thank you, texas. god bless arizona and god bless america. thank you so much. [applause] >> we will get to your reaction in just a minute. let's begin with the formal president, in a statement announcing this raid to the public. he said this yesterday. nothing like this has ever happened to president of the united states before, after working and cooperating with the government agencies, this

unannounced raid on my house was not necessary or appropriate. the weaponization of the justice system and a attacked by radical left democrats who desperately don't want me to run for president in 2020 four, especially based on recent polls , and would likewise do anything to start republicans and conservatives in the upcoming midterm election. everything to stop republicans and conservatives in the upcoming election. such an assault only takes place in broken, third world countries he went on, "they even broke into my safe. what is different from watergate? it is the reverse. they broke into the home of the former president of the united states are co-eric tromp was on fox news last night. >> my father always kept

clippings, newspaper articles, notes from us. when my mom passed away, he still had all the notes over the years that had been saved that she had ever written him. it is a beautiful thing. and yet has boxes, when he moved out of the white house, if you want to search for anything, come right ahead. it was an open-door policy and all of a sudden 30 agents descend upon mar-a-lago. this didn't come from the local fbi field office. this came from one place and one building and that is the white house in washington, d.c. they want to attack a guy who they view as biden's greatest threat. that is exactly what donald j. trump is. he had an extremely strong country. taiwan is getting circled by military planes literally as we sit here and speak. russia-ukraine is a total

disaster, iran is a disaster, inflation, gas prices, all of the things you talked about. we are not respected by anybody around the world. our economy is garbage and they worry donald trump will come back in and win this very easily. host: eric trump, the son of the former president talking about what was in the boxes that the fbi took. according to news reports, the fbi descended upon mar-a-lago club because this was part of an investigation related to the national archives records. you will recall, president trump did not hand over all of those records when he left the white house. but he did -- the national archives did retrieve several boxes. they are saying now they are still missing items. from "the washington post" it was not immediately clear why fbi agents would conduct a

search related to the documents many months after the 15 boxes of materials were retrieved. a sitting president is the top classification authority in the government, giving that person far more leeway than most government employees in deciding what is and isn't classified. advisors speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss trump's actions say he has mishandled documents for years, largely by ripping them up. they describe an ad hoc packing process at the end of his term in which the president and his family took boxes and material that should've gone to the national archives. the archives only learn some of the material was listening after trying to locate items for cataloging. according to "the wall street journal," to conduct such a search the fbi would need to conduct -- convince a judge there was reason to believe there may be evidence of a crime to be found at that location. such a move would likely require

signoff from the highest echelons of the justice department. they would not say what role the attorney general played. susan in milford, pennsylvania, democratic caller, your reaction. caller: i was very happy, very thankful that the attorney general made this move. it was not a raid. it was, what are they call it, a search because donald trump has never turned over -- in the past he has been not good at turning over what he should turn over. the secrets of the government that he was in charge of, he walked off with them in boxes, leaving them at his house. who knows what he was planning. sell them maybe one day, i hate to think that. thank you very much, for doing this.

who knows, maybe one day trump might be sorry that he didn't have a merrick garland -- have merrick garland go to the supreme court because thank you very much for following the rule of law. we have to get to the bottom of what is going on with trump. please, republican people, listen with an open mind. our government is a good government. we need to follow it. we want a democracy here. it is so important to me. host: andrea is in washington, d.c., a republican. caller: being a special educator kind of helps me synthesize it all. i love president trump as a person, as a character. that's not as a president. too untrustworthy. it was odd because it sounds so

awesome, his rhetoric, and every time he presents it. i know it is not true. i deal with this with children and eventually they come around but if they get too much praise for being the bad boy they are here to stay. host: bel air, maryland, greg, independent. caller: good morning. as i was watching last night i tuned into some of the sources to hear what they were saying. i was watching cnn but i turned to fox news and newsmax. i was hearing a lot of projection of what aboutism talking about hunter biden and hillary clinton. when trump was in power, he had all the mechanisms to look into these things but he didn't. frankly, if there was a crime, there's a high standard to go and send the fbi in. at least for these other items mentioned on other networks, it just wasn't there.

