The FBI’s search for Donald Trump’s Florida home was not surprising and unlike the Watergate scandal, according to Norwegian experts.
Watergate is a logical comparison if you interpret, like Trump, as political persecution and not as a criminal investigation. Moreover, it’s not a relevant comparison at all, says commentator Sigrid Gårdsvoll from amerikanspolitikk.no to NTB.
I would say that this is potentially more dangerous from a legal point of view than from a political point of view for Trump. Politically, we repeatedly see that non-political circumstances play little role in his political popularity, she says.
Former US President Donald Trump said on Monday that the FBI had searched his Florida residence, Mar-a-Lago. to me The New York Times The search was conducted in connection with an investigation of boxes of classified material that Trump allegedly took with him to the property after stepping down as president last year.
The newspaper confirmed this by two independent sources. The FBI and Justice Department have not commented on the case, but the White House has stated that President Joe Biden was not involved in the case.
stomach ice
The former president described the measure as yet another attack from the radical left in the Democrats. He claims this is happening because they don’t want him to run for president in 2024.
He thinks it’s Watergate “in the opposite direction.” This scandal led Republican Richard Nixon to resign as President of the United States because he was linked to a burglary of Democratic Party offices in the 1970s.
Thieves were caught tapping Democrats’ phones, as well as stealing documents. Nixon tried to cover up the incident, but reporters from The Washington Post Expose the president’s relationship to the case.
Researcher Hilmar McGildy notes that the FBI needs a legal basis and evidence to search Trump’s property.
“I should only assume he’s well established before the FBI took such a dramatic political step, as the Department of Justice confirmed that it’s all airtight,” says Norce Research Institute’s Megildy for NTB.
We should have some snow in our stomachs here, he adds.
Not surprisingly
Mujildi is not surprised by the search and notes that the former president is under several investigations for possible crimes.
The investigation and trial of a former president will always raise accusations of a banana republic and a politicized judiciary. He says this is simply not true.
Because the same could be said if Trump received special treatment for the same reason. It would also be a violation of the principles of the rule of law. He adds that Trump is neither under nor above the law.
political division
Experts believe the case may lead to further political division.
The danger is that Trump supporters cling to his interpretation of this as an abuse of the state apparatus by Democrats to persecute a political opponent, Gardsfull says.
If such an interpretation continues, it will necessarily contribute to further polarization, she says.
In a way, it would always be bad if a former president were sued by the Department of Justice for an incumbent president, because it would be seen as a witch-hunt by half the country anyway, and it would only accelerate the political divide, says Migildi.
Whether the issue could affect the 2024 election is too early to say, US experts believe.
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