FBI Officials Initially Doubted Probable Cause for Mar-a-Lago Search Warrant Ahead of Raid, Records Show

FBI officials had doubts about whether they had probable cause to raid President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in 2022, but eventually carried out the operation after the Biden Justice Department dismissed concerns about the optics, newly released records show.

Senator Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa) released Tuesday internal emails between FBI and DOJ officials in the months leading up to the August 2022 Mar-a-Lago raid, which resulted in the classified documents prosecution of Trump.

The emails show FBI officials initially expressed reservations about their ability to demonstrate probable cause for the raid on Trump’s Florida residence.

“Very little has been developed related to who might be culpable for mishandling the documents,” an unnamed FBI official wrote in an email to another FBI official, Anthony Riedlinger, in June 2022. The FBI official was discussing the Washington field office’s investigative work to gather information about whether Trump took classified documents to his Palm Beach residence after leaving the White House, rather than returning them to the National Archives Administration.

“WFO has been drafting a search warrant affidavit related to these potential boxes, but has some concerns that the information is single source, has not been corroborated, and may be dated,” the official continues. “DOJ CES opines, however, that the SW’s meet the probable cause standard.”

“Even as we continue down the path towards a search warrant, WFO believes that a reasonable conversation with the former president’s attorney, (stating that the FBI and DOJ are readying a search warrant, and have developed information that there are more documents at Mar a Lago), ought not to be discounted.”

A few weeks later, an FBI official reiterated the lack of probable cause to conduct the Mar-a-Lago raid.

“Absent a witness coming forward with recent information about classified on site, at what point is it fair to table this?” the FBI agent wrote. “It is time consuming for the team, and not productive if there are no new facts supporting PC (probable cause)?”

Additional emails indicate the Biden Justice Department believed it had probable cause to execute an all-encompassing search, a change of tone from the reservations from the Washington field office. Further emails show the FBI officials deliberating about the specifics of the search warrant and whether certain caveats should be applied to limit the warrant to only certain rooms.

The Biden Justice Department ended up obtaining a search warrant for the Mar-a-Lago raid after obtaining video footage in July 2022 showing boxes containing documents were recently moved around Mar-a-Lago, court papers show.

“The FBI intends for the execution of the warrant to be handled in a professional, low key manner, and to be mindful of the optics of the search,” an FBI agent wrote in an August 4, 2022, email.

According to the agent, then-Deputy Assistant Attorney General George Toscas dismissed concerns about the optics of raiding a former president’s residence.

“Since we heard Mr. Toscas say yesterday in the call that he ‘frankly doesn’t give a damn about the optics’ and Mr. Bratt has already built an antagonistic relationship with [former President Trump’s] attorneys over the service of the [redacted], I think it is more than fair to say that the DOJ contact with [Trump attorney] just prior to the execution of the warrant will not go well,” the email reads.

The agent went on to suggest that the FBI make contact with Trump’s attorneys to coordinate the handing over of documents, rather than conducting a surprise raid that might endanger agents.

“I also think that it is fair to say that if FBI calls, having in mind officer safety, the optics of the search, and the desire to conduct this search in a professional and low key manner, there is a far better chance that the execution will go more smoothly and we may actually gain some measure of cooperation, which could go some way to resolving the mishandling of classified records investigation that is being conducted,” the FBI agent added.

“I understand that this request may not go well at DOJ, however, it is the FBI serving and executing the search and it will be our personnel who will have to deal with the reaction to that first contact.”

The FBI raided Mar-a-Lago during its investigation into whether Trump mishandled classified documents in Florida, seizing dozens of boxes containing documents which prosecutors argued were classified but which Trump’s team insisted were his personal property and covered by executive and attorney-client privilege.

The investigation led to Special Counsel Jack Smith’s classified documents prosecution against Trump, which a judge threw out in summer 2024 after extensive litigation. Smith’s classified documents case never made it to trial, as he dropped it once Trump won the 2024 election. Smith resigned after Trump’s victory instead of giving Trump the chance t0 fire him.

Then-Attorney General Merrick Garland approved the decision to seek a search warrant, he said in a speech delivered days after the raid. Garland appointed Smith in November 2022 to handle the Trump cases.

As chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee Grassley has conducted extensive oversight of Smith’s prosecutions over the past year, with cooperation from FBI Director Kash Patel.

“Received shocking new docs 2day from DOJ & FBI showing FBI DID NOT BELIEVE IT HAD PROBABLE CAUSE to raid Pres Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home but Biden DOJ pushed for it anyway   Based on the records Mar-a-Lago raid was a miscarriage of justice,” Grassley posted on X.

Fox News first reported on the newly released records.

“It’s true – we just turned over documents to Capitol Hill to be made public showing the FBI told DOJ they did not have probable cause for raiding President Trump’s home in Mar A Lago but DOJ ‘didn’t give a damn’ and did it anyway,” Patel said.

Trump and other Republican lawmakers regularly accuse Smith and the Biden DOJ of weaponizing the federal government for partisan purposes. Smith has offered to testify publicly to address what he considers to be misperceptions about his work. Earlier this month, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R., Ky.) subpoenaed Smith to have him testify behind closed doors.