OPINION:
Imagine returning to your home to find it had been turned upside down by constables looking for an overdue library book. That’s essentially the situation President Biden created for his opponent in giving the go-ahead for the FBI’s raid on Mar-a-Lago.
U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon spent nearly five hours on Wednesday listening to the administration defend its conduct, including the rationale for invading the Florida residence of former President Donald Trump on Aug. 8, 2022.
The raid could be deemed unlawful if, as seems more likely than not, the Supreme Court decides the president of the United States is entitled to immunity for his official actions. As chief executive, Mr. Trump exercised the ultimate authority to bring home any paper he wanted — regardless of what the mandarins at the National Archives or Department of Justice might think.
That alone casts serious doubt on the motivation of those behind in the assault. No thought was given to the lasting damage to the country by doing what has never been done to a former president in our 235-year history — despite ample opportunity.
When Bill Clinton stuffed classified material into his sock drawer as president, no SWAT team was dispatched to retrieve it. When Mr. Biden’s secret stash was found in a box in his garage, the issue was resolved quietly.
Newly unsealed documents reveal FBI agents did object to the planned raid, only to find themselves overruled by DOJ leaders intent on executing the audacious plot no matter the cost.
Some attention has been given to inclusion of standard instructions authorizing the use of force during the raid. That those responsible would cut and paste the same language they’d use in the operational plan for raiding a crack house demonstrates the arrogance of Attorney General Merrick Garland and his hireling Jack Smith.
Together with the White House, they manufactured the entire dispute, which centers on a handful of document boxes. That should have limited the scope of the raid, yet Mr. Biden’s agents were given free rein to rummage through the 58-room complex. They pillaged the room belonging to Barron, Mr. Trump’s teenage son, and they went into Melania’s boudoir to take snapshots of her personal ledger.
The Constitution plainly states that a warrant must describe with particularity the place to be searched, yet the search warrant allowed the G-men to grab every box and piece of paper in the sprawling estate — even though the warrant application purported to justify looking only in storage rooms.
They scooped up things that were obviously personal, including his passport, medical documents, tax documents and accounting information that had nothing to do with national security.
As president, Mr. Trump had exclusive authority under the Presidential Records Act to declare certain executive branch records personal, and he could keep copies of anything. The agents had neither the authority nor the ability to distinguish an original from a copy. They had no legal basis for questioning Mr. Trump’s designation of a record as personal.
Ordering the agents to seize papers they had no right to seize opens a legal can of worms — one Judge Cannon says she needs time to think through. In the meantime, she will continue to demand transparency from the administration so the public can decide whether Mr. Biden’s people have gone too far.
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