In March of last year, the Washington Post released a unique report detailing the internal disputes that occurred before the search of Mar-a-Lago.
The main point of the article was that DOJ prosecutors, under the leadership of Jay Bratt, were determined to obtain a search warrant and conduct a surprise raid with the FBI’s involvement.
Tensions reached a peak during an August meeting when Steven D’Antuono, head of the FBI’s Washington, DC field office, expressed resistance.
Steven M. D’Antuono, then the head of the FBI Washington field office, which was running the investigation, was adamant the FBI should not do a surprise search, according to the people…
Tempers ran high in the meeting. Bratt raised his voice at times and stressed to the FBI agents that the time for trusting Trump and his lawyer was over, some of the people said. He reminded them of the new footage suggesting Trump or his aides could be concealing classified records at the Florida club.
D’Antuono and some fellow FBI officials complained how bad it would look for agents with “FBI” emblazoned on their jackets to invade a former president’s home, according to some people with knowledge of the meeting…
Later, D’Antuono asked if Trump was officially the subject of the criminal investigation.
“What does that matter?” Bratt replied, according to the people.
As we are aware, the DOJ’s request was granted, and D’Antuono was instructed to dispatch agents to search Mar-a-Lago. The agents carried out the search without wearing the typical blue and yellow FBI jackets.
Following his retirement, D’Antuono’s account of the FBI and DOJ meeting preceding the search was reported exclusively by NBC News.
This version of events, largely based on D’Antuono’s recollections, differs from the earlier story in The Washington Post. According to NBC, there were concerns within the FBI field office that the DOJ’s actions may have been influenced by political motives.
Several FBI agents in the Washington field office were concerned about the aggressive tactics and political donations of Jay Bratt, one of the Justice Department prosecutors.
According to public records, Bratt, who now works for special counsel Jack Smith, had donated $600 to a former DOJ colleague’s unsuccessful Democratic primary campaign for the U.S. Senate in Oregon in 2007, $150 to the Oregon Senate Democratic Campaign Committee that same year, and a total of $500 to the Democratic National Committee in 1993 and 1994.
Bratt did not respond to a request for an interview, but according to NBC, an unnamed DOJ official insists that Bratt never showed any political bias. Nevertheless, D’Antuono felt that Bratt was being excessively aggressive. He preferred to collaborate with Trump’s attorney to arrange a consensual search of Mar-a-Lago.
“Jay was being a little overly aggressive,” D’Antuono recalled. “The aggressiveness that was there, from day one.”…
D’Antuono saw Trump as most likely motivated by a desire to show off the classified documents.
But Justice Department officials and some FBI officials believed that Trump’s continued possession of the documents was a direct threat to national security.
The meeting ended after an hour, with both sides maintaining their positions. D’Antuono stated that he would require an order to proceed with the raid, or else he would not comply.
Bratt was equally resolute and insisted on executing the search as soon as possible.
Following the conclusion of the meeting, FBI agents discussed the proceedings and noticed something in the draft of the proposed search warrant that had previously escaped their attention.
They noted that the draft search warrant included a potential criminal charge against Trump that they did not recall seeing before: Section 2071 of Title 18.
The law made it illegal for an individual who possesses government documents to “willfully and unlawfully” conceal, remove, mutilate, obliterate, falsify, or destroy them. If a person is convicted of the charge, they shall “be disqualified from holding” any federal office.
“The barring from office charge,” D’Antuono recalled. “People saw that charge as ‘Aha, is that DOJ’s effort to get Trump?’”
The day following the meeting, D’Antuono received a reprimanding message from a DOJ official who had participated in the meeting via phone.
The note accused him and his leadership of transitioning from cautious to fearful. D’Antuono felt insulted and irate at being labeled as cowardly.
However, FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate instructed D’Antuono to proceed with the search a day later. Ultimately, the DOJ prevailed in the dispute, leading to the execution of the search approximately a week later.
