Clinton-linked lawyer says Trump could be barred from re-election after FBI raid, cites US code

Marc Elias, a top lawyer for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, said Monday that former President Donald Trump could be disqualified from making another run for the White House in 2024 after the FBI raid on his residence in Florida.

FBI agents on Monday executed a search warrant at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property looking for classified documents he allegedly removed from the White House when he left office in 2021. search was carried out in relation to the National Archives, according to a high alt. government official

That prompted Elias to cite US Code Title 18, Section 2071 to highlight that Trump could be barred from seeking public office again, as the former president continues to hint that he will soon announce plans to seek a second term as commander in chief. .

“The media is missing the very, very important reason why today’s raid is a potential blockbuster in American politics,” Elias wrote in a tweet.

TRUMP SAYS MAR-A-LAGO, FLORIDA HOUSE ‘WATCHED’ BY FBI AGENTS

US President Donald Trump’s Mar’a-Lago resort was raided by the FBI on Monday, it said in a statement.

Elias pointed to the passage of Title 18 of the United States Code, Section 2071 which reads: “Whoever, in custody of any record, proceeding, map, book, document, paper or other thing, willfully conceals, removes, mutilates, and unlawfully obliterates, falsifies, or destroys the same, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both; and shall forfeit his office and be disqualified from holding any office in the United States.”

But legal challenges could hamper efforts to prevent Trump from running again under that code, Elias noted in a follow-up tweet.

“Yes, I recognize the legal challenge that applying this law to a president would pose (since the qualifications are set out in the Constitution). But the idea that a candidate should litigate this during a campaign is, in my view, an American political “blockbuster,” he wrote.

The Presidential Records Act of 1978 requires presidential administrations to preserve certain documents.

Presidential records in 15 boxes removed from Mar-a-Lago earlier this year include documents classified as national security concerns, according to the National Archives.

GOP SLAVES DOJ ‘WEAPON’ AFTER FBI RAID OF TRUMP’S MAR-A-LAGO; DEMS call it “RESPONSIBILITY”

Donald Trump leaves New York after FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago resort.
(Felipe Ramales/Fox News Digital)

The agency has also asked the Justice Department to investigate whether the former president violated federal law in his handling of the records.

“Because [the National Archives and Records Administration] identified classified information in the boxes, NARA staff have been in communication with the Department of Justice,” then-U.S. Archivist David Ferriero wrote in a letter to Congress.

Trump issued a statement Monday announcing the FBI raid and criticized the federal government for searching his property.

FORMER TRUMP OFFICIAL MICHAEL CAPUTO EXPLODES FBI’S MAR-A-LAGO RAID: ‘TOTAL CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS’

Donald Trump appears in a new campaign-style ad posted on his Truth Social account hours after the FBI raided his private Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
(Donald Trump/Truth Social)

“Nothing like this has ever happened to a President of the United States,” Trump wrote. “After working and cooperating with the relevant government agencies, this unannounced raid on my home was neither necessary nor appropriate.”

“It’s prosecutorial misconduct, the weaponization of the justice system, and an attack by Radical Left Democrats who desperately don’t want me to run for president in 2024, especially based on recent polls, and who will anything to stop the Republicans and Conservatives in the upcoming midterm elections,” he continued, adding that “This assault could only happen in broken Third World countries.”

Three men with guns are seen outside the gates of Donald Trump’s private estate in Florida after the FBI raided the sprawling property allegedly looking for classified documents.
(Alon Skuy/Fox News Digital)

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Trump is also alleged to have periodically flushed Oval Office documents down a White House toilet while still in office, according to a forthcoming book by The New York Times’ Maggie Haberman, who obtained photographs allegedly showing blocks of paper in a toilet. .