It was a moment already enshrined in history: armed FBI agents descended upon the home of a former president, Donald Trump, in August of 2022 and raided the premises in search of classified documents he had allegedly kept illegally after he failed to win reelection. The raid was personally approved by then-Attorney General Merrick Garland, former President Joe Biden’s personal attack dog, and was part of former Special Counsel Jack Smith’s special counsel probe into the matter.
It turns out, however, that many in the FBI believed that there wasn’t sufficient cause to mount the operation — yet they proceeded anyway due to pressure from the Biden DOJ, according to emails reviewed by Fox Digital:
[One] email revealed that the FBI’s Washington Field Office did "not believe (and has articulated to DOJ CES), that we have established probable cause for the search warrant for classified records at Mar a Lago."
"DOJ has opined that they do have probable cause, requesting a wide scope including residence, office, storage space," an agent wrote.
The FBI believed that a raid would be "counterproductive," and suggested "alternative, less intrusive and likelier quicker options for resolution" to reclaim any potential classified records.
The process moved forward, regardless of concerns.
Whoa.
🚨Here's a story that matters...
— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) December 16, 2025
"The FBI did not believe it had probable cause to raid President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in 2022, but moved forward amid pressure from the Biden Justice Department, with an official saying he didn’t 'give a damn about the optics' of the… pic.twitter.com/zUet61Z8B9
The FBI did not believe it had probable cause to raid President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in 2022, but moved forward amid pressure from the Biden Justice Department, with an official saying he didn’t 'give a damn about the optics' of the search.
REMEMBER: BREAKING: Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago Home Raided by FBI; DOJ Declines to Comment
Former AG Matthew Whitaker Rips Mar-a-Lago Raid: 'This Is Something From Banana Republics'
Other emails further reveal that senior agents had doubts about the information they were receiving, and didn’t believe it was enough to justify the hardcore tactics:
"Very little has been developed related to who might be culpable for mishandling the documents," an FBI official serving as an assistant special agent in charge, wrote to another FBI official, Anthony Riedlinger. "From the interviews, WFO [Washington Field Office] has gathered information suggesting that there may be additional boxes (presumably of the same type as were sent back to NARA in January) at Mar-a-Lago."
"WFO has been drafting a search warrant affidavit related to these potential boxes, but has some concerns that the information is single source, has not been corroborated, and may be dated," the official continues.
Watch this…
— C3 (@C_3C_3) December 16, 2025
Now it’s coming out the FBI warned the Biden Admin that there was NOT probable cause to raid Mar a Lago.
They raided President Trump anyway.
Merrick Garland and everyone involved needs to go to prison.
Enjoy the Grand Jury in Florida!pic.twitter.com/eVZucbwq2Z
There are numerous other emails showing that there was pervasive doubt at the bureau that what they were doing was just. Here’s a sample:
Weeks later, an FBI agent writes an email stating: "We haven’t generated any new facts, but keep being given draft after draft after draft."
"Absent a witness coming forward with recent information about classified on site, at what point is it fair to table this?" the agent writes. "It is time consuming for the team, and not productive if there are no new facts supporting PC (probable cause)?"
We’ve known all along that the Biden-Garland DOJ was corrupt to the core and that they weaponized the department to snuff out anyone who strayed from their orthodoxy — including school board members, pro-life advocates, religious people, and more. This new information, however, proves that they knew what they were doing was wrong, and just plain didn’t give a damn. They assumed that the Democrats would hold on to the Oval Office for the foreseeable future and that their wrongdoings would never come to light.
What a disgraceful bunch. Each and every day, I feel immense gratitude that the American people were smart enough to give them their walking papers in 2024. Let’s hope they step up again in the midterms and, more importantly, in 2028.
UPDATE 12/16/25 2:25 p.m. ET: Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) tweeted about the new revelations and attached the emails in question:
Received shocking new docs 2day from DOJ & FBI showing FBI DID NOT BELIEVE IT HAD PROBABLE CAUSE to raid Pres Trump's Mar-a-Lago home but Biden DOJ pushed for it anyway
— Chuck Grassley (@ChuckGrassley) December 16, 2025
Based on the records Mar-a-Lago raid was a miscarriage of justice
Read for urself: https://t.co/qbJNT0tcRE pic.twitter.com/ljWdjndhHE
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