FBI Director Christopher A. Wray pushed back Wednesday against Republican critics who condemned the FBI’s search of former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence to recover classified government documents.
“I would not call it a raid. I would call it the execution of a lawful search warrant,” Mr. Wray said in testimony before the House Judiciary Committee.
Mr. Wray said agents took several steps to make sure the August 2022 search did not have the appearance of a raid, including wearing plainclothes instead of raid jackets and waiting until Mr. Trump had left the property before moving in.
“It has sometimes been described as a SWAT operation. It was not. There was no SWAT involvement,” he said.
Mr. Wray said he couldn’t say much more about the raid because the case is being prosecuted by special counsel Jack Smith in a Florida federal court.
Evidence obtained in the search of Mr. Trump’s home and offices at his private Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, was used in the criminal case against him. He has pleaded not guilty to 37 criminal counts, including 31 counts of willful retention of government documents.
At the time of the search Republicans accused the FBI of unfairly targeting Mr. Trump for political purposes to undermine his bid to reclaim the presidency in 2024.
“In third world countries and banana republics they prosecute the former presidents/leaders and their staff,” Rep. Thomas Massie, Kentucky Republican, tweeted last year. “Right now, we look beneath them. We are in a race to the bottom.”
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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