Some FBI officials tried to prevent last year's search of Mar-a-Lago and even sought to shut down the investigation into classified documents found in former President Donald Trump's possession entirely before they were overruled by the Justice Department, according to The Washington Post.
DOJ prosecutors and FBI agents in July feuded over how to handle the classified documents Trump took home to Mar-a-Lago before the unprecedented search of the property in August, according to the report.
Prosecutors at the time claimed that new evidence showed Trump was knowingly hiding secret documents at his private club in Florida, urging FBI agents to conduct a surprise raid. However, two senior FBI officials who would have been in charge of the search tried to push back on the plan, believing it was too combative, and instead sought to get Trump's permission to search the property, four sources told the Post under the condition of anonymity.
While the prosecutors ultimately got their way in the matter, it was one of several previously unreported cases of intense arguments between two parts of the Justice Department regarding just how aggressively they should pursue a criminal investigation against a former president.
The FBI on Aug. 8 conducted an unprecedented court-approved raid, collecting over 100 classified documents, including one describing the nuclear capabilities of a foreign government.
In May, FBI agents in the Washington field office tried to slow the probe, telling prosecutors that they needed to proceed with caution considering the sensitive nature of the matter, the sources told The Post. Some of the agents even tried to shut down the criminal investigation altogether in June after Trump's attorneys claimed all classified records had already been turned over, according to the people with knowledge of the discussions.
However, a senior law enforcement official told the Post that closing the probe was never discussed by FBI leadership, nor would it have ever been approved.
The clash began due to worries among officials that no matter what they did in their investigation of a former president, they would face intense scrutiny from people both inside and outside the government. But according to people familiar with the discussions, agents and prosecutors focused on very different aspects of the investigation.
While federal prosecutors argued they needed to take an aggressive approach to secure some of the country's most sensitive information that they believed Trump was intentionally hoarding, FBI agents believed that they should take a more cooperative approach with the former president. Both sides were aware that Trump was likely to publicly attack the integrity of the investigation, the sources told The Post.
Prosecutors argued that the FBI was failing to treat Trump like any other government employee who has not been truthful about classified records that could threaten national security.
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This is not the first time the FBI and the Justice Department have clashed — they often disagree about how aggressively they should pursue witnesses and evidence, but these are often temporary arguments that are resolved.
The Mar-a-Lago case stands out both for its focus on a former president, and because it has been closely monitored at every step by senior Justice Department officials, including Attorney General Merrick Garland who said he "personally approved" the search of the property.
While it's not clear how the investigation could have unfolded if the two sides decided differently, legal experts say that it is unlikely agents would have recovered the items collected during the FBI raid of Trump's estate.
Those with inside knowledge of the probe told the Post the infighting held up the search for months, which led to prosecutors rushing to reach a decision on possible charges. However, others say the internal discussions were necessary to ensure officers had enough evidence to execute the search, sources told The Post.
Jay Bratt, the prosecutor leading the Justice Department's counterespionage work, tried to get a warrant from a judge for an unannounced search at Mar-a-Lago to quickly recover sensitive documents that he believed Trump was still knowingly hiding.
Bratt and other senior national security prosecutors, including Assistant Attorney General Matt Olsen and top counterintelligence official George Toscas, met with FBI agents in an FBI conference room about a week before the raid.
Prosecutors brought a draft search warrant to the meeting and argued that the FBI had to search Mar-a-Lago as soon as possible, people with knowledge of the conversation told The Post. They claimed the search was the only safe way to recover the sensitive documents that witnesses claimed were still at the private club.
However, Steven D'Antuono, the then-head of the FBI Washington field office, was adamant that his agents should not do a surprise search, sources told the outlet.
D'Antuono said that he would only conduct the raid if he was ordered to, two sources said. Two others said that he did not refuse to do the raid, but rather repeatedly argued that it should be a consensual search agreed to by the former president's legal team.
Bratt raised his voice multiple times in the meeting and emphasized that they could no longer trust Trump and his team, according to the report.
D'Antuono and some other FBI officials contended that it would look bad for agents with "FBI" on their jackets to be pictured raiding a former president's home, according to the sources.
Alan Kohler Jr., the FBI's top counterintelligence official, disputed the argument, asking senior FBI agents how bad it would look if they didn't act on the news and government secrets continued to be hidden at Trump's club.
D'Antuono admitted that they likely had sufficient probable cause to search the residence but continued to urge that they should work with Trump's lawyer, Evan Corcoran, to conduct the search without a warrant.
But prosecutors and some FBI officials had been wary of Corcoran, believing that appealing to him would lead to word spreading through Trump's circle, giving him or his team time to hide or destroy evidence, sources told the outlet.
Prosecutors were on edge until the day of the raid, as they continued to hear dissent from FBI agents in the Washington field office, according to the report. They also said that prosecutors heard some FBI agents wanted to call Corcoran once they got to Mar-a-Lago and wait for him to join them in the search, which prosecutors said would not work.
In the days leading up to the search, prosecutors received a request from FBI headquarters to stall the search for another day, according to the Post. Their request came because they planned to announce the news that charges were being brought against an Iranian for plotting to assassinate former national security adviser John Bolton, and didn't want the Mar-a-Lago raid to overshadow the news.
But the sources claimed that after months of fighting with FBI agents, prosecutors were exhausted, and would not delay for any reason. The search proceeded as scheduled.
The FBI attempted to conduct the search in a less confrontational manner by doing it while Trump was in New York instead of Palm Beach. They also alerted the Secret Service of their plan a few hours before the search to prevent any law enforcement conflict, and wore white polo shirts and khakis instead of their traditional blue and yellow jackets.
Legal experts say this is an unprecedented case in the history of the relationship between two wings of the Justice Department.
Peter Strzok, a former FBI official who served at the bureau for 26 years, called the report "astonishing" and said he had never seen a case like this in his career.
"In 20 years of working cases involving classified information, I never - not once - encountered prosecutors who wanted to get a search warrant and reluctant - even refusing! - agents," he wrote on Twitter. "The other way around, sure."
Former FBI Special Agent Asha Marie Rangappa added that the "FBI has a problem, and it's coming from inside the house."
"This extensive piece once again makes clear a simple fact: the FBI, traumatized from the Trump era assaults on it, treated Trump with kid gloves," wrote national security attorney Bradley Moss.
John Sipher, a national security expert and longtime CIA official, said the report shows that "Trump's bullying and attacks on public servants have had an effect."
"Agents are afraid to do their job," he wrote.
Former federal prosecutor Michael Stern, called the report "disturbing."
"It tells us what we feared," he added, "Trump keeps getting away with it because law enforcement keeps letting him."
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