Michael Hernandez
24 August 2022•Update: 25 August 2022
WASHINGTON
US President Joe Biden denied Wednesday that he was informed beforehand that the FBI would raid former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate earlier this month.
Asked whether he was given advance notice of the bureau's plans to search the Palm Beach, Florida residence, Biden said, "I didn't have any advance notice. None. Not one single bit."
The White House previously denied that Biden was given a heads up but the comments are Biden's first on the search, which has drawn widespread scrutiny from Trump and his Republican allies. They allege the court-sanctioned action was a politically-motivated attack.
The FBI said in court documents that it retrieved 11 boxes of classified materials from Mar-a-Lago during the Aug. 8 search, including official records marked with the highest levels of classification in the US government.
The search warrant that was unsealed Aug. 12 indicates the FBI is investigating Trump for violations of three federal laws, including violations of the Espionage Act, the removal or destruction of official records and obstruction of justice.
Trump and his Republican allies have been loudly demanding that the underlying affidavit be made public even as the judge in the case, Bruce Reinhart, said Monday that the evidence he reviewed to approve the search was "reliable."
The warrant authorized agents to seize any related property, including documents, communications and "any government and/or Presidential Records created between January 20, 2017, and January 20, 2021."
The property receipt said that in addition to the classified materials that were taken, FBI agents retrieved documents that included Trump's order granting clemency to political ally Roger Stone, a "leather-bound box of documents," two binders of photos, a potential presidential record and information regarding the French president.
The US National Archives and Records Administration retrieved 15 boxes of White House documents in January from Mar-a-Lago which should have been turned over to the agency when Trump left the White House in January 2021.
The Archives later notified Congress that the boxes contained "items marked as classified national security information."
In June, federal investigators served Trump with a grand jury subpoena and seized "sensitive national security documents" from Mar-a-Lago, CNN reported.
Trump sued on Monday to have a federal judge appoint an independent watchdog to review documents seized from the estate and prevent the FBI from continuing to do so.
Trump's request to appoint what is known as a "special master" comes as the Justice Department faces a deadline Thursday to file a redacted version of the warrant affidavit it used to carry out the search.
