The FBI raid on Trump’s Palm Beach estate is causing a stir. Did or did the controversial ex-president reveal nuclear weapons secrets? Should the suspicion be confirmed, the US would face a political scandal of unprecedented proportions.
On Monday, the FBI launched a raid on Trump’s Palm Beach, Florida home. There is no official justification for the search. What is certain, however, is that the process is unprecedented. There has never been anything like this with an ex-president.
The raid is said to have involved documents on nuclear weapons, among other things. Instead of handing them over to the National Archives after his time in the White House, Trump is said to have illegally taken them to his Palm Beach estate.
This emerges from a report by the Washington Post. The paper relies on unspecified sources. They did not provide any information as to whether the relevant documents had been found during the search.
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Secrets about nuclear weapons are considered to be particularly explosive – which is why they also have the highest possible security level. The so-called “Gold Codes” were handed over to the current Commander-in-Chief, i.e. Joe Biden, when he changed offices in the White House.
But there are other secrets, such as information on the locations of US weapons, that Trump could be hoarding. A potential leak of top-secret documents could explain why the FBI searched the Republican’s home on Monday. If the allegations prove true, this could have serious consequences for the controversial ex-president.
Because then it would be about potential high treason. That would not only mean that Trump would probably not be able to run again as a presidential candidate for the Republicans. He might even face a prison sentence.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland said he “personally” approved the Trump raid. There was “reasonable reason” for the historically unique, drastic crackdown on a former US president, he said.
Garland justified the action with “ethical obligations”. He also announced that he had asked the Florida magistrate to release the search warrant and receipt for confiscated items.
“All Americans have the right to equal application of the law, due process, and the presumption of innocence.” The Attorney General also stated that Trump personally confirmed the raid.
Finally, on Thursday, the ex-president wrote on the social network he co-founded, Truth Social, that he had given the government whatever it wanted. Then it came “out of nowhere and without warning” to the FBI search.
In general, however, the truthfulness of Trump’s statements is disputed. The Washington Post’s fact checkers had proven Trump made more than 30,000 false or misleading statements during his tenure.
According to him, the fact that Attorney General Garland is now pushing for the search warrant and receipt for the Trump raid to be disclosed has to do with “great public interest in the matter”. If it were published, it would become clear why the raid on the ex-president was ordered.
The search warrant should explain in more detail why the authorities considered the raid necessary – and what the FBI agents were looking for. Trump has the document, but unlike the confirmation of the raid, he has not made it public.
The National Archives had already stated in February that several boxes with documents that Trump had taken with him when he left Washington were seized in Mar-a-Lago. Apparently, the authorities assumed that the ex-president was hoarding other documents in his villa that actually belonged in the national archives.
Trump has repeatedly described the search as politically motivated. The 76-year-old alleges that President Joe Biden’s Democrats are using the judiciary to prevent him from running for the presidency in 2024. Similar statements have been made by leading representatives of Trump’s Republican Party.
