>> usually not against a former president. >> not against a former president. this has never happened before and i'm pretty connected with this country and i can feel it in my blood and i know how this country is going to feel tonight and how they are feeling now. and this is unacceptable and people are going to make their voices heard. thanks for joining us. tucker is up next. not even going to do it. >> tucker: a fox news alert. good evening. welcome to "tucker carlson tonight." i'm will cain in for tucker. a little over ago, we learned that the biden administration raided the home of the former president donald trump in palm beach, florida. donald trump announced the raid in a statement. fox news confirmed that the raid occurred. quote, these are dark times for our nation, said the former president, as my beautiful home, mar-a-lago, in palm beach, florida, is currently under siege, occupied by a large group

of fbi agents. trump wrote, nothing like this has ever happened to the president of the united states before. trump said the raid which was unannounced amounts to, quote, prosecutorial misconduct, an attack by the radical left democrats who desperately don't want me to run for president in 2024, especially based on recent polls. trump said agents broke into his safe. former president noted that hillary clinton was allowed to delete and acid wash 33,000 emails aof they were subpoenaed by congress, but the d.o.j. did nothing about that. "the new york times" is reporting that the search is focused, quote, on material that mr. trump brought with him to mar-a-lago, his private club and residence, after he left the white house. those boxes allegedly contained many pages of classified documents according to a person familiar with their content.

"the times" continued, quote, mr. donald trump delayed returning documents. only doing so when there became a threat of action being taken to retrieve them. fox news has confirmed that per standard protocol, fbi director wray and attorney general garland were aware of the raid before it occurred. however you characterize what happened in the united states of america today, this is a defining moment, a seminal moment, a partisan moment. one that generations will look back on and ask was this a moment we broke apart or able to come together? the answer to that question will be the questions we asked tonight. was there an evidentiary basis, a legal basis, or was this a partisan witch-hunt? to begin that conversation we start with fox's mike emanuel standing by with the latest. mike? >> good evening.

mr. trump was in new york city at trump tower when he learned about the fbi raid of his mar-a-lago home. "the new york times" is reporting that federal authorities appear to be focused on material former president trump brought with him from the white house to his home in palm beach, florida. that published report says the raid began this morning and notes the former president delayed returning 15 boxes of material requested by officials with the national archives for months. fox news is working to confirm all those details. fox news has confirmed the raid of former president trump's mar-a-lago home with a law enforcement source familiar with the search warrant, per standard protocol, attorney general merritt garland and christopher wray were informed. mr. trump called the raid unannounced, and says it was not necessary or appropriate,

arguing such an assault could only take place in broken third world countries. the former president says federal authorities broke into his safe. the search comes after numerous televised hearings on capitol hill looking to the events of january 6th, 2021, and more questioning of former trump administration officials by the justice department regarding the events after the 2020 election in the final weeks of the former president's time in office. it's not entirely clear why today was chosen to launch the fbi raid. the former president calling it political targeting at the highest level, comparing this to former secretary of state hillary clinton, but noting nothing has happened to hold her accountable. will? >> will: do we know -- you mentioned evidentiary or legal basis for the raid -- do we know

specifically was this about those confidential materials, the alleged classified material that were in boxes, taken to mar-a-lago, or was this connected to the congressional investigation around january 6th? >> we've not been able to pinpoint that just yet. there was back and forth between trump administration officials and the national archives, over 15 boxes of materials. we do know that. what we haven't confirmed yet is whether that was the reason for the raid that happened at mar-a-lago today. so we are working to button that up. that is the latest information that we've seen in terms of that "new york times" report. so we wanted to provide it to our audience and let our viewers decide for themselves what they think of that. not entirely clear whether this is related to the hearings on capitol, the subsequent investigation that's taking place at the justice department, interviewing former trump administration officials about his final weeks in office, exactly why they're doing this at this particular time, but there's a lot going on obviously on capitol hill and at the

justice department leading to a raid of his mar-a-lago home today. will? >> will: as of tonight, no comment so far from the fbi or doj. mike said this is up to the american people, you, watching, to decide was this a legal raid. was this a raid in pursuit of justice or was this a partisan act to take out, not just a former president, but a potential candidate for president of the united states, and obviously, according to the latest polls, the leader of the opposition party. in order to know the answer to that question, the doj and the fbi will need to provide, and soon, the evidentiary and legal basis for this. this is a very fair statement, unprecedented action by the department of justice. let's talk about exactly what you the viewer, what you the american, should be taking away from this with steven miller, a

former trump advisory. steven, what a day in american history. your reaction. >> this is an abomination. you have the sitting president of the united states, joe biden, through his justice department, through his fbi, conducting a raid on the person who is presumed to be his opponent in the next election, and also the 45th president of the united states. as president trump pointed out in his statement, it is risible to this would be purportedly done in the name of document preservation from the leaks we've seen when hillary clinton used an off-book server for years to conduct classified state business and at the same time money was being funneled by the millions into the clinton foundation with the very people she was doing business with. to this day, has never been investigated, not by the fbi, not by the irs, not by anybody.

