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Ariana Baio
Aug 15, 2022
Donald Trump: What happened during the FBI Mar-a-Lago raid?
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People are speculating on whether Donald Trump is a flight risk after he confirmed the FBI seized three of his passports during their raid at Mar-a-Lago.
On Monday, Trump took to Truth Social to complain the FBI "stole" three of his passports, one of which was expired.
"This is an assault on a political opponent at a level never seen before in our Country," he wrote in his post.
Upon reaching Twitter, people wondered why the former president was concerned his passport was taken which he would only need to fly internationally.
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"Sounds like someone wants to leave the country," The Republican Accountability Project tweeted.
"1) why does he have multiple passports? 2) seems like evidence the Feds. Consider Trump a flight risk," A Twitter user wrote.
Last week, the FBI unexpectedly searched Trump's residence at Mar-a-Lago looking for classified documents they believe the former president took when he left the White House.
\u201cSounds like someone wants to leave the country.\u201d— The Republican Accountability Project (@The Republican Accountability Project) 1660586968
Sometimes during investigations, passports may be seized to prevent a person from traveling internationally. Especially if the person is expected to be charged.
Since the search at Trump's home is related to potential violations of the Presidential Records Act or Espionage Act, they FBI may have confiscated Trump's three passports as a formality in the investigation.
Online, people speculated Trump may have wanted to flee to a country with no extradition treaty with the US like Russia or Saudi Arabia.
\u201cTrump is a flight risk & his passport should be confiscated\n\nAccording to his friends, he\u2019s been obsessing about his plane in the wake of the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago\n\nInteresting to note that the United States has NO EXTRADITION TREATY with Saudi Arabia or the Russian Federation\u201d— Lindy Li (@Lindy Li) 1660514005
\u201cIf Trump is not a flight risk why is he whining about the FBI allegedly seizing 'my three passports'?\u201d— Don Lewis (@Don Lewis) 1660586252
As for the two passports, often government officials are given two passports- one on behalf of the country they declare citizenship in and the other a diplomatic passport.
This means Trump's US passport and diplomatic passport may have been taken, although it has not been confirmed by Trump nor the Department of Justice.
\u201c(Trump having two unexpired passports and one expired passport isn\u2019t the issue\u2014government officials generally have two passports. What is interesting, if this news is true, is the FBI is acknowledging what I\u2019ve long said, which is that as a factual matter Trump is a flight risk.)\u201d— Seth Abramson (@Seth Abramson) 1660588870
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