that's my take. host: joining us now this morning is kim whaley, and abc news legal contributor and law professor at american university . let's begin with whether or not you can define this as a raid as our first caller said. what does that mean? guest: raid is not a legal term so that's not a term i would use and i think it is a bit incendiary and misleading. this was the execution of a warrant under the fourth amendment of the united states constitution. george the third, the king of england at the time of the revolution had the power to issue general warrants where his officers could go into homes and randomly raid them. the framers were upset about that, did not want that authority for the american government so it is actually many steps of the process that have to go through within the

federal government, including through fbi director christopher wray who was appointed by donald trump, through the justice department and to a federal judge. and there's a standard. we call it probable cause but there has to be an affidavit articulating evidence under oath that demonstrates to the judge that there is probable cause to believe that there is evidence of a crime on the premises. a warrant has to be very particularized. the people that can sucked -- conduct the search cannot just grab things they want. if there is evidence of a crime in plain sight they can take that. after what happen yesterday, there's a careful process to protect materials not covered by the warrant. that is kind of rhetoric. it is sort of politics to call it a raid. this is really the justice system under the constitution functioning as it should. the fact that it happens to be donald trump really is because

he didn't comply at looks like with the presidential records act. we have to have accountability and consequences for our actions including former president's. if he didn't want to see this happen he should have complied with the law. host: he said this was unnecessary and he had been cooperating with all government agencies. guest: again, that is his point of view. he did take 15 boxes, we know that, alone. we also know reportedly they contained communications, for example, with north korean dictator kim jong-un. we know from cassidy hutchinson who testified before the january 6 committee, top aide to mark meadows, donald trump's chief of staff, that she witnessed mark meadows burning documents. unfortunately, donald trump's word is no longer, if it ever was, something people can rely on.

maybe people love him for that but that's not how the system of justice works. things have to be authenticated and verified. a long time ago, with thousands and thousands of lies out of the white house, he has been unable to keep his word. he is no able lincoln in that regard. i have no access to the warrant and don't know why the justice department decided to do this, presumably to preserve records for fear they would be destroyed or something could happen to them. donald trump's statement is unfortunately not something that i would put a ton of weight in when it comes to the various levels of independent oversight that had to happen for yesterday's historic event to occur. host: you mentioned the presidential records act. what questions do you think that judge was asking when the fbi went to him or her to get this

warrant granted? guest: this is a very high level. the fact that it is a formal president means the judge wanted to see an extremely high level of proof that there is probable cause to believe there is evidence of a crime. the fact that records were taken out of the white house, that has been public for a long time and that would not be enough to trigger this kind of action. speculation isn't really helpful in this moment, but rest assured that this judge went kicking and screaming, so to speak. that put the justice department and fbi through the paces and we don't know what additional evidence there is. for example, alex jones turned over inadvertently in this sandy hook texas case messages related to january 6.

we don't know what those contain . mark meadows is in hot water potentially criminally, as are other people within trump's orbit. we don't know who is talking to the justice department. it is impossible for the public to know what was in the affidavit that justified in a federal judge's mind and in the mind of christopher wray and merrick garland and other people involved, this historic and politically very trot -- fraught and troubling event that occurred yesterday. host: what happens next? guest: the material will be sorted. that is, the warrant only justifies taking materials articulated in the warrant. there is also the plain view doctrine. they were there for hours reportedly. if they saw evidence that appeared to bear on a crime even if it was not on the same topic that's in the warrant, they

could take that material. but there will be a sorting process and presumably fresh eyes on this to make sure that nothing was taken illegally outside of the scope of the warrant. the justice department will continue its investigation that reportedly has been going on since the spring, about the taking of those records. there is of course the january 6 investigation. the justice department is looking in, investigating this late of fraudulent and fake electors submitted on behalf of donald trump. there is a grand jury in georgia, state grand jury investigating what we've heard in the recording, donald trump asking the former secretary of state to "find 11,870 votes" that did not exist. not that this search yesterday related to those other investigations and it is unclear

whether what they found yesterday relating to the presidential records act could be shared. but there is many years turning now -- gears turning now centering around donald trump and his inner circle, and the fault lies with donald trump, not the public servants effectuating their duties. we all have to stop at red lights and we all have to be careful when we cross streets and we have to pay our taxes. and just because you are in the white house, even more so because you are in the white house, those are rules we should follow. if you don't there's going to be pushback. host: thank you very much for your time. guest: thank you. host: linda, new haven, missouri, democratic caller, your reaction to this news. caller: good morning. the previous lady just really

articulated what the circumstances are. unfortunately, mr. trump used his tenure as a president of the united states to conduct himself in a terrible manner. we would have never expected nor should we have ever tolerated and president took in -- a president to conduct himself in this manner. it seems to me, it is very apparent that mr. trump has brought all this on himself by conducting himself in this manner. we all would pay the same circumstances, the price for it. it is just so unnecessary for our country to be as divided and

react with talks of civil war and things. this is crazy. it's not worth it. the man causes -- caused this himself. he fomented this thing that took place on january 6 to keep himself in office. that's not the way normal people do things. we've never seen this before. i just hope the whole country does not -- i hope and pray this country does not break out into a civil war over this. host: ray, a republican in new york, go ahead. caller: good morning. do i understand correctly the guest is an attorney? host: she was just with us briefly but yes, she practices.

