Peak of hurricane season? FBI search of Trump property a Cat 10 storm this week

Hello again. I am Antonio Fins with the USA Today Florida Network and this is our weekly snapshot of the week that was in Florida politics.

It's mid-August, and usually at this time of year Floridians are busy shuffling kids back to school and keeping an eye on potential storms in the tropics.

This week, the storm was political in nature and it focused on former President Trump's Mar-a-Lago compound after FBI agents conducted a stunning, "safecracking" raid.

What followed was a dizzying series of events and revelations. In case you couldn't keep up, like the rest of us, here is a summary.

Why did the FBI conduct the raid? Trump has been under a series of different investigations, here is a scorecard to help you keep track.

Republicans irate over 'raid,' Democrats' reaction more muted

Immediately after the news broke – Trump confirmed it on his Truth Social app – his supporters gathered near Mar-a-Lago to express their disgust. Furious Florida Republicans denounced the search, with Gov. Ron DeSantis calling it a "banana republic" move and U.S. Sen. Rick Scott likening the action to Gestapo tactics.

Two Southwest GOP congressmen spoke out, too, with U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan calling the search an "abuse of power" and U.S. Rep. Greg Steube calling it "the egregious political weaponization" of the federal government.

Republicans also called on Trump to enter the 2024 race before the midterm elections, and a campaign-like ad Trump dropped early Tuesday suggests he might just do that.

Although many of them were critical of what they called Trump's lawlessness, Florida Democrats were initially far more muted in their assessments.

But DeSantis' two Democratic rivals, Charlie Crist and Nikki Fried, condemned the governor for lashing out at the FBI and its search of Mar-a-Lago.

By the end of the week, the FBI and Justice Department were not the only ones facing severe backlash from Trump loyalists – so was the federal magistrate who reportedly approved the search.

But while Trump and the base fumed, former prosecutors and legal authorities quickly pointed out Trump, by law, should be in possession of the search warrant that, if he were to make it public, would allow everyone to determine whether the search was fair and legitimate.

On Thursday, the Palm Beach Post filed a motion to seek the release of the search warrant and related documents citing the public's right to know in such an extraordinary event – the search of a former president's property.

New school year greeted by some of last year's controversies

The 2022-2023 school year has begun, but some uneasiness accompanied the return to classrooms.

In Leon County, officials revealed they met with every law enforcement agency to go over who has commanding control during an active-shooter-in-a-school scenario.

In Brevard County, officials said school resource officers were given new uniforms with a "tactical appearance that clearly signifies that we mean business," as well as long guns.

And last year's controversies over school books lingered as some confusion remained over the fate of classroom libraries and book fairs in the Brevard school district.

An Escambia County public school teacher resigned this week after he complained that images of historic Black American leaders – including Martin Luther King Jr., Harriett Tubman, Colin Powell and George Washington Carver – were wrongly removed from a school bulletin board.

The school district said an investigation it conducted refuted the allegation.

Want to hear more about the week that was in Florida politics? Listen to our Inside Florida Politics podcast now.

That's about it! Keep reading for this week's top headlines in politics, and remember to tune in to the Inside Florida Politics podcast. 🎙️ 

And finally, thank you for reading. We appreciate you trusting our statewide journalists to keep you informed. If you are encouraged by our work and want to support your local journalists, please consider subscribing. Know someone who would benefit from this newsletter? Forward this email so they can sign up here. 

— Producer Jonathan Tully and politics editor Antonio Fins curated this newsletter. Have any feedback for us? We'd love to hear from you via this form.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: FBI search of Trump Mar-a-Lago creates Cat 10 political storm