FOIA’d emails reveal FBI’s resistance to searching Trump’s Mar-a-Lago in classified docs case

Bloomberg investigative reporter Jason Leopold revealed on Friday that the FBI handed over nearly 100 pages of email conversations that talk about the search at Mar-a-Lago for classified documents.

Posting about the report on X, Leopold said that the cache of paper "provides additional context and color related to the FBI's resistance to searching Trump's Mar-a-Lago for classified [and] other docs he took after he left office in 2021."

The Presidential Records Act requires the president and vice president to turn over all documents to the National Archives for cataloging and archiving. Many of those documents can be sent to the respective presidential libraries for display, while anything classified remains secure.

When Trump left office, he took so many boxes of documents that they stacked nearly to the ceiling in a bathroom, including filling the bathtub. He also had them in his personal office and other locations. For over a year, the National Archives tried to get the documents back, but Trump refused. The FBI then got involved, again, asking that Trump return the documents. They were again denied. That's when a warrant was issued to take them from Mar-a-Lago.

Leopold reported that many of the agents believed there was insufficient probable cause to issue a search warrant. He noted, "a separate set of emails related to the FBI’s search was released by Republican Senator Chuck Grassley in December."

The grand jury subpoena “was not initiated or requested by” the Washington field office, one agent wrote in an April 27, 2022, email. “This was unilateral action by DOJ."

The agent explained that the Washington field office “does not have anything in the case currently that would indicate there are additional” records “at Mar-a-Lago (or any other location).”

“Each time I’ve picked a fight on this case (and I’ve picked more than a couple), I’ve gotten the ‘yes, understood. But do it anyway’ type of reply," another agent replied.

The documents also show that the FBI was desperate to avoid a search at Mar-a-Lago, hoping to resolve the matter and get the documents back, as other officials had done before when they accidentally found documents that should have been archived.

So, the FBI began dealing with Evan Corcoran, Trump's lawyer, around July 13, 2022.

“Other Options for Resolution," an email says. The proposal was also sent to the Justice Department, an agent pointed out.

The Bureau even went so far as to craft a call script when they spoke to Corcoran, “asking for their future cooperation and a consent search of Mar-a-Lago,” according to another document.

“Your assistance would facilitate the proper retrieval and handling of these classified documents and governmental records,” said one part of the script, according to the documents Bloomberg obtained.

“We therefore request the former president’s cooperation, and the opportunity to thoroughly search and retrieve any additional classified documents, or governmental records in order to properly secure these records. Your cooperation, in conjunction with a consensual search would help provide a level of comfort that the FBI has retrieved and safeguarded all the appropriate documents," it continued.

Trump continued to refuse to cooperate.

The special agent in charge of the Washington office told the team that they must handle everything in a "professional, low-key manner, and be mindful of the optics of the search."

That didn't go over well with the Deputy Assistant Attorney General George Toscas. An agent said, “he frankly doesn’t give a damn about the optics.”

Another agent said that Jay Bratt, the head of the counterintelligence section of the Justice Department, said that he had “built an antagonistic relationship” with Corcoran.

“I think it is more than fair to say that the DOJ contact with Mr. Corcoran just prior to the execution of the warrant will not go well,” the email said.

The agents truly believed that if there was no drama, everything would go well and the problem could be resolved.

Judge Aileen Cannon threw out the case, claiming that the special counsel was not appointed legally. She has since refused to turn over any information about the case and is continuing to hide the special counsel's final report.