AUGUST 18, 2022
Donald Trump with his children and other relatives as he left Joint Base Andrews in Maryland at the end of his presidency, on January 20, 2021. ALEX EDELMAN/AFP via Getty Images
- Trump aides are speculating about the identity a possible informant at Mar-a-Lago.
- Some think only a member of Trump’s family could have done it, The Guardian reported.
- Acting on information from a witness, the FBI searched the ex-president’s Florida home.
Aides to former President Donald Trump believe that a member of his family may have tipped off the FBI about the presence of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, The Guardian reported.
Multiple sources close to Trump told the publication that after the August 8 search of Trump’s resort in Palm Beach, Florida, aides began speculating about who could have been speaking to the agency.
In the search, agents took more than a dozen boxes of items, including highly classified information. Agents appeared to have specific information about what to look for.
Speculation initially focused on Trump’s political aides and resort staff at Mar-a-Lago, the outlet’s sources said, before shifting to those closer to Trump.
According to the sources, some aides were convinced that only a family member would have known to point agents to a particular leather-bound box, as well as knowing the location of Trump’s safe.
Both Trump’s estranged niece, Mary, and his former attorney Michael Cohen have speculated that Jared Kushner, the former president’s son-in-law, could be the informant. Neither offered evidence to back the claim.
According to multiple reports, agents conducting the raid were acting on information, including witness testimony, that Trump had not return all the classified information which was requested by the Justice Department and National Archives.
The New York Times reported that agents also obtained surveillance footage via subpoena of a hallway near the storage room where the documents were being kept and saw something that alarmed them.
The Justice Department has asked a judge not to release the affidavit which details the probable cause the search was based on, saying that it could provide information about the scope of the investigation.
Trump has said he wants the document to be made public.
The warrant used in the search, which was unsealed Friday, showed that agents believe Trump may have violated several laws, including the Espionage Act.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing over the handling of the documents.