she is a legal advisor to abc and also a law professor. caller: ok. i'm curious as to why -- i'm not surprised that this hasn't come up from the people calling in necessarily, but definitely from her, why hasn't she brought up the possibility that what they are seeking in this searching of mar-a-lago could be evidence of crimes by democrats? they are just assuming this must be trump but obviously trump has been rated already. he has been tried in the public. he has been tried in front of pretty much everyone you can be tried in front of. this probably doesn't have anything to do with him. this is probably democratic crimes that he may have evidence of. host: you and others may be

interested in this letter sent on february 18 from the chairwoman of the house oversight and reform committee, democrat from new york carolyn maloney. she is sending this letter to the national archives and records administration about the boxes they requested and received from mar-a-lago back in january. it is a series of questions about the nara seeking these records, did they ask the representatives of former president trump about missing records prior to the 15 boxes being identified? if so, what information was provided? the agency had an ongoing communication with the representatives of former president trump which resulted in the transfer of 15 boxes in january 22. had the agency conducted an inventory?

it is in the process of inventorying those contents. please provide a detailed description of the contents of the recovered boxes including inventory prepared by the agency. they respond because the records are subject to the presidential records act, any request for information regarding the contents will need to be made in accordance with section 22052 c of that act. are the contents of the boxes recovered undergoing a review to determine if they contain classify information? who is conducting that. agency responds they've identified items marked as classified within the boxes. what efforts has the agency taken and is the agency taking to ensure additional records that have not been turned over are not lost or destroyed? they say they have asked the representatives of the former to

search for any additional presidential records that have not been transferred. the agency has identified classified information in the boxes and has been in communication with the department of justice. you can find this letter if you search for yourself on archives.gov. the agency posting the letter from the chairwoman and their response. charlie in pauling, new york, independent. caller: needless to say that donald trump probably has provided information either wanting to or just because he is basically sloppy. and probably given a lot of information to various governments, especially his good buddy vladimir putin. i really believe that donald trump would rather be not

allowed to run for president and would invite this because i think he's more afraid of losing another election tghan actually -- than actually running. he can look like somebody who has been abused. bottom line is the fact that i change the channels and i see that c-span provides no bias and you allow people to call in from the right, all the way to the right, and people all the way to the left. the bottom line is this, our country is in really bad shape when somebody like this has come along who is basically disregarded various populations of people whether it be women,

hispanics, blacks, people in the military, things he has said, if you are going to run for office again and again, even joe biden whose popularity is very poor, i think not that we want somebody at his age to run, could win. last thing to say, nobody over the age of 70 should be allowed to run for president. somebody at 35, that's when you can run. i'm over 70 and nobody that age should run. host: jerry is a democrat in martin, north -- martha coda. -- martin, north dakota. caller: i am worried about our country, constitution ripped apart by these people. i don't know what they could possibly think about trump. i am for trading him for

prisoners, get rid of him. he is right now our bin laden in america. he is disrupting. he lies about everything. whoever had a president who brings dictators into campaigns from other countries? can't these people see what they are doing to america? he is spitting on graves, calling them cowards and losers. he has to take care of the law just like anybody else does. if he gets away with this, nobody has to obey the laws. i don't see where he can run from president. somewhere in the constitution it says if you have been involved in any kind of insurrection you cannot run for office again. i don't remember where i read it. i think i read something about it.

he's dragging down and ruining the reputations of a lot of good people as well as his own. host: let me throw this out there for you and others from "the wall street journal." officials can face up to five years in prison for removing classified materials to an unauthorized location. the penalties for breaking other laws relating to the removal of records include disqualification from holding federal office, including the presidency. jim in hudson, florida, republican. are you there? caller: what tickles me is that one day the jury says trump is guilty. ok, one day he is guilty. if i was trump i would go to mar-a-lago and find out everything they took. with that many people, they probably took some personal stuff too.

i would file a report with the local police and have it on hand and that could be to his advantage. he could say anything he wants that they took or whatever and documents or personal stuff, because they will not be able to say it because it's an ongoing investigation. trump can use this to his advantage if he wanted to. they talk about the stuff that was taken. look what hillary did. the fbi let her off. she had her phones and stuff like that and holder did the same thing. a request to come before congress. they want to talk about trump, i'm not saying he didn't do something wrong but the jury is in. they've already convicted him and he is guilty and that's wrong. the other networks have already

got him -- got him in an orange jumpsuit. host: the former president was in new york when the search was conducted, according to news reports. he was not down there in florida when this took place yesterday. christopher in englewood, new jersey, democratic caller. let's hear from you. caller: good morning. thanks for taking my call. this is a very significant day in the history of this nation. we are finally seeing justice being realized because of all of the abuse of power that this man did four years. he is not above the law. you should have followed the rules as any president to turn over the paperwork after he conceded to the next president. it is important the people of america realize of all the abuse of power that he did, and he

