Trump haters immediately fell for the Department of Justice’s media spin over Donald Trump’s seized passports before the former president’s team proved it false.
On Monday, former President Trump claimed on his social media site TruthSocial that the FBI “stole” his passports during the raid on his home that shook the political world last week.
“In the raid by the FBI of Mar-a-Lago, they stole my three Passports (one expired), along with everything else,” he said. “This is an assault on a political opponent at a level never seen before in our Country. Third World!”
Hours later, Norah O’Donnell of CBS News said that a DOJ official told that the former president’s passports were not in their possession, one of which presumably would have been a diplomatic passport.
“According to a DOJ official, the FBI is NOT in possession of former President Trump’s passports. Trump had accused the FBI of stealing his three passports during the search of his Mar-a-Lago home,” O’Donnell announced on Monday.
Shortly after Norah’s post, Taylor Budowich, the former president’s communications director, shared an email from Jay Bratt, the top counterintelligence official in the Justice Department’s national security division, confirming that three passports were seized in the raid and that they would be returned to the former president soon.
“We have learned that the filter agents seized three passports belonging to President Trump, two expired and one being his active diplomatic passport. We are returning them, and they will be ready for pick up at WFO at 2 PM today,” the email to Trump’s attorneys read.
Prior to the debunked claim that Norah O’Donnell immediately amended, some of the former president’s biggest haters pounced, claiming that he either lied or that his passports were rightfully seized.