FBI raid: Mole in Trump's inner circle?
Familiars voice the first theories
Created: 08/16/2022, 13:18
By: Julia Schöneseiffen
The FBI seized "top secret" documents during a search of Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago home.
But where did the authority get its information from?
WASHINGTON – A week ago on Monday (August 8), the FBI searched Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago, Florida, home.
The reason was the suspicion that Trump could have violated the Espionage Act, among other things.
The law contains strict regulations for the retention of national security documents.
Donald Trump: FBI searches his Florida home
The judicial search warrant was based on a document that had previously been kept secret.
Despite repeated requests, including from the
New York Times
, the US Department of Justice still does not want to release this document.
The dpa reports.
A release would hamper future investigative steps and likely compromise witness cooperation, several US media reported Monday (August 15), citing a letter from prosecutors filed with a South Florida court.
Accordingly, the Ministry of Justice has asked the court to keep the document under lock and key.
Search of Donald Trump's estate: FBI finds "top secret" documents
During the Mar-a-Lago raid, the FBI reportedly found and seized "top secret" documents.
Some of the papers were also marked for viewing only in secure government facilities.
Documents related to nuclear weapons were also confiscated, according to the
Washington Post
newspaper .
It is not yet officially known where the FBI got the information about secret documents in the house of the former US President.
The question arises: is there a mole in Donald Trump's environment?
Trump's niece Mary has already expressed a suspicion in this regard.
In a radio interview on The Dean Obeidallah Show, she said Jared Kushner may be the person who gave the FBI information about the documents.
Kushner is Donald Trump's son-in-law.
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Raid on Trump property: Mary Trump expresses suspicion about possible informants
The suspicion is based on the question of who had access to the secret documents.
Former chief of staff Mark Meadows is therefore not a suspect, according to Mary Trump.
With Jared Kushner, on the other hand, you have to “look very closely at why he got two billion dollars”.
That money was
an investment from a public Saudi Arabian fund in Kushner's private equity firm , according to
Business Insider .
Mary Trump went on to say, "We need to look very carefully at why he's been so quiet for so many months."
Donald Trump's niece and his former lawyer suspect Jared Kushner of giving information to the FBI.
(Archive image) © Evan Vucci/AP/dpa
"And we have to think about who might be involved as well, who needs a game as big as delivering Donald to get out of trouble, or at least mitigate the trouble he's in," she continued.
"It sounds like someone in Jared's position.
I'm not saying it's Jared, but it could be."
Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen also suspects Jared Kushner
Donald Trump's ex-lawyer Michael Cohen also suspects Kushner.
As he told
Business Insider
, "It's definitely a member of his inner circle." He wouldn't be "surprised to find out it's Jared or one of his kids.
Who else would know of the existence of a safe and the specific contents stored within it?"
The FBI investigation is about documents that Trump took from the White House to Mar-a-Lago after the end of his term in January 2021.
US Presidents are required to hand over all official documents, including e-mails and letters, to the National Archives upon leaving office.
Trump has described the search of his property as politically motivated.
He accuses President Joe Biden's Democrats of using the judiciary to prevent him from running for president again in 2024.
(jsch with material from dpa and AFP)