Trump Rails against FBI on Truth Social: ‘Unrelenting History of Being Corrupt’
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Following the FBI’s raid of his Palm Beach residence last week, former president Trump railed against the agency and its “unrelenting history” of corruption in a Sunday post on his social media platform, Truth Social.
Trump cited incidents of what he claimed were FBI conspiracies to undermine his 2016 campaign and presidency.
“The FBI has a long and unrelenting history of being corrupt. Just look back to the days of J. Edgar Hoover. In the modern era, nothing has changed except that it has gotten far worse. Look at Comey, McCabe, Strzok and lover Lisa Page. Check out the brilliantly written but damning I.G. Reports. See what they were willing to do in order to get Crooked Hillary Clinton elected (they failed), and got caught! They spied on my campaign, pushed the FAKE Dossier, and illegally used the FISA Court. . .” he said.
Special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe, which set out with Democratic and media support to nail Trump for “colluding” with Russia to influence the 2016 presidential election, ultimately failed to prove the accusation.
A subsequent examination of the largely manufactured Russiagate scandal, led by special counsel John Durham, resulted in FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith pleading guilty to a felony false-statement charge, among other outcomes. He was convicted for manipulating a document, which ultimately caused the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to be deceived into granting a warrant to surveil former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page based on the Clinton campaign’s opposition research.
“The Inspector General said the FBI acted with ‘gross incompetence and negligence.’ I was fully vindicated in the Russia, Russia, Russia SCAM, the ‘No Collusion’ Mueller Investigation, Impeachment Hoax #1, Impeachment Hoax #2, and all else,” Trump declared on Truth Social Sunday.
He alleged that the FBI’s surprise storming of Mar-a-Lago was an act of political theater designed to paint him as a criminal hiding coveted information. Trump insisted he had been complying with authorities for months for their acquisition of certain documents he allegedly took from the White House at the close of his term, making a sudden search unmerited. It was, however, authorized by a judge-issued warrant, which was unsealed on Friday, as well as “personally approved” by Attorney General Merrick Garland.
The warrant revealed that law enforcement is investigating Trump for removal or destruction of records, obstruction of an investigation, and violating the Espionage Act.
“NOW THEY RAID MY HOME, ban my lawyers and, without any witnesses allowed, break the lock that they asked us to install on the storage area that we showed them early on, which held papers that they could have had months ago for the asking, and without the ridiculous political grandstanding of a ‘break in’ to a very storied, important, and high visibility place, just before the Midterm Elections,” Trump wrote Sunday.
The FBI, Trump suggested, resorted to ridiculous tactics in its scouring, sifting through even Melania Trump’s wardrobe. He also speculated that the FBI could have been planting evidence in the estate with which to indict him, given the agency’s alleged record of corruption.
“The whole World was watching as the FBI rummaged through the house, including the former First Lady’s closets (and clothing!), alone and unchecked. They even demanded that the security cameras be turned off (we refused), but there was no way of knowing if what they took was legitimate, or was there a ‘plant?’ This was, after all, the FBI!,” he said.
Also on Sunday morning, Trump updated that the FBI confiscated confidential materials, including those allegedly protected under his executive privilege. He demanded their prompt return to his house.
“Oh great! It has just been learned that the FBI, in its now famous raid of Mar-a-Lago, took boxes of privileged ‘attorney-client’ material, and also ‘executive’ privileged material, which they knowingly should not have taken. By copy of this TRUTH, I respectfully request that these documents be immediately returned to the location from which they were taken. Thank you!,” he said Sunday.
FBI agents reportedly recovered eleven sets of documents, 20 boxes’ worth, including one labeled “Various classified/TS/SCI documents,” four sets of top-secret documents, three sets of secret documents, and three sets of confidential documents. The FBI also took binders of photos, a handwritten note, the executive grant of clemency for Roger Stone, and information about the president of France, a list of items removed from the property shows.
After the raid, Trump launched a nearly three-minute campaign-ad-style video on Truth Social on the theme of national decline. It featured thunderstorm sound effects and a booming voiceover of Trump’s lamentations of the many domestic and foreign calamities under the Biden administration.
Notably, he says that we are a “nation that has weaponized its law enforcement against the opposing political party like never before,” before hinting at a 2024 run with his familiar 2016 slogan, “Soon we will have greatness again.”
