Fact-Checkers Say Judge’s Order Does NOT Prove Biden Ordered Trump FBI Raid – So That Definitely Settles That
L: Joe Raedle/Getty Images R: Twitter.com/Rob Flaherty
Multiple news outlets have fact-checked the claim that President Joe Biden ordered the FBI raid on former President Donald Trump‘s Mar-a-Lago resort home, so that ought to settle the matter for skeptics.
Most recently, The Associated Press fact-checked the claim that a ruling from District Court Judge Aileen Cannon demonstrates that Biden ordered the FBI to search Mar-a-Lago as part of an investigation of Trump for crimes involving the Espionage Act in the interim.
On Monday, Cannon ruled that a special master be appointed to review documents seized during the raid, and enjoined the Justice Department from using the documents in its investigation of Trump for crimes involving the Espionage Act in the interim.
But supporters of Trump cherry-picked a phrase from the much-derided ruling to claim it shows Biden ordered the whole thing:
Cannon’s 24-page order notes that the National Archives and Records Administration informed Trump on May 10 that it would proceed with “provid[ing] the FBI access to the records in question, as requested by the incumbent President, beginning as early as Thursday, May 12, 2022.”
Conservative outlets and social media users quickly seized on that phrasing as evidence that Biden had been aware of the FBI’s plans to raid Trump’s Palm Beach resort, and in fact had ordered it — something he and his administration have steadfastly denied.
“‘as requested by the incumbent president,’” Rasmussen Reports tweeted. “Joe Biden initiated the Mar-a-Lago raid, then lied about doing so to Americans repeatedly. Let that sink in.”
Pro-Trump websites also ran stories on the ruling’s apparent revelation that were widely shared on social media.
The article goes on to note that “the phrase in question is only a partial quote from the May 10 letter from the National Archives to Trump’s lawyer.”
That letter was leaked several weeks ago to former Fox News contributor and pro-Trump founder of “Just the News” John Solomon, who claimed it showed that “the Biden White House worked directly with the Justice Department and National Archives to instigate the criminal probe into alleged mishandling of documents, allowing the FBI to review evidence retrieved from Mar-a-Lago this spring and eliminating the 45th president’s claims to executive privilege.”
But that claim was roundly mocked, and then ruled “False” by Politifact:
The document at the center of this claim does no such thing. It shows that the Justice Department reached out to White House Counsel’s Office to request that the National Archives be granted permission to share documents with the FBI. The Presidential Records Act requires that the request be made to the current president to turn over the National Archives documents to anyone.
The Justice Department was first notified by the National Archives that the documents contained classified materials in February, which is what launched the investigation, according to a search warrant affidavit. The White House Counsel’s Office approved the FBI’s request for access to the documents in April, after the investigation started.
Biden said he had no foreknowledge of the Mar-a-Lago search. This documentation does not dispute that.
We rate this claim False.
The matter is obviously closed, then.
