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RUBY:

From Schwartz Media I’m Ruby Jones, this is 7am.
In the US, right-wing groups are holding armed rallies against the FBI, and one field office of the bureau was attacked by a gunman.

After former president Donald Trump's home was raided by the FBI, his comments appeared to have unleashed a wave of anger from the far-right.

Trump himself has now called for calm, but he maintains the FBI’s raid is part of a witch-hunt and that he’s done nothing wrong.

Today, world editor at The Saturday Paper Jonathan Pearlman, on what the FBI were looking for when they raided Donald Trump’s home.

It’s Wednesday August 17.

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RUBY:

Jonathan, about a week ago, the FBI raided the home of the former president of the United States, Donald Trump. And, a lot of his supporters in the media and the Republican Party have not taken that well. So, what sorts of things have people in the US been hearing about this?

JONATHAN:

Yes, that's right, Ruby. It's caused a firestorm in the US as anything involving Trump or any alleged wrongdoing by him seems to cause.

Archival tape -- Newsmax:

“Massive fallout today after the FBI's raid at Mar a Lago in Palm Beach yesterday. Former President Trump and his allies are already out calling this move a political assault, an abuse of power, in fact, by the Biden administration.”

JONATHAN:

And this latest search has led to some startling but probably predictable responses really from some of the more partisan and sycophantic elements of both the Republican Party and elements of the media in America.

Archival tape -- Buck Sexton on Fox:

“..Jesse it almost feels like a pre-emptive coup.”

JONATHAN:

Led initially by Donald Trump, really, who said that this investigation by the FBI resembled something that would happen in a third-world country.

Archival tape -- Kekrik:

“This stuff happens in Venezuela. It happens in Cuba, Colombia. It happens in dictatorships like Russia and China.”

JONATHAN:

There were calls to defund or even to dismantle the FBI.

Archival tape -- Dana Perino:

“I don't understand how a document can be this critical, like short of the nuclear codes being written on these documents in a locked behind closed doors. I just really don't understand how a document could warrant this kind of warrant.”

Archival tape -- Jesse Watters:

“The attorney general has to use discretion, right? When you come at the king, you best not miss.”

JONATHAN:

So there's been a sort of hysteria around this that's continued to grow and really is concerning.

RUBY:

And the way that we learnt this rage was happening was actually through Donald Trump himself. He released this kind of extraordinary statement informing the world that his beautiful home, Mar a Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, was, and I quote, “currently under siege, raided and occupied by a large group of FBI agents.” So, what were the FBI looking for at Mar a Lago?

JONATHAN:

Yes, the FBI's search warrant has now been released. It's quite detailed and includes details like the size of Mar a Lago that it's got 58 bedrooms and 33 bathrooms. But it also provides information about what was recovered from Mar a Lago during the raid. We don't know exactly what is in the documents. There were one or two kind of intriguing details. One of the documents apparently involved the president of France. But we don't know if that's Macron, the current president. There was reference to Roger Stone, the former Trump ally and adviser who was granted clemency by Trump. But what is exactly in these documents? We still don't know.

RUBY:

Do we know how those documents ended up at Mar a Lago? Did Donald Trump or someone in his team just take them with them when they left the White House?

JONATHAN:

Yeah, this follows a long running, simmering saga that's really been happening in the background until now, because we knew when Trump left the White House in January last year that he took with him 15 boxes of documents. Since Watergate, US presidents no longer own the records from their office. Those records become public documents, so, because there were concerns about Richard Nixon taking documents with him that could be used in investigations into the Watergate scandal, laws were introduced to stop presidents taking records with them. Now, what we knew was that Trump had taken these 15 boxes with him, and there was a lot of to and fro between Trump and his lawyers and the National Archives. But eventually the boxes were recovered and the National Archives were not happy with what they found because firstly, they found that the documents contained classified material. And secondly, they were concerned that Trump had still not given over all the documents that he'd taken with him. So the National Archives contacted the Department of Justice, and there were obviously sufficient concerns that they've launched this really credible raid of Trump's home. So that's how we ended up with dozens of FBI agents turning up at Mar a Lago last week.

RUBY:

Okay. So according to the FBI, we've got classified documents in the possession of a person who is now a private citizen, someone who is also notoriously unpredictable. But what exactly is the danger here? What do authorities think could happen as a result of this? Are they worried about national security? What is it?

JONATHAN:

Yes, absolutely they're worried about national security. I think that would be the top of their concern. Mar a Lago is not all that secure. It's a club for paid members. So anyone can really become a member. And there were suggestions during Trump's presidency that people did become paid members to try to get access to Trump. So it's not a secure premises in which to contain secrets of state, which is what Trump has held onto. So there are national security implications. And then there's also concerns about how officials or former president who hold on to these documents might use them. They might use them for their own personal benefit. Someone like Trump, who remains in politics and potentially a presidential candidate, could use them to his own political advantage. So there's national security concerns and then there's broader concerns about the misuse of documents that really should belong to the state.

RUBY:

We'll be back in a moment.

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Archival tape -- Donald Trump:

“We are a nation in decline. We are a failing nation.”

RUBY:

Jonathan, over the weekend, Donald Trump released a video which looked a lot like an election campaign video.

Archival tape -- Donald Trump:

“There’s no mountain we cannot climb. There is no summit we cannot reach.”

