They made a mistake.
The FBI and Justice Department did not know what they were doing when they ran 30 agents and technicians up the gut of Mar-a-Lago Club and into the living quarters of a former president.
They didn't know that they had created a " 100 Megaton event."
They made a mistake not from Attorney General Garland.
We don't know it from Christopher Wray, the FBI director who only spoke about the threats against his agents.
When Justice didn't have the brass to explain why it destroyed 246 years of precedent and allowed government agents to rifle through the drawers of a former American president, we had to wonder.
The administration sent out a couple of employees with shovels and wheelbarrows to clean up the mess.
They used to call these guys menure mongers.
Newsweek said that they had direct knowledge of the FBI's deliberations.
The FBI raid is owned by AG Garland, according to another view. You moved, Trump.
The other is a 30-year veteran of the FBI.
We should assume that both sources were speaking on the instructions of their superiors.
The interview with William M. Arkin established some important facts.
The paper was the focus.
The FBI searched for classified documents. Newsweek said that this was not about the Jan. 6 investigation.
There was an inside source.
According to the news magazine, the two Justice officials said agents had information from an FBI confidential human source, one who was able to identify what classified documents former President Trump was still hiding.
There wasn't politics.
According to Newsweek, both senior government officials say the raid was scheduled with no political motive, the FBI only intended to recover highly classified documents that were illegally removed from the White House.
The attorney general wasn't aware.
Garland didn't know the exact time or date of the raid, nor was he asked to approve it. The official said it was a matter for the US Attorney and the FBI.
The official told Newsweek that Garland wasn't aware of the raid until after it happened. In an update below, you'll learn more about that.
The FBI director was to blame.
Sources told Newsweek that Christopher Wray approved of the raid.
The blowback did not come as a surprise.
The official said it was the best and worst of the bureaucracy. They wanted to make it seem like this was a routine law enforcement action, but they got exactly the opposite.
We know what we know about the raid.
Two sources were critical of federal law enforcement.
Sources told Newsweek that the raid of Trump's home was timed to coincide with the president's absence. The FBI thought that denying the former president a photo opportunity would lower the profile of the event.
The American right got up and started shouting.
The Justice official told Newsweek that it was a huge mistake. The Bureau misread the impact.
The FBI didn't issue a subpoena to force Trump's hand on classified information, instead of raiding his home
They could have obtained the records in a less intrusive way.
The home of a former president would be the first in U.S. history to be searched by law enforcement.
That type of thinking is called a massive screwup.
The FBI raid could tear America apart.
The FBI and Justice Department ran a highly sensitive and consequential law-enforcement operation without a heads up to the attorney general and the president of the U.S.
In a country on the razor's edge, the FBI's search of a person was provocative. Americans are at a high point in their lives.
Henry Kissinger, who was Richard Nixon's secretary of state, told a British newspaper that today's America is "infinitely more" divided than the Vietnam era. The basic values of America are the subject of a very real debate.
To return meekly with anonymous sources to admit you messed up makes you look incompetent and weak to global adversaries.
The Trump raid is now a wall-to-wall political disaster for the United States.
Imagine what the stability of China or Russia would be like if something like this happened to someone. That is how they view us. Their risk-reward ratios are being changed.
The right was watching the emergence of better leaders in the Republican Party who could eventually replace Trump as the GOP's standard-bearer.
According to a Republican strategist, that is all over. The FBI raid has given Trump a new lease on life.
He thought it was unbelievable. Everyone was in support of Trump again. It took the wind out of everyone's sails.
As chaotic as the Trump presidency was, a second Trump term wouldn't be the same. The civil war would be four years long.
We haven't heard from the president, the attorney general or the FBI director since the raid on Mar-a-Lago.
On a daily basis, the question grows louder.
Is anyone in control here?
Garland said that he personally approved the decision to seek a search warrant in the matter.
The Justice Department employees were defended by him. I will not allow their integrity to be attacked.
He said he would give more information at the right time and in the right way.
This was an important step to break the silence and begin rebuilding confidence in the Justice Department and the FBI.
The damage isn't fake.
Phil is an editorial columnist. Please email him at philboas@arizonarepublic.com
The FBI raid on Trump's home was originally published on the Arizona Republic.
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