Newly declassified records demonstrate that the Biden administration’s Federal Bureau of Investigation initially determined it lacked sufficient probable cause to execute a search warrant at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in 2022. The documents, obtained through Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), detail internal FBI deliberations showing officials expressed hesitation about pursuing classified records at the property and sought alternative methods to recover materials before the August 8, 2022 raid.

Email exchanges reveal that Washington Field Office agents argued Trump’s former attorney, Evan Corcoran, represented the most effective avenue for document retrieval, citing his past cooperation. The FBI explicitly stated it “did not believe” it had established probable cause for a search warrant, while the Justice Department maintained it did—but requested a broad scope covering Trump’s residence and storage facilities.

The disclosures align with reports that interviews with witnesses had not uncovered evidence of sensitive intelligence files remaining hidden at Mar-a-Lago after most classified documents were returned on June 3, 2022. Days before the raid, FBI officials sought a “professional, low-key” approach to avoid negative public perception, though the actual operation involved agents swarming the estate with sirens and lights, entering areas including Melania Trump’s bedroom, and employing a safe-cracker to access records in Trump’s office.

Former President Trump later accused dozens of plainclothes agents of “raiding, and occupying” his home while breaking into a safe during the search for classified national defense documents. He had relocated with family to a New Jersey golf club at the time, leaving only staff and groundskeepers behind when agents executed the warrant.