FOIA Files

Emails Show FBI’s Resistance to Search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago

FBI emails released via FOIA show just how divided the bureau and the Department of Justice were over the search of Trump’s residence in August 2022.

Secret Service and Palm Beach police stand in front of Mar-A-Lago, the residence of then former President Donald Trump, on August 8, 2022. The FBI raided the home to retrieve classified White House documents.Photographer: Eva Marie Uzcategui/Getty Images

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By Jason Leopold

February 27, 2026 at 3:30 PM UTC

Welcome back to FOIA Files! This week, I’m turning back to the summer of 2022 when the FBI searched Mar-a-Lago to retrieve classified documents and presidential records stored there by then former President Donald Trump. He was later indicted on charges that he unlawfully retained and concealed the documents and obstructed justice by refusing to return them to the National Archives and Records Administration. Last week, the FBI released to me nearly 100 pages of emails that reveal the stark divisions between the bureau and the Department of Justice leading up to the Mar-a-Lago search. If you’re not already getting FOIA Files in your inbox, sign up here.

A couple of years ago, in the second edition of FOIA Files, I wrote about FBI personnel who’d complained to the bureau’s ombudsman about the Mar-a-Lago search.