(TUE 8/9/22)
News photos and television video of pro-MAGA protests popping up near Mar-a-Lago after ex-President Trump announced on his Truth Social media site that the FBI “raided” his home and broke into his safe raised alarms of the potential of another uprising by his vocal gang of loyal followers. The nature of the documents apparently seized by the FBI in the search has not been disclosed. The search was brought on by U.S. Attorney Gen. Merrick Garland, who sought and received a warrant as part of his investigation of Trump’s mishandling of his presidential records, CNN reports Tuesday.
MSNBC was putting out the warning from its analysts late Monday night that the August 8 FBI execution of a search warrant for could become bigger and worse than the January 6 Capitol attacks.
Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) vowed to probe Garland and the Justice Department over the Mar-a-Lago search when he expects Republicans to retake the House of Representatives next year.
Georgia GOP strategist Seth Weathers told BBC World Service radio that Trump, who was not at Mar-a-Lago during the FBI search Monday would use the seizure as an opportunity to announce his 2024 presidential candidacy (Eric Trump alerted his father to the FBI search, the New York Post reports). Trump has already begun fundraising efforts over the search, CNN says.
The FBI’s search of Mar-a-Lago, it has been noted, took place on the 48th anniversary of President Richard Nixon’s resignation, which was forced upon the president when he was threatened with a House impeachment vote. The House dropped impeachment proceedings 12 days after Nixon’s resignation.
By contrast, Monday’s FBI search of Mar-a-Lago appears to have reinforced GOP leadership’s support for Trump, empowered by last week’s CPAC convention in Dallas headlined by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbån and Trump himself, a full 19 months since Trump left office, as the ex-president’s wing of the party continues to push its voter-suppressed advance toward authoritarianism.
--Todd Lassa