Donald Trump continues to sound relatively detached from reality.
In comments he posted on Truth Social overnight, he claimed that, after arriving to his southern Florida resort Mar-a-Lago and examining areas that were searched by FBI agents in the federal agency’s raid of the property early last month, he discovered the residence was forever changed. “Arrived in Florida last night and had a long and detailed chance to check out the scene of yet another government “crime,” the FBI’s Raid and Break-In of my home, Mar-a-Lago,” Trump ranted in a huff. “I guess they don’t think there is a Fourth Amendment anymore, and to them, there isn’t. In any event, after what they have done, the place will never be the same. It was “ransacked,” and in far different condition than the way I left it. Many Agents – And they didn’t even take off their shoes in my bedroom. Nice!!!”
There is (unsurprisingly) no evidence that Trump’s resort will “never be the same.” If he wanted, he could have attached photos of the scene and the alleged chaos, but none were included, which is a telling sign. At this stage, there remains absolutely no indication that the search of the property, which unfolded amid a government probe into the handling of classified documents from Trump’s administration, was conducted as anything other than a routine and orderly law enforcement operation. There is also no available evidence that the search of Mar-a-Lago was conducted for political purposes. The sorts of evidence agents were seeking — docs marked as classified that remained at Mar-a-Lago — were, in fact, actually there, proving prior efforts to obtain the materials through less intrusive means weren’t working. A federal subpoena demanding the return of an array of docs with various classification markings led to a signed assurance from a Trump lawyer that everything covered by the subpoena was getting returned, which wasn’t true.
Additional reporting that recently emerged said Pat Philbin, who worked in the White House Counsel’s office during the Trump era, told a top lawyer at the National Archives during negotiations that led to the return in January of 15 boxes to the agency that all Trump had were “news clippings.” Another falsehood — which reporting says originated with Mark Meadows, according to Philbin. Lying to government agents is a federal crime with potential jail-time among its available consequences.
