A newly uncovered email obtained by Just the News shows a senior Biden Justice Department official privately questioned the legal basis for the FBI’s 2022 raid on President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, raising concerns that Trump may have already declassified the documents agents seized.
Patty Stemler, a longtime DOJ veteran selected by former Attorney General Merrick Garland to assist on Trump-related matters, reportedly sent the email two days after the August 2022 raid. In the message to DOJ national security attorney Sophia Brill, Stemler questioned whether Trump, as president, had authority to declassify records outside normal procedures.
The email was reportedly discovered during the Justice Department’s investigation into weaponization of federal law enforcement. Garland previously acknowledged he personally approved the decision to seek the Mar-a-Lago search warrant.
President Trump’s office said shortly after the raid that the documents seized by the FBI had already been declassified under a standing presidential order.
