Dagen McDowell Makes Clear on Fox News Trump Team WAS Given a Copy of Raid Warrant, Despite Spin From Allies

Alex GriffingAug 11th, 2022, 1:38 pm
 

Fox Business host Dagen McDowell clarified a key point of misinformation regarding the FBI’s raid on Mar-a-Lago while on Fox News’s Outnumbered on Thursday.

In a conversation that began with Kennedy speculating the reported “mole” who tipped off the FBI as to where to look for key documents at Donald Trump’s Florida mansion must be a Secret Service agent or possibly Barron Trump – the latter being a joke.

McDowell, however, stuck a more serious tone and began by clarifying some of the facts surrounding the raid. McDowell first clarified that the surveillance cameras in Mar-a-Lago were not turned off after co-host Kayleigh McEnany said the FBI asked for the cameras to be shut off.

“Why are you asking them to turn off surveillance cameras?” McEnany concluded, hinting at a wider conspiracy. “Eric Trump said in an interview with The Daily Mail they didn’t turn the cameras off,”  McDowell immediately clarified.

She then used some of her air-time to strike down a key piece of misinformation circulating on the American right: the idea that neither Trump nor his team was given a copy of the federal warrant.

“We are we are fishing and I fully acknowledge this is speculation because we don’t know anything,” McDowell cautioned regarding the previous conversation, before laying out some facts.

“I do know that a search warrant, it’s the, it’s criminal procedure, the search warrant and an inventory of whatever was taken would have been handed over to somebody,” she then explained.

“And there are acknowledgments from Christina Bobb, one of the attorneys for President Trump that indicates that they have a copy of the search warrant,” she continued.

Mediaite reported Tuesday that Bobb told Real America’s Voice she did indeed see a copy of the search warrant ahead of the search at Mar-a-Lago.

“The warrant refers to Presidential Records Act and possible violation of law over the handling of classified information. That is according to Cristina Bobb,” McDowell added.

“President Trump and his attorneys could release that to give us some insight into what was going on,” she concluded.

McDowell’s Fox Business colleague Charles Gasparino wrote on Twitter Wednesday that “Trump and his legal team will likely seek a court order to force the FBI and The Justice Department to turn over a physical copy of the search warrant, the affidavit, and a complete inventory of what was taken in the Mar-a-Lago raid.”

Gasparino reported the claim on Twitter, but the reporting has not yet appeared on Fox Business’s website. He did, however, double down in an appearance on the network Thursday.

Judge Jeanine Pirro made a similar claim on The Five on Wednesday. “I spoke to Eric Trump 10 minutes before this show. They were not allowed to get a copy of the warrant. They were not allowed to have any of the attorneys on scene there while there,” claimed Pirro, who was quickly fact-checked by co-host Jessica Tarlov.

“We heard also from the attorney who appeared on your show saying that, no, none of Trump’s attorneys were allowed to be present. Newsweek reported that Lindsey Halligan from Trump’s team was present during the multi-hour search,” Tarlov said.

As the debate continues to swirl around the justification behind the FBI’s raid pundits and commentators on all sides have been asking for further clarification. David French mused in the Atlantic that “Trump will release the warrant, when it’s good for Trump, and not before.”

Sarah Isgur, a staff writer for the Dispatch, added, “Just another reminder: Trump has a copy of the warrant, which will include what they searched for and what crimes they believe were broken. He can release it whenever he wants.”

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Alex Griffing - Senior Editor

Alex Griffing is a Senior Editor at Mediaite. Send tips via email: alexanderg@mediaite.com. Follow him on Twitter: @alexgriffing