we are truly living in a situation where the fbi has become a pretorian guard from rome, where they take it unto themselves to decide who wields power in this country. >> will: steven, i can't help but notice that for all trump was accused, it seems that biden is intent on embodying. it was said donald trump would, quote, lock her up. that did not happen with hillary clinton. there was no raid of hillary clinton and her classified documents. here now under joe biden there's exactly that pursuit. there's the use of law enforcement to go after his political opponent. >> let's talk about the security state that's been after president trump for six years when he declared his candidacy, and then when he became the nominee, they began pushing the russia collusion hoax. let's not forget for years of

our national life, the official position of the government of the beltway class of the media was that he had cons spired illegally with the government of russia until that was completely and wholly debunked. let's not forget the secretary state tried to impeach him for trying to get to well-known corruption in ukraine. what about russian bounties dropped before the election. let's not forget the assertion that the hunter biden scandal, well documented on video, were russian disinformation. let's not also forget that the sitting president of the united states is completely, as far as we know, being held harmless for how he benefited from his son's stealings. where is the special council to look into how every penny of that income was handled by the biden family, was handled by biden, reported by biden, and classified by biden. it's not happening, because,

again, we have a branch, a division of government, that has decided throwing back to the'sons before the roman empire, that they can decide that they are the guardians of the empire, they can decide who leads us and who dis. this is an unprecedented development for this country. i would say nothing has happened like this, as far as i'm aware, in any of our developed peers. >> will: what's do you think, stephen, the fallout? you laid out beautiful will you the power of allegation, the power of investigation, what occurred over the last four years amounted to nothing. we know the facts. we know what did not end up in conclusion with all of those allegation and all of the investigation into donald trump and russia. but the power of that investigation, the power of that allegation, captured, held hostage america, and a presidency for the better part of four years. now you have a new investigation. you have a new allegation,

stephen. what happens? what's the fallout? >> the only recourse i can see in the near term -- there will obviously have to be a cleaning house in 2025. in the near term there needs to be such a large majority elected in the house that they will have unquestioned ability to not only subpoena but to impeach any and every official who is involved in wrongdoing, both current and past, and to ensure that we finally uncover the truth about who was involved in each and every one of the scandals and misinformation campaigns i just walked through, because as you said the damage and the investigation, a false investigation, can do is beyond imagination. and to live under the clouds for years of these fake investigations is not merely an attack on donald j. trump but an attack on every single american who participated in democracy to make him president. >> will: stephen, i want to ask you this as we end our

conversation. i can't help but note congress expanded the irs enforcement agency by 87,000 new agents. you know, i think the burden of proof for the doj on this allegation, this investigation, into donald trump, is going to be more than the burden of proof in a court of law. the american people have lost trust in institutions, media, science, medical, fbi, intelligence agencies. what do you think, on the back end of this, stephen, will be the attitude of the american people toward institutions that have been granted inherited credibility for decades? >> look, people look at steve bannion and peter navarro facing jail, eric holder walking free, and they see there's a double justice system. one for people that support the regime and one that are opposed to. you talk about the 87,000 irs agents. yes, it's a violent attack on the economic welfare of our middle-class, but it's also an ability to police speech in

america, because what does the irs do? they decide who's a nonprofit. they decide tax ductibility. they decide who's a political organization, who's a charity, who can be involved in our elections, who can't be. this is an norms power now given to the irs to further put a bureaucracy that's lifetime appointed and unelected in charge of our political system. it's very frightening, i will tell you. >> yeah. it just highlights this is about more than a former president. this is about the american people. stephen miller, you always put it well into perspective. thank you. matt whitaker was the acting attorney general under donald trump and joins us now. matt, glad to have you with us. let's go into the -- what would it need, matt? walk me through the process of accomplishing a search warrant for the fbi to execute a raid on a former president. who would have to approve and

what type of burden would they have to shoulder on an evidentiary basis to send agents into mar-a-lago? >> it's a burden, but not insurmountable. one of the first things they have to do its have an alleged crime. second, they need to swear a fact pattern that supports the probable clause to issue that subpoena. ultimately it will go before a magistrate judge after it's sweared out by an officer of the law. let's take two steps back. to open a criminal investigation at all you have to have predication. you jump through the hurdles at the department of justice and end up executing a search warrant. but, you know, these types of issues, like executing a search warrant, arresting someone, and all those types of law enforcement activities obviously put a -- cast a pale or cast a shadow on that individual that is now subject to those law enforcement actions. in this case, i just think this

