An NBC article, adapted from the book “Where Tyranny Begins: The Justice Department, the FBI, and the War on Democracy,” elaborates on the disagreements on how to pursue the raid at Mar-a-Lago. It was written by an NBC News national security editor. The book provides deeper insight into the raid.
The FBI field office was concerned that the DOJ’s approach of a surprise raid of Mar-a-Lago was motivated by politics.
Several FBI agents in the Washington field office were concerned about the aggressive tactics and political donations of Jay Bratt, one of the Justice Department prosecutors.
According to public records, Bratt, who now works for special counsel Jack Smith, had donated $600 to a former DOJ colleague’s unsuccessful Democratic primary campaign for the U.S. Senate in Oregon in 2007, $150 to the Oregon Senate Democratic Campaign Committee that same year, and a total of $500 to the Democratic National Committee in 1993 and 1994.
A DOJ official said Bratt never displayed any political bias. But Steven D’Antuono, then the head of the bureau’s Washington field office and who has since retired, was concerned. He feared that the documents dispute would further erode public faith in the FBI. D’Antuono wanted to work with Trump’s attorney to arrange a consensual Mar-a-Lago search. [like they did for Mike Pence and Joe Biden?]
“Jay was being a little overly aggressive,” D’Antuono recalled. “The aggressiveness that was there, from day one.”…
D’Antuono saw Trump as likely motivated by a desire to show off the classified documents.
But Justice Department officials and some FBI officials believed that Trump’s continued possession of the documents was a direct threat to national security.
Bratt ordered D’Antuono to carry out the search ASAP using the most aggressive approach. During the agents’ conversation, they noticed something in the draft of the warrant they hadn’t noticed before—a criminal charge.
They noted that the draft search warrant included a potential criminal charge against Trump that they did not recall seeing before: Section 2071 of Title 18.
The law made it illegal for an individual who possesses government documents to “willfully and unlawfully” conceal, remove, mutilate, obliterate, falsify, or destroy them. If a person is convicted of the charge, they shall “be disqualified from holding” any federal office.
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“The barring from office charge,” D’Antuono recalled. “People saw that charge as ‘Aha, is that DOJ’s effort to get Trump?’”
The day after the meeting, D’Antuono got a scolding note from a DOJ official who’d joined the meeting by phone. “You and your leadership seem to have gone from cautious to fearful,” it said.
The next day, D’Antuono was ordered to carry out the raid.
Before the raid, there were months of wrangling and divergent camps. Bratt decided on the most aggressive approach while Biden’s records were ignored. The fact that Bratt is working with Jack Smith says enough.
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