A spokesman for former President Trump blasted CBS News anchor Norah O'Donnell for alleging the FBI did not have his passports.
Trump made headlines on Monday with a statement he released on his social media platform Truth Social alleging the FBI "stole" three of his passports, calling it an "assault on a political opponent at a level never seen before in our country."
O'Donnell, host of "CBS Evening News," suggested the Department of Justice did not have Trump's passports, tweeting, "According to a DOJ official, the FBI is NOT in possession of former President Trump's passports," later adding, "if any items not contained in the warrant were retrieved during the FBI search at Mar-a-Lago, they will be returned."
Taylor Budovich, director of communications for the Save America PAC and Donald J. Trump, appeared to debunk O'Donnell's claim by sharing a screenshot of an email sent earlier in the day by Jay Bratt, an official in the National Security Division of the DOJ.
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"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," Bratt told Trump's attorneys Evan Corcoran and Jim Trusty.
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"This is how Fake News works, folks," Budovich reacted to O'Donnell's tweet. "Biden admin actively feeds half truths & lies that the media willingly amplifies—advancing a partisan narrative to attack Trump."
He then asked O'Donnell, "did your ‘source’ read you this email? Did you bother asking if they indeed seized the passports?"
In a statement to Fox News Digital, the Trump spokesman added, "This is a perfect example of how the vital institutions of media and justice are being destroyed from within by the lazy, the corrupt, and the ill intent. Sadly, it’s not going to be fixed from the outside. It’s up to the remaining good people within these institutions to expose these bad actors and hold them accountable, or else be complicit in their destruction."
CBS News did not immediately respond to Fox News' request for comment.
There has been a political firestorm ever since the FBI launched its raid last week at Mar-a-Lago over the seizing of documents allegedly containing classified and top secret information.
It remains unclear whether the information in the collected documents had been declassified by former President Trump before he left office in January 2021.
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After several days of silence, Attorney General Merrick Garland offered a brief statement Thursday acknowledging he authorized the raid on Trump's Florida home but refrained from giving any more details about the ongoing investigation into the former president.
The warrant obtained by Fox News showed the search was in response to potential violation of federal laws: 18 USC 793 — Gathering, transmitting or losing defense information; 18 USC 2071 — Concealment, removal or mutilation; and 18 USC 1519 — Destruction, alteration or falsification of records in Federal investigations.
The allegation of "gathering, transmitting or losing defense information" falls under the Espionage Act.
However, the DOJ filed a motion opposing the release of the affidavit that was used to justify the raid, arguing it could "compromise" its investigation and its release can cause harm "if information is disclosed to the public prematurely or improperly."
Fox News' Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
