Trump aims to raise money on news of FBI search of his Florida home

Trump continues to publicly flirt with running again for president in 2024 but has not said clearly whether he will do so. Trump tried to paint the search of his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach as a politically motivated move by President Joe Biden's administration even as the former president plays a key role in Republican primaries ahead of the November midterm elections that will determine control of the U.S. Congress.

Donald Trump on Tuesday tried to turn the news that the FBI had searched his Florida estate to his benefit, citing the investigation in text messages and emails soliciting political donations from his supporters. The unprecedented search of the home of the former president marked a significant escalation of the federal investigation into whether Trump illegally removed records from the White House as he was leaving office in January 2021. Trump continues to publicly flirt with running again for president in 2024 but has not said clearly whether he will do so.

Trump tried to paint the search of his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach as a politically motivated move by President Joe Biden's administration even as the former president plays a key role in Republican primaries ahead of the November midterm elections that will determine control of the U.S. Congress. "They are trying to stop the Republican Party and me once more," Trump said in a fundraising email on Tuesday. "The lawlessness, political persecution, and Witch Hunt, must be exposed and stopped."

His Republican allies in Congress vowed to launch an investigation of the search itself if they recapture majorities in the House or Senate in November. The Justice Department and FBI have declined to comment on or even confirm the search, which Trump disclosed in a statement on Monday.

'WITHERING SCRUTINY' But the FBI could never have conducted the search without the approval of a judge who confirmed there was probable cause, and the request would almost certainly would also be approved by FBI Director Christopher Wray, a Trump appointee, and his boss, Attorney General Merrick Garland, who was appointed by Biden.

A White House official said Biden was not given advance notice of the search. "This search warrant in my estimation probably underwent more withering scrutiny that any search warrant in the history of the Department of Justice," said David Laufman, a former DOJ official who oversaw prosecutions of national security offenses.

Trump launched his Save America political action committee days after losing the 2020 election to Biden. It has more than $100 million in the bank, a formidable war chest. The FBI earlier this year visited Trump's property to investigate boxes in a locked storage room, according to a person familiar with the visit. FBI agents and a Trump lawyer, Evan Corcoran, spent a day reviewing materials, the source said.

Corcoran did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The search is only an investigative step and does not mean that Trump will face automatically criminal charges, or that he would be would be found guilty of any wrongdoing.

But it is a criminal offense to conceal or destroy government records, and the Government Records Act says a person convicted of violating that law will be barred from holding federal office, in addition to a prison term of up to three years. Legal experts says it is unclear if that provision is constitutional. The U.S. Constitution sets forth the qualifications for being a president, Senator or U.S. representative and previous Supreme Court rulings have held that Congress cannot limit the list of eligible officeholders.

That means if Trump were to be convicted he would likely challenge any attempt to disqualify him from serving in office again, perhaps to the Supreme Court where conservatives form the majority and he has appointed three of the current nine justices. "It is not certain that the bar set forth in the Government Records Act is constitutional," said Mitchell Epner, a lawyer at Rottenberg Lipman Rich and former federal prosecutor. "It is absolutely there and it would be in all likelihood something that would end up being litigated."

The documents probe is one of several investigations that have focused on Trump since he left office, weeks after his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in an unsuccessful bid to overturn his election loss. Trump continues to falsely claim that the election was stolen through widespread voting fraud. Trump remains the Republican Party's most influential voice, though recent polling showed his star dimming with party voters following revelations about his conduct during the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot and his continued focus on the false claims that his 2020 defeat was the result of fraud.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, meanwhile, has risen in stature as a potential 2024 candidate. But Trump has weathered many political scandals and observers warned this attack could bolster his standing with Republican voters.

"The Biden administration is only adding rocket fuel to Trump's campaign prospects and energizing his supporters who want him to run again," said Ron Bonjean, a Republican strategist in Washington. "There should be more transparency around the decision to have this FBI raid because it looks overly political and allows Trump to say he's being unfairly attacked."

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)