Nothing in the extensively redacted affidavit for the Mar-a-Lago search warrant, according to John Ratcliffe, the former director of national intelligence for the administration of former President Donald Trump, warranted what seemed to be a “extreme” approach by the FBI and Justice Department.
Ratcliffe made the remarks during an interview with Catherine Herridge, a senior investigative correspondent for CBS News, on Friday.
Ratcliffe responded to the redacted affidavit’s release on Friday by saying, “Well, as predicted, it was substantially redacted in sections.” “I think it outlined in general terms the FBI’s and the Department of Justice’s suspicion that there were secret materials at Mar-a-Lago. But if those documents were indeed secret, I didn’t really see anything in the affidavit to support what now appears like an excessive measure taken by the FBI and the Department of Justice to obtain them.”
According to the affidavit, there is “probable cause” to think that Mar-a-Lago will contain obstruction-related evidence as well as contraband, fruits of crime, and other objects that were illegally possessed in violation of 18 U.S.C. 793(e), 2071, or 1519.
Trump had pushed for the affidavit’s release, and numerous media outlets—including CBS News—filed a request for it. Nothing he observed will lessen the animosity in the country, according to Ratcliffe, who served as Trump’s DNI from 2021 to 2021.
Ratcliffe said to Herridge, “I mean, I don’t think there’s anything in there that’s really going to ease the emotions that are running so high in this country with the American people about whether or not this was warranted. “Catherine, I think one of the regrettable things about the FBI and Department of Justice approach here is that if you set out to deepen divisions between, you know, Americans and to increase a level of skepticism or distrust of the FBI and the Department of Justice, then they succeeded in going in with a raid of the former president based on ambiguous statutes that have been applied inconsistently in the past, or never interpreted at all before, to a former president who is c
According to the His Records Act, which was previously covered by CBS News, a former president is supposed to turn over all presidential records to the National Archives and Records Administration by the time his term is up. That includes files that are classified.
In accordance with Attorney General Merrick Garland’s approval, FBI agents searched Mar-a-Lago on August 8. The disclosed search warrant states that 11 sets of confidential documents were taken.
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