RUBY:

There were the sounds of thunder and rain. It's all very dramatic. And Donald Trump talks about a nation in decline. He also seemingly references the FBI raid, saying that law enforcement had been weaponized against opposing political parties.
So, is he planning to run for president again?

Archival tape -- Donald Trump:

“And it is time to start talking about greatness for our country again.”

JONATHAN:

We don't know for certain, but it looks very much like Trump is planning to run again in 2024.

There'd been suggestions that he was going to hold off announcing his run until after the midterm elections in November. And it's possible that these raids and the hysteria surrounding these raids could prompt him to bring that forward.

But it's certainly looking like Trump is planning to run again. And it looks like this latest saga involving the FBI raid and the holding on to classified documents is potentially another storm that could assist him politically. And again, add to his depiction of himself as some sort of victim of the Democrats and victim of some state conspiracy.

RUBY:

It does seem like an FBI raid might be good for Trump in that it, as you say, enables him to make this case for being unfairly targeted and a victim of the system. And that's a narrative that we've heard from him for a long time. Do you think that it's a narrative that will continue to work?

JONATHAN:

It seems to consistently work for Trump. He erodes and undermines state institutions so that when he's targeted by them, he can claim that they have no credibility. And we've just seen this throughout his political career, and it's damaging. And I think it's very difficult to combat it. You know, of course, Trump's political attack on Hillary Clinton was all about claims that she had used her email to convey classified material, and that led to the whole sort of lock her up campaign. So he will rely on the institutions of state when they serve him, but when they don't, he'll attack them. And I think it's a very effective strategy from that sense, it continually works for him. But in a broader sense, I think it adds to this idea of him, as you suggested, of, you know, sort of an outsider, someone disrupting the system and feeds into that when he's able to attack the swamp, as he calls it. And then it can also help to fire up his base, fire up the Republican base, and help him with donations and support ahead of another presidential run.

RUBY:

And as it fires people up, it also can spread a lot of paranoia and a lot of fear. Because what you're hearing is be afraid. You know, be afraid of the Democrats, be afraid of the courts, be afraid of these institutions. And that can become quite a dangerous line, we all know what happened on January 6. So is there a risk of real violence as a result of this?

JONATHAN:

Yes, there is. And we're already seeing signs of that sort of violence. During the weekend, a memo is circulated to US law enforcement officials about a potential right wing terror attack in response to the FBI raid.

Archival tape -- Fox 3:

“...outside the Phoenix FBI building. This is near Seventh Street in Deer Valley Road. Several protesters armed with weapons were walking around the area. You see them standing on the corner across from the FBI headquarters.”

JONATHAN:

We've already seen a shooting in Cincinnati which targeted an FBI field office.

Archival tape -- NBC News:

“Just moments ago, we learnt that the suspect is dead after that standoff in a cornfield. Two officials familiar with the matter tell NBC News his name was Ricky Walter Schiffer and he was at the Capitol on January 6.”

JONATHAN:

The perpetrator posted hours before that he wanted to fight a war against law enforcement in the wake of the Trump raid. And just the continued frenzied attack on the FBI and on the Department of Justice is obviously worrying because that can undermine the rule of law and the credibility of the justice system in the US.

RUBY:

And we have seen some news outlets start to wind back their rhetoric in the last 24 hours or so, presumably because of the threat of violence. But Jonathan - in the middle of all of this, the investigation against Trump for having these documents at his residence, that will continue on, won’t it?. So is there a scenario in which he's actually charged with a crime? And what would that mean for his political future?

JONATHAN:

Yeah, we don't really know where this will end up and we don't know exactly what was in the documents that were seized. Certainly an investigation is ongoing. It's not yet clear whether Trump will face criminal charges, but Trump is also facing a number of other investigations, including into his family's business practices, possible tax fraud, his role in the January 6 attack on the Capitol. There's also investigations into his pressure on election officials.

So there are a number of investigations, a range of potential prosecutions. I'm sure this is a headache for him and his lawyers, but it certainly doesn't seem to affect his political prospects at all. You know, it just seems that when these political firestorms brew up, Trump gains the headlines again. And what we've seen really since Trump's original Republican candidacy is that when he is in the headlines, when he's dominating the media, it seems to bring out his base, help him politically. And it's really been part of his recipe for winning elections.

So it doesn’t seem like there’s any sort of quiet returning to American politics at the moment.

RUBY:

Jonathan, thank you so much for your time.

JONATHAN:

Thanks, Ruby.

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RUBY:

Also in the news today…

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has revealed that former prime minister Scott Morrison held five ministries, confirming two additional ministries Morrison was secretly sworn into: Home Affairs and Treasury.

Former Coalition Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews said yesterday that she had “no idea” the former Prime Minister had sworn himself into her portfolio.

She said, quote: “I am going to ask him to resign and leave Parliament.’’

Morrison released a statement saying he swore into the ministries in good faith and apologised to colleagues who had been upset.

And NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet says “fundamental errors” were made during the process to appoint John Barilaro to a trade role in New York, in his response to recommendations from a long-awaited report into Barilaro’s appointment

Perrottet announced changes to ensure the government was more transparent, including changes to the ministerial code of conduct.

I’m Ruby Jones, this is 7am. See you tomorrow.

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