Biden DOJ secretly monitored Melania, Barron Trump ahead of Mar-a-Lago raid
by Susan Ferrechio · The Washington TimesIn the weeks leading up to the FBI’s unprecedented 2022 raid of then-former President Trump’s Palm Beach home, federal agents secretly spied on the movements of Melania Trump and her son, Barron.
The revelation came in a trove of Biden-era documents released this week by the White House that chronicled the FBI’s spy campaign on Mr. Trump as the Biden Justice Department sought to prosecute him over the ex-president’s handling of classified documents.
Federal agents also secretly tracked phone calls to Mr. Trump’s top aide, now-White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, as they probed the former president over the classified material that he brought with him after leaving the White House in January 2021.
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The spy campaign took place as Mr. Biden was poised to run for reelection and Mr. Trump, his top political opponent, was preparing to launch a third presidential campaign.
A Trump spokeswoman called the Biden administration’s surveillance program an abuse of power.
“Spying on political opponents is weaponization of law enforcement, plain and simple. Those responsible must be held accountable,” White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis said.
A May 24, 2022, memo sent within the FBI listed a checklist of items for agents to complete before they executed the Aug. 8, 2022, raid on Mar-a-Lago.
At the top of the list: “Finalize FBI understanding of FPOTUS/FLOTUS/minor son’s travel (type of aircraft and specific timeline).”
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The acronyms stand for “former president” and “former first lady.”
The names of the FBI agents are redacted. The memo is signed by the then-special agent in charge of the Washington Field Office’s Counterintelligence Division.
The memo lists other items to complete ahead of the raid, including coordination between federal agents, the Justice Department and the FBI’s West Palm Beach satellite office.
The special agent in charge asks an FBI agent in one message, “Can you ensure [Justice Department] is informed of the plan?”
The memo indicates agents hoped to carry out the raid on June 6, 2022, which fell on a Monday, when, the FBI theorized, Mar-a-Lago “would have fewer people onsite.”
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Ultimately, the raid didn’t happen for another two months.
Dozens of FBI agents descended on Mar-a-Lago around 10 a.m. on Aug. 8. Neither the former president nor Mrs. Trump was at home.
The agents searched offices, storage areas and the bedrooms of the former president and former first lady, including Mrs. Trump’s underwear drawer.
They photographed and seized boxes of documents, among them papers with classified markings left in unsecured areas.
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The raid occurred following months of negotiations between Mr. Trump and the Biden Justice Department over the documents. Mr. Trump took the documents as he departed the White House on his last day in office.
Then-Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed special counsel Jack Smith in November 2022 to oversee the classified document probe as well as an investigation of Mr. Trump’s actions following the November 2020 election.
In June 2023, a federal grand jury in Florida indicted Mr. Trump on 40 criminal counts related to his removal and storage of classified documents.
It was later tossed by a judge who determined Mr. Smith was improperly appointed.
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Susan Ferrechio
sferrechio@washingtontimes.com
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