We do know that the FBI’s August. 8 raid of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate is that it was an unprecedented event. There has never been a president before who faced such police action.
In spite of that there are still many unanswered questions.
According to all reports this raid is linked to records of the president which Trump carried for his Palm Beach resort in February 2021, after he had left his post. The critics at the very least claim that this is a clear infraction of the federal public records law.
This law is known as it’s the Presidential Records Act of 1978 and requires notes, correspondence, email and other records relevant to the presidency be preserved and transferred to National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) after the presidency’s term is over.
It is the Trail Leading to the Raid
The fact that these documents were removed and the probability that they held classified information is known since the beginning of the beginning of February. In February. 18 the NARA disclosed that it had an ongoing dialogue with “representatives of the former president Trump” until 2021 regarding the documents.
NARA confirmed that the Trump’s representatives reacted to the threat by handing over 15 boxes of materials to NARA and later revealing there were pieces of data was ripped up and put back to form. Archivists examined the information in various state of health, and classified some as classified information, and alerted of the U.S. Justice Department.
Although the Presidential Records Act is clear concerning the kind of information that presidents must preserve but it does not have an enforcer mechanism. However, legal experts say there’s a crime law, Section 2071 of Title 18 of the U.S. Code, that might be able to. The law states that any person who “willfully and in violation of lawfully conceals or conceals, destroys or destroys … or any other record such as a proceeding, map paper, book or any other item, placed or filed … at any office of the public” can be penalized and sentenced to 3 years prison.
It was in the month of June that DOJ initiated a criminal probe against Trump using the secret information that he had removed from his office. Then, on August. 8th on the 8th, the FBI arrived at Mar-a-Lago in search of the property.
Federal law enforcement officials get warrants for search if they wish to get moving quickly, and also if they believe they will locate information regarding the criminal investigation of an individual’s home or workplace.
We do not know what this information could be, as the DOJ doesn’t seem to be talking about it. However, it appears that they’re interested in the missing documents , not Trump’s involvement in the January. 6, 2021 protest in the U.S. Capitol or any others alleged wrongdoings.
Discussions and questions
The speculation is rampant. It is interesting that the FBI made the bold move of conducting a search warrant in the residence of an ex-president could be a sign that they’re looking into serious criminal materials. The FBI could be convinced that soliciting more information increases the chance that they won’t ever see the material.
There is plenty of speculation regarding the motives for political parties. Trump supporters as well as Republicans are both convinced that the president Joe Biden has an interest in taking down the house of a possible challenger in 2024 However, several sources suggest this isn’t the case.
It is also a question of the possibility that Trump is barred from running for office in the future pursuant to Section 2071. Apart from possibly jail term The law states that any person who is in violation “shall lose his office and become ineligible for having any position in the United States.”
It’s worthwhile to mention that Republicans were also once taking an in-depth look at Section 2071 as a potential instrument to block Hillary Clinton out of the White House for her use of an email account personal to her for government-related business while Secretary of State.
The prosecution under Section 2071 might be unsuccessful, however the requirement that a candidate in the present contest it in a debate could be unprecedented — similar to the FBI’s raid.