The FBI's unprecedented raid on President Trump's Mar-A-Lago just keeps getting more ludicrous as new reporting from The New York Post's Miranda Devine reveals that federal agents not only seized boxes of documents from a locked storage area of the property and broke into Trump's safe, but they also rustled through former First Lady Melania Trump's closet.
What they were doing there is anyone's guess, but I think it's a safe bet that all they encountered were Louboutins, designer dresses, and exactly zero classified documents or secret plans to overthrow the U.S. government.
For the inside story of the FBI raid on Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home check out tomorrow’s @nypost https://t.co/iDpPOnN9mN pic.twitter.com/ITKxcki0ry
— Miranda Devine (@mirandadevine) August 10, 2022
According to the latest information Devine learned, the FBI spent "hours" — agents were there from 9:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. — as they "scoured Melania Trump’s wardrobe and spent several hours combing through Donald Trump’s private office" and other private areas of the Trumps' vast Mar-A-Lago estate based on a warrant that "focused solely on presidential records and evidence of classified information being stored there."
As she reported for The Post:
The raid by over 30 plain clothes agents from the Southern District of Florida and the FBI’s Washington Field Office extended through the Trump family’s entire 3,000-square-foot private quarters, as well as to a separate office and safe, and a locked basement storage room in which 15 cardboard boxes of material from the White House were stored.
Yet, as Devine reported, "[t]he demeanor of the three DOJ lawyers who accompanied the FBI was described by one eyewitness as 'arrogant,' and they repeatedly told Trump representatives: 'We have full access to everything. We can go everywhere.'"
That "everywhere" apparently included Melania's wardrobe. So where exactly did the feds think Melania was hiding such classified presidential records? Sewn into her gowns? Taped to the bottom of her designer shoes? It's another piece of information that makes the raid make even less sense.
The Post's latest dispatch reminded readers that the boxes of records being sought by the FBI "contain documents and mementos from Trump’s presidency, reportedly including letters from Barack Obama and Kim Jong Un, and other correspondence with world leaders." So, not exactly the nuclear codes.
What's more, Devine quoted a legal source as saying "that the boxes had been packed up by the General Services Administration and shipped to Mar-a-Lago when Trump left office in January 2020" and the 45th president's attorneys "had been cooperating fully with federal authorities on the return of the documents to the National Archives and Records Administration," according to Devine's other sources.
Again, why the need for 30 FBI agents and a couple DOJ representatives to raid Mar-A-Lago?
It was also reported that the FBI agents conducting the raid refused to allow President Trump's attorneys to observe their search — providing an opportunity to plant evidence, though no such accusations have been lodged so far. An accompanying request to disable security cameras on the property was refused by Trump's team, according to Devine.
One thing seems clear: If Melania's well-appointed closet and wardrobe aren't safe from the feds, no one is.