Biden not briefed on Trump's Florida home raid: White House
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US President Joe Biden reveals that he was "not briefed" about the FBI raid into former US President Donald Trump's Florida home, and the FBI argue their raid was "by the book."
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Biden not briefed on Trump's Florida home raid: White House
The White House said on Tuesday that US President Joe Biden was not given advance notice of a raid on former President Donald Trump's Florida home, emphasizing that the Justice Department conducts investigations independently.
"The president was not briefed, was not aware of it," White House Spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters. "No one at the White House was given a heads-up," she added.
The White House also said that President Biden and White House staff learned of the FBI’s unprecedented raid on former President Trump’s home at Mar-a-Lago through public reports "just like the American people did," stressing Biden's commitment to Justice Department investigations "free of political influence."
FBI search of Trump's Florida home was 'by the book,' ex-prosecutors say
Former federal prosecutors said on Tuesday the US Justice Department's silence about its search of former President Donald Trump's Florida home indicates that the investigation is being conducted "by the book."
On Monday, Trump revealed that FBI agents were present at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach.
The search was part of the Justice Department's investigation into Trump's removal of presidential records considered official government property from the White House at the end of his term in January 2021.
Read next: Trump says Florida home "raided" by FBI
This year, the Department was notified that Trump had taken classified material after the National Archives, the agency tasked with preserving government records, revealed that it had recovered 15 boxes of records from Mar-a-Lago, some of which were labeled as classified national security information.
The Justice Department and Attorney General Merrick Garland have said nothing about the search, not even confirming the presence of federal agents on Trump's property. Former federal prosecutors said the Department is following rules intended to ensure fair treatment of investigation targets by remaining silent.
"Their job is to conduct investigations in accordance with the law and to not prejudice the rights of the people they are investigating while they do it," said Kristy Parker, a former federal prosecutor now working with the advocacy group Protect Democracy.
"What we are seeing is a by-the-book process, and that is a good sign that we have an independent Department of Justice."
President Joe Biden was not given advance warning of the search, according to a White House official.
Read next: US ‘brought to its knees': Trump's latest frenzy
Former US government attorneys and national security experts said a case involving Trump's removal of classified records could be relatively easy for the government to bring, compared to the more difficult legal challenges of proving that Trump knowingly attempted to overturn the 2020 election and provoke the Capitol assault.
As one former government lawyer put it, "He has either got the top secret documents or he doesn't."
Read next: FBI raid on Trump's Florida home sparks political row
