The former president of U.S. Donald Trump will be in for another legal battle for been in possession of Presidential official records from the White House. Trump Mar-a-lago Florida estate was raided by Federal Bureau of investigation (FBI) on Monday.
The U.S Justice Department in April, have launched an investigation, following the National Archives alert to Congress in early February about the recovery of 15 boxes of White House documents and classified materials.
The former United States President will be facing felony penalties if found guilty for violating strict federal laws that restrict what former President’s can do with documents from their time in office. The Federal Laws provides that official document ranging from briefing materials, and meeting minutes to emails, texts and handwritten notes created or received by president or their top aides are U.S. property, rather than personal property of the president.
Mitchell Epner, a former federal prosecutor said “even if the search warrant pertains to Trump’s handling of official documents, he could end up facing charges for different crimes.” He informed that once the government starts scrutinizing the documents that are seized, they will not overlook evidence of other crimes that they will come across.
Though the embattled Trump have said on Monday that “the raid was not necessary or appropriate, as he is cooperating with relevant government agencies.”
The incident will be setting a wrong precedent, since no former U.S President has been charged with criminal mishandling of White House official documents. The high profile official who have faced similar charges and found guilty includes, former CIA Director David Petraeus for giving classified information to a mistress working on his biography and Samuel Berger, a U.S National Security Adviser to former President Bill Clinton for unauthorised removal and retention of classified materials.
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