Mar-a-Lago search against Trump set off 'raw hostility' within FBI: newly revealed records

Newly released documents show intense disagreement within the FBI over an investigation into Donald Trump's retention of classified materials.

Bloomerg's Jason Leopold obtained the government records through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed in 2022 that demonstrated "raw hostility" inside the federal law enforcement bureau after the execution of a search warrant Aug. 8, 2022, at Trump's private Mar-a-Lago resort that turned up classified materials.

“Did this really just happen? Am I dreaming? The FBI served a Search Warrant on a former president?” wrote one bureau employee in an email. “If he took documents, give him a call and ask for them back.”

The emails showed agents from the Washington field office who were assigned to the case disagreed with Justice Department leadership over the investigation and doubted they had developed probable cause to execute a search warrant at Trump's residence, and one agent complained in an email that field office did not initiate or request a grand jury subpoena.

“This was unilateral action by DOJ,” that agent said, adding that the Washington field office “does not have anything in the case currently that would indicate there are additional” classified materials “at Mar-a-Lago (or any other location).”

Another agent replied with a complaint about their own frustrations with DOJ.

“Each time I’ve picked a fight on this case (and I’ve picked more than a couple), l’ve gotten the ‘yes, understood. But do it anyway’ type of reply," the second agent said.

The FBI had hoped to avoid a Mar-a-Lago search by dealing directly with Trump’s attorney, Evan Corcoran, and even prepared a "call script" to use when contacting Corcoran to seek "future cooperation and a consent search of Mar-a-Lago."

“Your assistance would facilitate the proper retrieval and handling of these classified documents and governmental records,” read an unredacted portion of that script. “We therefore request the former president’s cooperation, and the opportunity to thoroughly search and retrieve any additional classified documents, or governmental records in order to properly secure these records. Your cooperation, in conjunction with a consensual search would help provide a level of comfort that the FBI has retrieved and safeguarded all the appropriate documents.”

However, those efforts ended when it became clear a search warrant would be served, but the assistant special agent in charge asked Anthony Riedlinger in the counterintelligence division and Steven D’Antuono, the assistant director in charge of the Washington field office, to let the FBI serve the warrant instead of the DOJ because the bureau had a better relationship with Trump's defense team.

“This first contact will set the tone for the day," that agent wrote Aug. 4, 2022. "The FBI intends for the execution of the search warrant to be handled in a professional, low-key manner, and to be mindful of the optics of the search.”

The agent specifically singled out Deputy Assistant Attorney General George Toscas for not giving "a damn about the optics" and faulted Jay Bratt, the head of DOJ’s counterintelligence section, for fostering "an antagonistic relationship” with Corcoran.

“I think it is more than fair to say that the DOJ contact with Mr. Corcoran just prior to the execution of the warrant will not go well,” the email said.