The FBI searched Trump’s huge palace in Palm Beach, Florida, Mar-a-Lago, on Tuesday night. So far, nothing has been said about why this happened. Former US President Donald Trump is thus in the middle of a new storm. Something he has done a number of times before. Trump has already been involved in more than 3,500 lawsuits. This is shown by a survey carried out by USA Today in 2016. Among other things, he has been accused of sexual abuse, defamation and tax fraud. But this case stands out, says US expert Sofie Høgestøl. Mar-a-lago in Florida. This is where the FBI came in, to search Donald Trump’s property. Photo: JOE RAEDLE / AFP For several months, Trump’s role in the storming of Congress on 6 January last year has been scrutinized in a series of hearings. The US Department of Justice is now actively investigating the former president for his role in the storming. It seems they already have quite a bit of evidence. Enough to warrant a search of Trump’s property. – Into a new phase It is the first time that a former American president’s home has been searched. Sofie Høgestøl, associate professor at the University of Oslo and deputy member for the Liberal Party in the Storting. Photo: Kristian Elster / news – This differs from what we have seen before. It is very demanding to get a judge to approve this type of search, comments US expert Sofie Høgestøl. She says the Ministry of Justice’s investigation appears to be in a new phase. – A search requires that you have a valid reason, and thus some evidence from the police. It shows that we are in a new phase of the investigation which then also includes Trump, explains Høgestøl. Trump also says the situation is extraordinary. – These are dark times for our country when my beautiful home in Mar-a-Lago is now besieged, searched and occupied by a large group of FBI agents. This has never before happened to a president of the United States, Trump writes in a statement. According to the New York Times, the FBI agents must have been looking for boxes of classified documents. Trump reportedly took these boxes to Mar-a-Lago after he stepped down as president. It was Donald Trump who appointed Christopher Wray to head the FBI. Now the FBI is investigating the former president. Photo: ALEX WONG / AFP – A long way to go before a conviction Trump has not yet been indicted. But should that happen, he could risk ending up behind bars for quite some time. Experts Newsweek has spoken to say the penalty for the offenses Trump can be prosecuted for is 20 years. They believe at least two years in prison would be realistic. But it is a long process: – Building a criminal case is a bit like climbing a big mountain. Being at the investigative stage and carrying out a search shows that you have come a long way up the mountain. But it is still very far from the top. There is a long way to go until there is a conviction, says Sofie Høgestøl. – Will be used in the election campaign This autumn there are by-elections in the USA, and the entire balance of power in the world’s most powerful country can change. Sofie Høgestøl is uncertain about how Trump’s legal bridegroom will affect American politics in the coming time. – It is hard to say. There is a lot happening now, week to week, with both the investigation and the scrutiny in the House of Commons. But it is clear that the various investigations will play a role: – Both sides will use this in the election campaign. The Democrats are going to say that you can’t trust a political party led by a person under police investigation. The Republicans are going to build up an image of a democratic party that abuses the government apparatus to persecute its political opponents, says Høgestøl. Sigrid Gårdsvoll from amerikanspolitikk.no tells NTB that the search could lead to even more division between voters in the US. – The danger is that Trump’s supporters cling to his interpretation of this as an abuse of the state apparatus by the Democrats to persecute a political opponent, says Gårdsvoll.
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– A new phase in the investigation of Donald Trump – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
