The memos also show that agents in the bureau’s Washington Field Office sought to persuade Biden Administration officials to consider alternatives and stressed that the entire matter might be resolved by a “reasonable conversation” with Trump’s lawyers. Those concerns were dismissed as were efforts to limit the search warrants to avoid bad “optics.”
The DOJ wrote to the Trump legal team on May 11, 2022 requesting that the former president return all classified documents in his possession. They set a deadline of May 24, but the Trump attorney later said he understood the deadline was flexible.
The emails show that the DOJ ruled out further efforts to resolve the matter, including a June 1, 2022, memo from the Assistant Special Agent in Charge stating “DOJ has been adamant that no accommodation would be given and that they would not reach out to the attorney.” That date is important since it was just a week after the first deadline and less than a month after the demand letter.
Yet, the DOJ officials were already treating the matter as closed in seeking further resolution. The WFO, however, noted that it “believes that a reasonable conversation with the former president’s attorney… ought not to be discounted.”When it became clear that the Justice Department was going forward with the search, an agent again counseled caution that the search should be “handled in a professional, low key manner, and to be mindful of the optics of the search.”
However, then-Deputy Assistant Attorney General George Toscas appears to have dismissed such calls for restraint on the scope or manner of the search. An agent wrote
“Since we heard Mr. Toscas say yesterday in the call that he ‘frankly doesn’t give a damn about the optics’ and Mr. Bratt has already built an antagonistic relationship with (Trump) attorneys…I think it is more than fair to say that the DOJ contact with (Trump attorney) just prior to the execution of the warrant will not go well. DOJ said as much yesterday.”
Documents also show that agents were concerned about the basis for the warrants and the need for additional, more recent support from witnesses.
Despite stating that it had nothing to do with the raid, documents also show that the Biden White House worked with the Justice Department to help brush aside executive privilege claims to facilitate the searches.
The most surprising aspect of these emails was how quickly Biden officials seemed to close the door on further efforts to resolve the matter despite references to promising communications with Trump counsel. Officials appear adamant that they were going to carry out the first search of the home of a former president. Later, the Justice Department was accused of staging certain scenes for photographs to embarrass the president.
Notably, agents also questioned the scope of the warrant and the need to narrow the rooms to be searched. Ultimately, Trump would criticize agents for going through the personal things and drawers of the First Lady.
The emails reinforce the view that the raid was carried out when there remained a possibility of reaching a simple accommodation with Trump counsel. Instead, officials launched a massive search with dozens of cars while insisting that there was little alternative.