it on “Radical Left Democrats”. “After working and cooperating with the relevant government agencies, this unannounced raid on my home was not necessary or appropriate … They even broke into my safe!” he said.
Trump was not at the estate at the time of the raid andwas in the New York area, according to multiple reports.
The White House said it had no advance information of the FBI’s search. Justice Department officials declined to comment on any element of the search, including whether it informed the White House ahead of time, whether attorney general Merrick Garland approved the court-approved search warrant – or even if he was briefed on the raid. Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer said he didn’t know any more details other than what he read in the news.
The FBI obtained a warrant to search Mar-a-Lago because they were able to establish probable cause – to a federal magistrate judge in West Palm Beach, according to a source familiar with the matter – that Trump was unlawfully holding official White House records at his residence in Florida. The probable cause, in this case, was likely that the records were being kept at Mar-a-Lago. The very presence of government records at the resort is the potential crime, according to top former FBI officials who spoke to the Guardian on the condition of anonymity.
Former acting US Solicitor General said today’s search makes it likely that Trump is the target of a criminal investigation by the justice department and said his lawyer should be advising him about possible jail time.
Journalists at the scene in Palm Beach reported that a crowd of supporters gathered outside Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home holding flags late Monday eveningin Florida. NCB News reporter, Cristian Benavides, posted a series of videos of supporters at the scene. “The crowd near Mar-A-Lago continues to grow into the night following that search warrant earlier today,” he said.
Republicans responded furiously to the development, following Trump’s lead in claiming that the search showed the justice department waging a politically motivated witch-hunt. House minority leader Kevin McCarthy said the raid was evidence of “weaponized politicization” at the justice department.