Some Trump advisors 'trying to go dark' as Mar-a-Lago scandal continues to escalate: reporter

Speaking on MSNBC this Friday, The Washington Post's Josh Dawsey discussed the reaction to the news stories emanating from the FBI's search of Donald Trump's Palm Beach resort, saying that many people close to the former president are staying quiet as new details surface.

Dawsey says when news of the raid first broke, "there was shock in former President Trump's orbit."

"As people around him have learned more details about the extent of what he was keeping there, and the various efforts behind the scenes to get them short of a search warrant, alarm has grown in recent days when you talk to advisors of the former president," Dawsey said.

"Some of them are starting to go dark and to stay as far away from this as they can," he continued. "Others, I think, know that this is a bad idea, and there are some folks close to him who say he's been through so many different investigations, so many different challenges, so many different times where everyone said the walls were closing in, and this is going to be another time where he makes a Houdini-like escape."

RELATED: 'The more we know, the worse it gets': Legal experts react to release of Mar-a-Lago search warrant

The FBI raid on Donald trump's Florida residence was partly based on suspicions of violations of the US Espionage Act related to the illegal retention of sensitive defense documents, a warrant showed Friday.

The warrant and related materials, unsealed by a Florida judge, showed agents took away with them a significant number of documents labelled "top secret."

Since leaving office, Trump has remained the country's most divisive figure and a force in the Republican party, continuing to sow falsehoods that he actually won the 2020 vote.

On Wednesday, the 76-year-old Trump was questioned for four hours by Letitia James, the New York state attorney general who is investigating the business practices of the Trump Organization.

Trump is also facing legal scrutiny for his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election and over the January 6 attack on the US Capitol by his supporters.

Trump was impeached for a historic second time by the House after the Capitol riot -- he was charged with inciting an insurrection -- but was acquitted by the Senate.

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With additional reporting by AFP