needs to be held accountable, every person should be held accountable in the name of justice, to matter what crimes they've committed. this is a very serious matter. this is very serious and people need to wake up and realize the truth about what's going on. this is justice being done the right way, not the wrong way. this is a very important moment and we need to realize how we as americans need to see it. host: cody, springfield, missouri, independent. caller: thanks for taking my call. i'm a first time caller. donald trump is the best thing that's ever happened to this country. he's not a politician. people got to understand that, he's not a politician. ok? what he says you got to let go in one ear and out the next

because he cares about the american people, about our pocketbooks, our factories and stuff like that. that president we got in there now never did anything for this country. in all the years he's been up there, he never did anything for the minorities are nothing. i'm a black man talking and he's never did anything for this country and he is just running it down. host: what does the president not being a politician have to do with an fbi warrant? caller: they shouldn't have did that what they did. host: because he's not a politician? caller: what they did is they shouldn't have invaded his privacy like that. i disagree with what they did. i don't agree with it. they could've handled that another way. they don't want him to run. they don't want that man to win. if donald trump runs, he's not going to win.

them people up there are going to do everything they can to stop that man from winning and that's the sad part. that's the sad part of it. host: let's take a look at -- democrats were asked for a response to the fbi search of the former president's home yesterday. there was not a response from the leadership in the house, the top leadership, the speaker of the house and the majority leader, but hakeem jeffries sent this tweet -- "no one is above the law." take a look at the republican response to the fbi's actions. mike turner, who is the top republican, the lead republican on the house permanent select committee on intelligence says, "i'm demanding an immediate briefing regarding the national security risk that allegedly rose to the level of ordering a

raid on the home of a former president." kevin mccarthy, the republican leader in the house, putting out a statement saying "to the attorney general, preserve your calendar." he said "if republicans when the majority they will be investigating this search and demanding records from the attorney general about how all of this came about." this video posted by senator marco rubio, republican of florida on his twitter account. [video clip] >> we've had divisive politics and anger and politics as long as the country has existed. there has never been a country where people who take power now use that power to persecute their past or future political opponents. we've never seen that until tonight when the justice

department and joe biden decided to raid, using 30 fbi agents, the mar-a-lago home of the former president who might be running against him in a couple years. this is what happens in places like nicaragua where last year every single person that ran against daniel ortega, every person who put their name on the ballot was arrested and thrown in jail. we've never before seen that in america. you can try to diminish it but that is exactly what happened. 30 fbi agent rating mar-a-lago, not looking for fugitives or looking to save someone's life, not looking to track down some serial killer or drug kingpin. 30 fbi agent in a high-profile raid over a documents dispute, a documents dispute that is not even this administration. multiple administrations have had disputes of what is a presidential record and what isn't. it doesn't matter how you feel about the archives.

inc. about sending 30 fbi agent on a raid like this for what purpose? that is to try to politically harm and intimidate their political opponents. that's what this is all about. we've never seen it in america before and they are playing with fire. on msnbc all these idiot commentators, but you are playing with fire. someone else will be in power and you've created the precedent for them to do this back to you and then we become the third world and lose our system of government. this needs to stop and the people responsible for this decision, merrick garland, the director of the fbi need to be held for account for going along with something so undemocratic, unconstitutional, and flat-out dangerous and destructive. host: florida republican marco rubio. games in cincinnati, democratic

caller, your reaction to the search by the fbi of former president trump's home in florida. caller: what i think they went in there looking for -- i'm sorry -- hello? host: we are listening. caller: did you cut me off? host: you need to mute yourself. caller: i was listening to my tv. i was talking and my phone went dead. i think what they are looking for, part of the documents they are looking for is notes that the interpreters took after all the meetings with foreign governments because he did confiscate them. that's what i heard on news reports, he would take the notes after he got done with the meetings and he probably didn't turn it over. he probably thought those were personal things, personal conversations. guess what, they're not. they belong to us.

in my opinion that's what they were looking for, part of what they were looking for. that's my opinion really. host: we heard it. mike in north carolina, republican caller. caller: this is a spitting image of why the media are the enemy of this country along with the democratic party. look at the way these fascists are calling in and saying this crap, he's guilty. has anyone been arrested or charged? no, they have not, yet here you are spewing your russia, i hate trump, i hate white people, i hate america, let's burn everything down. it's just amazing. you literally, c-span, praised blm and called them peaceful protesters. you defended hillary clinton when she committed felony after felony. we have a crack