Trump lawyer says FBI search was Democrats' attempt to spin up "drama"
Published Date: 8/13/2022
Source: axios.com

Former President Trump's lawyer told Fox News Friday that the FBI search of his Mar-a-Lago home was an attempt to spin up negative attention that the probe into the Jan. 6 Capitol riot has failed to generate.

Driving the news: “In my opinion, the Jan. 6 ratings — the show of Jan. 6 — hasn't been going so well,” said Alina Habba, an attorney for Trump on Friday's episode of "Jesse Watters Primetime." “They needed a little drama, so they throw this out there.”


What she’s saying: Habba also questioned why Judge Bruce Reinhart was allowed to sign off on the search warrant.

  • “They go to the judge that had recused himself in my Hillary [Clinton] case a month ago,” Habba said. “I would like to know why he recused himself in that case, but then he was able to sign this warrant. I want to know that.”

Catch up quick: The FBI removed 11 sets of classified information from Trump’s property earlier this week, including some marked as "top secret."

  • A warrant authorizing the search released on Friday indicates the DOJ is looking into whether Trump violated the Espionage Act and other federal laws governing the handling of classified documents.
  • Trump and his allies have tried to cast the search as politically motivated, and the latest attempt by his political opponents to undercut him ahead of a potential run for the presidency in 2024.

Go deeper: Cracks emerge in GOP’s Mar-a-Lago response