Trump slammed after claiming FBI search of Mar-a-Lago was illegal

Former President Donald Trump on Monday was slammed Monday after claiming the government search for top-secret documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort was illegal under the Fourth Amendment in the Bill of Rights.

While talking with reporters shortly after appearing in court, Trump claimed, without citing evidence, that the multiple indictments he's facing across four jurisdictions were all orchestrated by President Joe Biden.

Trump argued the 2022 FBI raid on his Mar-a-Lago resort to retrieve documents, which included nuclear weapons program secrets, was a violation of the U.S. Constitution.

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"They raided my house in violation of a thing called the Fourth Amendment!" Trump complained. "Not allowed to do that! They raided my house in Florida, Mar-a-Lago. No notice, no nothing, they raided it! I can't believe it! Nobody can believe it!"

This is not the first time Trump has suggested the search was illegal.

A Poynter Institute fact check from 2022 notes Trump tried to compare the search to the infamous Watergate burglary during President Richard Nixon's administration, an argument that multiple experts said did not hold up.

The warrant would have gone through a lengthy vetting process before being approved by a federal judge who found evidence of probable cause, as is dictated by the Fourth Amendment, former prosecutor Barbara McQuade told the fact checker.

"To conduct a search like this, agents would have been required to obtain a search warrant from a federal judge, and for the judge to make a finding of probable cause," McQuade told Poynter's fact checkers. "The judge would have reviewed a detailed affidavit setting forth the facts to establish probable cause. Probable cause means a reasonable likelihood that a crime has been committed and that evidence will be found at the location to be searched."

Thus it was not surprising that when Trump argued the search was illegal because he was not given "notice," he was met with scorn on social media.

"Oh yes," quipped Howell Ellerman, "let’s give the subjects of warrants notice of the search."

"Wow so he knows there's other amendments?" added Joe Mama. "Thought they just cared about the Second."

"It’s not a legal search or seizure if there’s a warrant!" said Sheila Seymour. "I’m going to side with the fbi they covered their bases before going down to the dump in Palm Beach."

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