Topline
Former President Donald Trump on Monday claimed the Federal Bureau of Investigations took all three of his passports during the agency’s raid of his Mar-a-Lago property, days after the Justice Department released a list of documents seized in the search.
Former President Donald Trump waves as he boards Marine One to travel to his Mar-a-Lago residence.
Key Facts
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the agency “stole” his three passports, including one that was expired, as a part of the search.
He repeated allegations the raid amounted to political persecution, calling it an “assault on a political opponent at a level never seen before in our Country.”
The allegations come days after the Justice Department released the search warrant and other documents related to the FBI’s search, which made no mention of the passports.
It’s not clear why Trump has three passports, though U.S. citizens are allowed to hold more than one valid U.S. passport at the same time, according to the National Passport Information Center.
Key Background
Federal agents searched Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property last week where they recovered 20 boxes of materials, including “various” classified materials; miscellaneous secret, top secret and confidential documents; photos; a handwritten note; the executive grant of clemency for Trump ally Roger Stone and “info re: President of France,” according to a list of documents released by the Justice Department. The agency also released a copy of the search warrant for the raid and two other attachments, one of which notes FBI investigators are looking into whether Trump violated the Espionage Act, which prohibits the mishandling of national security documents, among other conduct. The Washington Post also reported investigators carried out the raid in search of classified documents relating to nuclear material. The FBI raided Trump’s property in connection to a broader probe into documents Trump brought to his Florida estate after his presidency ended, 15 boxes of which the National Archives took back in January. Before the search, federal agents had issued a grand subpoena and reportedly took more documents from Trump’s property in June before being tipped off that more records may still be at Mar-a-Lago. Trump and his allies have framed the search as a political witch hunt.
Further Reading
Trump Says The FBI Took His Passports In Its Mar-A-Lago Search (Huffington Post)
Search Warrant Unsealed In FBI’s Trump Mar-A-Lago Raid (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/madelinehalpert/2022/08/15/trump-claims-fbi-took-his-passports-in-mar-a-lago-raid/