Trump raising 'cash bonanza' with 'firehose of emails' attacking FBI: report

On Wednesday, The Washington Postreported that former President Donald Trump is raising millions off a deluge of fundraising emails attacking the FBI for the search executed at his Mar-a-Lago country club in Palm Beach, Florida.

"Contributions to Trump’s political action committee topped $1 million on at least two days after the Aug. 8 search of his Palm Beach, Fla., estate, according to two people familiar with the figures," reported Josh Dawsey and Isaac Arnsdorf. "The daily hauls jumped from a level of $200,000 to $300,000 that had been typical in recent months, according to the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss nonpublic information."

"The cash bonanza also provides a concrete sign that Trump is reaping some political benefits from the revelation that he is under investigation by the Justice Department for potential violations of laws including the Espionage Act," said the report. "Trump and his supporters have repeatedly boasted in emails, social media posts and right-wing media articles that the search warrant would backfire on President Biden and rally Republicans around Trump. The search prompted sympathetic statements from politicians such as Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and former vice president Mike Pence, who are not reflexively full-throated in defending Trump."

Reports indicate that the FBI was searching for top secret nuclear weapons information among the documents at Mar-a-Lago, and experts have suggested the former president is in serious legal jeopardy — but Trump is responding by amping up the attacks on federal agents.

"The fire hose of Trump fundraising emails referencing the Mar-a-Lago search exceeded the PAC’s average pace of about nine per day," said the report. "The messages used alarming phrases in bold and all-caps such as 'THEY BROKE INTO MY HOME,' 'They’re coming after YOU,' and 'THIS IS INSANE.' One message included a poll asking, 'Do you agree that President Trump is being politically persecuted?' Another promised 'an exclusive 1300% MATCH today only!,' a common tactic used to encourage people to respond immediately."

The aspersions on federal law enforcement have been accompanied by new incidents of threats and violence against the FBI. A man who participated in the January 6 Capitol attack was killed by police after trying to shoot his way into the FBI field office in Cincinnati, Ohio with a semiautomatic rifle and a nail gun. And a Pennsylvania man was charged after writing on the far-right social network Gab, "I already know I’m going to die at the hands of these piece of s--- child molesting law enforcement scumbags. My only goal is to kill more of them before I drop. I will not spend one second of my life in their custody.”

ALSO IN THE NEWS: DOJ issues another subpoena — and thinks J6 Committee has evidence a crime was committed: report