Trump raid a rallying cry
The FBI raid on Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home was extraordinary – and yet almost inevitable.
Trump, after all, has spent years shattering democratic norms, weaving webs of exaggeration and lies, and flouting the rule of law as though it doesn’t apply to him.
His actions are often unprecedented: never have we seen a modern-day US president desperately try to cling to power by urging a violent mob to descend on Congress.
Never has an American president been impeached twice during his first term of office.
And never has a president been ousted from the White House and taken classified documents with him to a highly visited Florida estate, violating the Presidential Records Act and potentially risking national security.
The latter is behind the FBI’s decision to execute a search warrant against Trump on Tuesday, in an escalation of events that shocked Washington, sent the former president’s supporters into a frenzy, and rocked the political landscape three months out from the midterm elections.
While the raid happened swiftly and suddenly, the seeds of the search warrant were sown last year, when the National Archives and Records Administration began communicating with Trump’s representatives about boxes of White House records he had stored at Mar-a-Lago in West Palm Beach.
The National Archives – which is charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records – recovered 15 boxes in January, including some that were ‘‘marked as classified national security information’’ and other documents that appeared to have been ‘‘torn up’’ by Trump.
This triggered staff to report their findings to the Department of Justice, led by AttorneyGeneral Merrick Garland. And that’s when things started getting tricky for the former commanderin-chief.
While it is still not clear why the search took place or what it uncovered (neither the FBI nor DOJ has explained it) the reason it’s a political tinderbox comes down to Title 18 of the US Code, which codifies laws in America.
Section 2071 of Title 18 makes it a crime if someone who has government documents ‘‘wilfully and unlawfully conceals, removes, mutilates, obliterates, falsifies or destroys’’ them.
It also goes on to say that whoever is convicted of such a crime ‘‘shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both; and shall forfeit his office and be disqualified from holding office under the United States’’.
To be clear, Trump has not been charged with wrongdoing and, with so many unanswered questions, it is still not certain if he will be. What’s more, to be disqualified from running would require someone to challenge his eligibility, which he could counter-challenge through the states or in court.
He has, however, been hinting for months that he intends to run for president again in 2024, even as his legal woes pile up: take a select committee probe into the January 6 attack on the US Capitol; an Atlanta district attorney investigation into his election loss in the battleground state of Georgia; and a New York investigation into his business practices, including allegations that he misrepresented the value of his assets to secure loans and get tax breaks.
To that end, it’s no wonder that many Democrats could barely contain their excitement after the raid, while many Republicans – even those who had grown weary of Trump and his antics – were outraged by what they saw as government overreach and a lack of transparency by federal authorities.
Chillingly, some of his most ardent fans were even calling for violence, claiming, as Trump had, that the ‘‘radical Left’’ was trying to stop him from running for office again. ‘‘Civil War! Pick up arms, people,’’ wrote one on Twitter. ‘‘Getting ready for an uprising,’’ wrote another.
If you think Trump is likely to be deterred by this week’s events, think again.
Legal experts say it wouldn’t be easy to get approval for a search warrant of this kind, particularly when it involves a former president. Investigators would have to establish probable cause: not only that a crime may have been committed, but that there may be evidence at the premise of that particular crime. Then they would have to obtain approval from a judge to execute such a high-level search warrant.
Nonetheless, Trump was incredulous and released a campaign-style online ad painting America as ‘‘a nation in decline’’ that has ‘‘weaponised its law-enforcement against the opposing political party like never before’’.
‘‘The tyrants we are fighting do not stand even a little chance because we are Americans and Americans kneel to God and God alone,’’ Trump says on the threeminute video. ‘‘It is time to start talking about greatness for our country again . . . The best is yet to come.’’
Within hours, Trump’s Save America fundraising arm and the Republican National Committee were also using the news to solicit for campaign money.
‘‘THIS IS NOT A DRILL’’ read one fundraising text message. ‘‘UNPRECEDENTED move Biden’s FBI RAIDS Pres Trump’s home. Time to take back Congress.’’
Traditional conservatives and right-wing extremists alike were also practically falling over themselves to vent their anger.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is viewed as Trump’s biggest rival for the presidential nominee in 2024, called the incident a ‘‘weaponisation of federal agencies’’.
House Republican Kevin McCarthy warned Garland that he would be launching a Congressional probe if, as expected, Republicans take back the House in November.
And South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, who only a few days ago urged Trump to move on from his claims of electoral fraud to focus on the future, warned that ‘‘launching an investigation of a former president this close to an election is beyond problematic’’.
It is indeed problematic, divisive, and historic – notably falling on the 48th anniversary of Richard Nixon’s departure from the White House after the Watergate scandal. But a key difference is that Nixon eventually resigned and sailed into the sunset, whereas Trump, so far, is doubling down and portraying himself as a victim of yet another political witch hunt.
This risk for Joe Biden and the Democrats is that Republicans tend to agree – and this extraordinary event could galvanise them all the way to midterm election day. –