Newsweek: AG Garland Had 'No Prior Knowledge' of Mar-a-Lago Raid
Guy Benson
Posted: Aug 11, 2022 9:45 AM
Spencer wrote yesterday about a bombshell Newsweek report, several elements of which I'm really struggling to believe. The piece quotes unnamed law enforcement sources allegedly familiar with Monday's events in South Florida. If the story is accurate -- and as far as I'm concerned, that remains a very big 'if' -- it's shocking. Let's review what the report entails then consider the supposed revelations, via "senior government officials" who were described as having "direct knowledge of the FBI's deliberations:"
A confidential informer told the FBI what documents Donald Trump was hiding at Mar-a-Lago, and where. FBI decision-makers in Washington and Miami thought that denying the former president a photo opportunity or a platform from which to grandstand (or to attempt to thwart the raid) would lower the profile of the event, says one of the sources, a senior Justice Department official who is a 30-year veteran of the FBI. The effort to keep the raid low-key failed: instead, it prompted a furious response from GOP leaders and Trump supporters. "What a spectacular backfire," says the Justice official. "I know that there is much speculation out there that this is political persecution, but it is really the best and the worst of the bureaucracy in action," the official says. "They wanted to punctuate the fact that this was a routine law enforcement action, stripped of any political overtones, and yet [they] got exactly the opposite."
Even as someone who thinks the DOJ and FBI have created a serious credibility problem for themselves in recent years, I am incredulous at the idea that top "decision makers" could have possibly believed that anyone would view this operation as 'low key.' There is absolutely nothing "routine" about a law enforcement action that raids the personal residence of a former President of the United States (and someone who is likely to seek the office again). That is not routine. It is extraordinary and unprecedented. It might or might not prove to have been justified once we get more information, but it's ludicrous to pretend that this was just a normal day at the office. And it's beyond naive to think that such a raid would be "stripped of any political overtones" in the realm of public perception. If these details resemble the reality of what happened, the people in charge are arguably too stupid to continue in their positions.
more
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybenson/2022/08/11/newsweek-ag-garland-had-no-prior-knowledge-of-maralago-raid-n2611580
