Legal Experts Question Why FBI Seized Trump’s Passports

Legal experts told The Epoch Times the seizure of former President Donald Trump’s passports during the FBI’s Aug. 8 raid of Mar-a-Lago seems legally questionable.

The law enforcement agency will have to return the travel documents to Trump, one of the lawyers said.

Their comments come after the former Republican president took to social media Aug. 15 to complain that the FBI “stole” his passports during the recent raid.

“Wow! In the raid by the FBI of Mar-a-Lago, they stole my three Passports (one expired), along with everything else,” Trump wrote on his @realDonaldTrump page at Truth Social in a post that was time-stamped 1:22 p.m.

“This is an assault on a political opponent at a level never seen before in our Country. Third World!” he added.

Minutes before that, Trump wrote at the micro-blogging social media site that public revulsion over the raid will hurt Democrats in the off-year congressional elections this November.

“Republicans could win many additional seats, both in the House & Senate, because of the strong backlash over the raid at Mat-a-Lago [sic]. Polls are showing that some lost Republican territory over the last number of weeks has been more than made up with the unannounced Break In by the FBI, which should never have happened!”

It is unclear why the FBI would take Trump’s passports, which may have included the diplomatic passport he was issued after he was inaugurated in January 2017. Without a passport, Trump would be unable to travel outside the United States.

Beginning the morning of Aug. 8, the FBI suddenly and without warning executed a search warrant for the premises at Mar-a-Lago, the private resort in Palm Beach, Florida, where the former president now lives. The U.S. Department of Justice is fighting a request by various media outlets to make the affidavit