Allies of former President Donald Trump, alarmed and shocked by the details in Mar-a-Lago’s unsealed search warrant and receipt of goods, have begun to distance themselves and “go dark” in recent days, according to The Washington political investigative reporter Post Josh Dawsey.
“The alarm has grown in recent days when you talk to advisers to the former president,” Dawsey told MSNBC Friday evening per HuffPost.
Some of them are now trying to “get dark,” refusing to defend Trump and hoping “to stay as far away as possible,” Dawsey said.
Dawsey said certain advisers were “shocked” when the Mar-a-Lago raid took place on Monday. But as more details emerged about the extent of what Trump was holding there, that shock turned into alarm, he added.
Indeed, the Freedom Caucus of conservative Republican members of the House of Representatives hastily canceled a news conference Friday to discuss the FBI’s search for Trump’s Florida estate. The decision came after Attorney General Merrick Garland announced he had asked a court to unseal the FBI’s search warrant.
Led by Jim Jordan of Pennslyvania, the Freedom Caucus includes some of Trump’s most ardent political cheerleaders, including Georgia’s Marjorie Taylor Greene, Colorado’s Lauren Boebert, and Florida’s Matt Gaetz.
Federal agents this week found 11 sets of classified documents from Mar-a-Lago, labeled Confidential, Secret and Top Secret. An inventory of the recovered items also included Trump’s order to commute the jail term of GOP strategist Roger Stone, information about the “president of France” and folders of photographs.
Dawsey said there were people in Trump’s orbit “quite close to him” who are “somewhat in the dark” about what goes on behind the scenes.
The unsealed search warrant revealed that the Justice Department is investigating whether former President Donald Trump violated three laws, one of which is a major facet of the Espionage Act.
But, the Washington Post reporter said, certain advisers expect Trump to make a “Houdini-esque escape” to be held accountable.
Insider’s Darren Samuelsohn and Charles R. Davis reported that GOP strategists are even claiming Trump could turn the investigation into a narrative that could make him “unbeatable” in a Republican primary.
Read the original article on Business Insider
