LM Otero/AP
- Chris Christie said it was "fair game" for the FBI to search Trump's safe at Mar-a-Lago.
- "It's not anything that's out of bounds to go into a safe, and it happens frequently," he said.
- He added that the FBI likely had sufficient probable cause to secure a search warrant.
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie weighed in on the FBI's search of former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence, calling the search of Trump's safe "fair game."
Christie said in a radio interview with Sirius XM host Julie Mason that he believed the FBI agents had sufficient facts on hand to convince a judge to grant them the right to search Trump's property.
Trump has railed against the search, highlighting in particular how agents "broke into" his safe.
"It's fair game, and you just have to display probable cause to a federal judge that … there are contents in that safe that would assist in proving a violation of the law," said Christie, a former federal prosecutor.
"It's not anything that's out of bounds to go into a safe, and it happens frequently in federal law enforcement," Christie said.
"But again, you have to have the factual underpinnings to be able to convince a federal judge that you need and have the right to do that."
The former governor said he hoped FBI chief Christopher Wray, and Attorney General Merrick Garland had carefully examined the facts that led to the Trump search warrant. He also said he trusts they understand the gravity of embarking on something so unprecedented like "raiding the home or office of a former president."
"This is not something that you should be doing willy-nilly. This is something that should be backed up by grave concerns about the conduct of the subject of the search warrant," he added.
Christie said that he hoped the search warrant affidavit and the reason for the FBI agents' search would be revealed soon, calling it the "most important document for everyone to see."
"I hope that more information comes sooner rather than later because the longer you let this sit out there, the more speculation will generate and that's not good for anybody," he added.
The FBI hasn't given a reason for the raid. But numerous media outlets, as well as Eric Trump in a Fox News interview, suggested it was over material that Trump brought to Mar-a-Lago after leaving the White House.
The National Archives asked the DOJ in February to investigate whether or not Trump broke the law by taking government records from the White House to his home in Florida.
According to Christie's memoir, Trump once berated him for recommending Wray, the FBI chief, for the job. Christie said Trump blew up at him while claiming that Wray was "doing an awful job" and was "the worst" member of the Trump administration.
Trump's anger at Wray, according to a 2020 Washington Post report, had its roots in the FBI chief not doing what Trump hoped he would — open an investigation into Joe and Hunter Biden before the 2020 election.
For his part, Christie, who was once a Trump supporter, has been critical of the former president. In May, Christie accused Trump of wanting the GOP to revolve around him. In April, he also criticized Trump's endorsements, saying they were "emotional decisions" not based on political analysis.
from Business Insider https://ift.tt/u9JlcC3
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