'Mistrust and paranoia': Trump loyalists accuse aides of 'flipping' after FBI’s Mar-a-Lago search

10 August 2022

On Monday, August 8, right-wing media and MAGA Republicans exploded in a fit of rage after the FBI conducted a search of former President Donald Trump’s home at Mar-a-Lago in South Florida. The search pertained to Trump’s handling of White House documents; under the Presidential Records Act of 1978, presidential records are publicly owned after a president leaves office.

Trump is known for demanding total, unquestioning loyalty from everyone from Republican politicians to business associates. And according to Axios reporter Mike Allen, the Mar-a-Lago search has made the atmosphere of “mistrust and paranoia” in Trumpworld even worse.

In an article published by Axios on August 10, Allen reports, “Trumpworld is abuzz with speculation about which close aide or aides has ‘flipped’ and provided additional sensitive information to the FBI about what former President Trump was keeping at Mar-a-Lago, sources tell Axios…. Trump's orbit is always an environment rife with mistrust and paranoia. Now, that's intensified.”

Allen notes that the “focal point” of the FBI’s August 8 search was “the Mar-a-Lago basement.” Trump attorney Christina Bobb told the Washington Post that during the spring, Trump’s lawyers spoke to the U.S. Department of Justice about the documents being stored at Mar-a-Lago.

The Axios reporter explains, “Bobb said Trump's legal team searched through two to three dozen boxes in a basement storage area, hunting for documents that could be considered presidential records, and turned over several items. Bobb told the Post that in June, Trump lawyers showed DOJ investigators the boxes, and they looked through the material. She said the investigators didn't think the storage unit was properly secured. So, Trump officials added a lock.”

Allen continues, “FBI agents broke through that lock during the search, Bobb said. The FBI removed about a dozen boxes that had been stored in the basement storage area, she said.”

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