Andy McCarthy on Trump raid: 'The documents are the property of the United States'
Fox News contributor and former federal prosecutor Andy McCarthy gives legal analysis on the fallout of the FBI raid on former President Trump's residence at Mar-a-Lago on 'The Story.'
The FBI raid of Trump’s home on August 8, in concert with the Department of Justice (DOJ), marks a dark and seminal point in American history. There can be no undoing of that act. Sadly, the world has seen America, once the land of the free, descend into a new the realm with the DOJ and FBI attempting to decide who can be president of our country -- not unlike so many military coups throughout history.
There will be much fallout over the raid at Trump’s Florida home. There are significant legal and political consequences, including potentially making Trump into a political martyr and even helping his 2024 presidential campaign. Those pale in comparison, however, to the FBI and DOJ’s stunning foray over the last few years into politics, a foray that was capped off by the Mar-a-Lago raid.
![FBI raids Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago home in Florida](https://a57.foxnews.1eye.us/static.foxnews.1eye.us/foxnews.1eye.us/content/uploads/2022/08/1200/675/mara_a_lago_trump_thumb_6.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
FBI raids former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago home in Florida Aug. 8, 2022 (Felipe Ramales for Fox News Digital)
Stated in the starkest terms, the FBI and the DOJ are now in the business of deciding who shall be eligible to run for office in America. Period. Full Stop.
A simple review of the last few years proves the point.
Without question, well before the 2016 campaign, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton broke the law. She maintained highly classified material, in her home, in an unsecure environment.
No one can debate that. Nor can it be debated that there was no raid of her home, let alone a legal consequence for her behavior.
Hillary even destroyed, via BleachBit, potential evidence arguably under subpoena. She alone decided whether data she had on her computer was subject to the subpoena. ven after that evidence was destroyed, there still was no raid on her home.
Keep in mind, in 2015, General David Petraeus was charged with "unlawfully and knowingly remov[ing] such documents and materials without authority and with the intent to retain such documents and materials at unauthorized locations."
HILLARY CLINTON'S EMAILS SEEM 'A LOT MORE SERIOUS' THAN JUSTIFICATION FOR TRUMP RAID: MARC THIESSEN
On July 5, 2016, on national television, then-FBI Director James Comey laid out the case against Hillary to the world. Yet, without legal authority to do so, he absolved her of any crime and effectively allowed her to run for President. She was allowed to do so even though, long before Comey’s nationwide address, the FBI and the DOJ knew of her crimes and hid them. That lax if not corrupt act of the FBI and DOJ allowed Hillary to get the nomination for president.
By contrast, the FBI and the DOJ, and even the attorney general of New York have been going after Donald Trump, virtually from the moment he announced his bid for the presidency – with or without probable cause. The raid is just the latest act.
The motive for that raid on Trump, was exposed by the Clinton operative Marc Elias. Elias, of course, was involved in the false Russia-gate scandal, which was an effort to bring down Trump’s candidacy and Presidency with the help of the FBI and the DOJ.
The current motive, plain and simple, is to prevent Trump for running again for office again. Elias referenced US Code Title 18, Section 2071 in relation to Trump. That code’s sections provides a penalty of disqualification "from holding any office under the United States." Nothing more need be said.
MERRICK GARLAND'S CASE AGAINST TRUMP IS DANGEROUSLY PROBLEMATIC
How serious are the politicized FBI and DOJ actions in determining who can run for office? Quite serious.
Think of the third world military coups through history, in Pakistan, Nigeria, Brazil and Peru to name a few of the hundreds throughout history. Those coups saw military leaders determine who could be the leader of a country. In Russia, Putin regularly poisons his political enemies to prevent them from running against him. In China, they tolerate no opposition at all.
![Vladimir Putin speaks at meeting in Sochi, Russia](https://a57.foxnews.1eye.us/static.foxnews.1eye.us/foxnews.1eye.us/content/uploads/2022/05/1200/675/Putin.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
FILE – Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting on the country's transport industry via a video link in Sochi, Russia May 24, 2022. (Sputnik/Mikhail Metzel/Kremlin via REUTERS )
Today the FBI and DOJ are attempting to use their own corrupt legal processes to effect nearly the same outcome. They have decided they are in the game of choosing who can be president and who cannot. Even when they lie about doing it, they suffer no consequences.
What greater danger could there be to a republic?
Beyond that, in a single raid, it has been confirmed that we have a two-tier justice system. Americans are right to confirm, after this raid, that we have one system of justice for Republicans and another for Democrats. Republicans get raided or publicly shackled (Manafort, Stone, Navarro and now even President Trump), Democrats do not.
Democrats can lie to federal authorities (Andrew McCabe) and sue the government for benefits and get them. Republicans get jailed. FBI officials can take federal government property/documents home (James Comey, Sandy Berger, and the Clintons) and nothing happens to them. Republicans cannot do the same – not to mention that Hunter Biden’s crimes are labeled disinformation.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE OPINION NEWSLETTER
As for a judge putting his stamp on the process, the same was done over and over on the lie of the Russia collusion story. As a result, the American system of justice has taken yet another massive credibility hit from a judge who donated to President Obama.
It has also been confirmed, politically and historically, that the American paradise has been lost. The republic is now firmly in danger and America if no longer a beacon of freedom and justice to the world. Even the president of El Salvador, with that country’s past, questioned, "what [the] U.S. government would say if his Central American country's police did something similar."
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
As this story continues to unfold, President Trump stated Monday that he will do "whatever he can to help the country" after FBI raid and stated that the "Temperature has to be brought down." The Democrats in Washington, on the other hand, seemingly can find no double standard or wrong.
In the absence of unity on this issue, it will now take a true leader to summon our virtues to overcome this terrible abuse to the American ideal and the republic.