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After Mar-A-Lago raid, former President Donald Trump vows retaliation
On Monday night, the FBI executed a surprise search warrant at the estate of former President Donald Trump. A former FBI leader in Detroit says the evidence prior to the search had to have been overwhelming.
DETROIT (FOX 2) - When the FBI executed a surprise search warrant at the home of former President Donald Trump, they did it without revealing the nature of what led to the search warrant.
Whatever it was that was in the warrant, it must have been overwhelming to lead the Department of Justice to request and execute the search, according to the former FBI Detroit Special Agent in Charge Andy Arena.
The former President is facing separate investigations related to the riots of January 6 plus conduct in Georgia linked to the 2020 election and business dealings in New York.
But on Monday, it was the FBI knocking on the door and entering to search his estate. On Tuesday, he and Republican colleagues called the raid politically motivated and are vowing retaliation against the justice department.
Arena is an attorney, law professor, the head of the Detroit crime Commission, and was formerly in charge of the FBI in Detroit.
"You're talking about the former President of the United States, that's as sensitive as it's going to get," Arena said. "The FBI and Department of Justice have a lot of explaining to do."
Arena said the search of the former President's home was obviously very sensitive and the FBI and a judge would have to scrutinize the request to get the search warrant. Ultimately, he thinks it must have been vetted very high.
"I would be stunned if the attorney general and the head of the FBI did not sign off on this," Arena said.
Normally the search warrant, there should be a defined crime that the FBI is investigating as well as the specific evidence to be collected.
Which, at this time, is unknown to the general public.
"It's unfortunate that they sealed everything because I think that would probably shed some light on what they did and why they did it."
The timing, just weeks before a major election, is interesting, Arena says.
"It's got to be overwhelming, There's gotta be a lot of reason behind doing something like this at this time.")
And although Arena says politics can creep its way into the legal system, the current head of the FBI is now under the microscope - a guy who was appointed to the role by Trump.
"I've met Christopher Wray, I work with Christopher Wray, he seemed to be a pretty sharp, aboveboard kind of guy to me," Arena said.