CNN analyst: FBI Mar-a-Lago raid 'dangerous' & 'not warranted' if only about Presidential Records Act
CNN legal analyst Paul Callan called the U.S. government’s raid on former President Donald Trump's Mar-A-Lago a "daring and dangerous move" that was "not warranted" if it was only about Trump having classified documents after his time in office.
CNN legal analyst Paul Callan called the Justice Department's raid on former President Donald Trump's Mar-A-Lago home a "daring and dangerous move" that was "not warranted" if it was only about Trump holding onto classified documents after his time in office.
During CNN’s "At This Hour with Kate Bolduan" on Wednesday, the host spoke to legal analyst Paul Callan, who expressed hope that the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI have something more serious on Trump than currents reports indicate, otherwise their raid on Trump’s massive West Palm Beach residence went too far.
Bolduan prompted Callan by bringing up speculation that the federal government conducted the raid to seize classified documents retained by the former president that he was not authorized to have after leaving the White House.
As Clinton 2016 campaign lawyer Marc Elias mused on Twitter Tuesday evening, Trump may have violated the Presidential Records Act of 1978, prompting the raid, and an ensuing investigation which could bar him from running for political office in the future.
FBI raids former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago home in Florida, Aug. 8, 2022 (Felipe Ramales for Fox News Digital)
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Bolduan asked, "If this becomes a Presidential Records Act violation, not more, do you think it’s enough to warrant all this?" Callan responded that it’s not.
"No, it’s not enough to warrant all this," the legal analyst declared, adding, "And this is a daring and dangerous move by the Department of Justice, to serve a warrant on a former president and raid his personal residence."
Callan inferred that for the government to go this far, there must be "something more" than Trump merely holding onto classified documents after his term. "So, I have to think that the Department of Justice must have something more than an argument about what kind of records have to be saved for a presidential library or the Library of Congress at some future date."
"There’s more to this than meets the eye," Callan continued, adding, "And I have to think that there’s something a lot more serious that they think is being withheld from the presidential collection."
Former President Trump, who was in New York City during the time of the raid, condemned the action in a statement on Monday evening, calling it "prosecutorial misconduct, the weaponization of the Justice System, and an attack by Radical Left Democrats who desperately don't want me to run for President in 2024."
A man with a Trump 2024 flag is pictured outside Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida following an FBI raid on Donald Trump's private home. (Alon Skuy/Fox News Digital)
He added that "Such an assault could only take place in broken, Third-World Countries."
Other GOP leaders, including Governor Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., and former Vice President Mike Pence condemned the raid as well.
On Monday evening, the Florida governor tweeted, "The raid of MAL [Mar-a-Lago] is another escalation in the weaponization of federal agencies against the Regime’s political opponents, while people like Hunter Biden get treated with kid gloves. Now the Regime is getting another 87k IRS agents to wield against its adversaries? Banana Republic."
On Tuesday, Pence tweeted, "I share the deep concern of millions of Americans over the unprecedented search of the personal residence of President Trump. No former President of the United States has ever been subject to a raid of their personal residence in American history."
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CNN legal analyst called FBI's Mar-a-Lago raid a 'daring and dangerous' move.