The search in the house of former President Donald Trump in Florida is unprecedented, but there is no guarantee that the Justice Department will ultimately pursue a criminal case.
(Also read: How will relations be between the United States and the government of Gustavo Petro?)
On Monday, federal investigators arrived at Mar-a-Lago as part of an investigation into whether Trump took classified White House documents when he left office, a matter that puts his potential run for the presidency in 2024 at risk.
“I am not aware of any previous case where a search warrant has been executed on the home of a former president,” said Barbara McQuade, a law professor at the University of Michigan and a former federal prosecutor. “Even President Nixon received a subpoena for his recordings.”
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Justice Department declined to comment on the raid. Evan Corcoran and John Rowley, attorneys representing Trump in talks with federal prosecutors about Jan. 6, according to a person familiar, did not immediately respond to requests for comment, and neither did Alina Habba, who represents Trump in other cases. cases.
“After working and cooperating with the relevant government agencies, this unannounced raid on my home was neither necessary nor appropriate,” Trump said in a statement.
While the raid is “uncharted territory” for the United States, it’s not a foregone conclusion that Trump is in serious legal jeopardy, former federal prosecutor Jennifer Rodgers said.
“The bar for charging classified information cases is very high, and a criminal violation of the Presidential Records Act is unlikely for a variety of reasons having to do with the legal language of the relevant crimes and potential penalties,” he said. .
Among those sanctions is the prospect that any conviction could bar Trump from ever taking office again. Marc Elias, the former Hillary Clinton campaign general counsel, called the raid “a potential blockbuster in American politics.”
In a Twitter post, Elías highlighted the part of the penal code that says that those guilty of concealing, removing or mutilating government records will be “disqualified from holding any office under the United States.”
It’s unclear whether that law would apply to a presidential bid, but Elias wrote that having to fight it in court over that issue could be a significant barrier to another Trump bid. Even if disqualification from the White House is off the table, a conviction for mishandling government records and classified materials would still carry the possibility of prison time.
The FBI search shows that investigators were able to obtain a warrant from a federal judge after a probable cause finding that evidence of a specific crime was found on the premises, McQuade said.
BLOOMBERG
More news
‘I felt like a walking coffin’: Women forced into unviable pregnancies in the US
USA: 98-year-old woman saved from flood thanks to viral photo
#FBI #seeks #documents #Trump #residence #Florida