is an outrageous expansion of the fbi's -- really i don't know how else to say it -- attack on donald trump for the last six years. >> will: i want to take you up on your invitation to back it up a couple of steps. in order to launch the investigation, who would have to give the green light? who would have to ask for the search warrant before it gets to that magistrate judge? i'll ask you ahead of time, and you can help answer this, it would, i assume, the director of the fbi, perhaps the attorney general merritt garland. would it go as high as the white house and the president of the united states, joe biden? >> yeah. i would be surprised if this department of justice allowed joe biden to be involved. that would obviously be a line that shouldn't be crossed in a criminal investigation. but yes, i would expect that chris wray and merritt garland both signed off on the criminal investigation of donald trump. that obviously is a big step. you know, both of them, you know, fearing for their future, you know, probably have some

measure of conflict in this situation. but a typical investigation, an agent can go to a supervisor, you know, tell them what he has, and make sure there's reasonable investigative steps that can be taken based on an initial predication of that case, obviously in concert with a prosecutor, like a u.s. attorney's office. you know, this type of case, where you're going after a former president of the united states, and possibly future president of the united states, would involve the attorney general and the fbi director and senior officials at the highest levels. >> will: i'm going to ask you to speculate, matt. you can decline if you would like. i'll ask you to speculate. you know, we've listened to chris wray over the last several weeks or so. in the last week at the very least. testify before congress about the resources of the fbi, where and where he could not dedicate resources. we heard him ask about the hunter biden investigation, the gretchen whitmer investigation, violence against pro-life advocates or pro-organization

advocates at pro-life centers. he talked essentially about the limited resources of the fbi, and therefore prosecutorial discretion in where they choose to put their resources. so i'm curious, the fbi has chosen to devote resources to donald trump. why, in your estimation? what is this about? is this about supposed classified documents? is this about january 6th? why is this at the top of list of their priorities? >> if you had many fbi agents at mar-a-lago today, that took away from other things those agents could be working on including violent crime in our major cities. but you're right, the department of justice and fbi appear to be focusing a lot of resources on january 6th and on donald trump and the previous administration. and it's hard not to believe that these are politically motivated. i have spent 7.5 years with the

department of justice. it's an institution that should be trusted, but they've eroded that trust to a point where they, to your point earlier, they have a burden to demonstrate that this investigation is not completely politically motivated after hillary clinton walked scot-free for the last seven years. >> will: you know, matt, and i don't know how they satisfy that burden. you know, at a minimum, matt, it would require some form of a guilty verdict in some court of law. but what we've seen over the past several years is the power of allegation, a simple investigation. i would say the burden is heavy, because the american people have to look at the inconsistency, which you and i are both talking about, are right? >> right. >> will: hunter, pro-abortion violence at pro-life centers. whatever. limited resources. we cannot help but see because of the hypocrisy partisan application of law enforcement. >> yeah, you're absolutely

right. i think this is where, you know, the american people need to ask very difficult questions. congress needs to ask difficult questions. because at the end of the day if they're planning on bringing donald trump to washington, d.c. in front of a washington, d.c. jury and a washington, d.c. judge, you know, this republic is maybe not strong enough to bear that burden ultimately. but we will see. you know, the fbi is into an unprecedented area. the department of under democratic leadership i think is going into a dangerous field right now. >> will: matt, what happens next? what happens next? will we hear from the doj and fbi on why this raid occurred? >> yeah. i would expect that we're not going to hear much from the department of justice. i can't imagine that fbi is used just to enforce the archives, you know, authority to have the presidential records. they certainly didn't seem to care much about hillary clinton's records at the time. i just think it's going to be a very quiet, uncomfortable period

for some time. you know, i think everybody needs to be ready for what happens next. >> will: and one last question, matt, you were acting attorney general. you have an expansive view of american history. in your estimation -- we heard from stephen miller earlier -- that in his estimation he can't find another example of something like this in american history. can you? >> i can't. the and i think this is -- is unfortunately we've crossed the rubicon to some extent where previous administrations are now investigated and previous presidents are investigated by the next administration. this is something from banana republics. not the united states of america. >> will: matt whitaker, that's exactly what we've begun to hear, banana republic. thank you so much. >> thank you. >> will: you heard it mentioned several times, the hypocrisy, the -- perhaps not hypocrisy -- the partisan consistency on where resources are deployed is too obvious to ignore. joe biden's son, hunter biden, lied on a federal gun form.

he also is on tape smoking crack and hooking up with prostitutes. in addition, the fbi has been in possession of hunter biden's laptop for more than two years, that contains evidence of tax fraud, and also evidence of the biden family's overseas influence peddling operation, in china, potential corruption at the highest levels of the american government that you would think would at least warrant -- i don't know -- a look under the covers by law enforcement. why hasn't hunter biden been raided by the fbi? jerry callahan is a radio host in massachusetts and joins us now. jerry, great to see you. maybe i shouldn't be asking you to explain the hypocrisy. maybe it's obvious. it's just partisan consistency. >> it is obvious, will. it couldn't be more obvious. you don't have speculation when it comes to hunter.

you have his actual laptop, photos, videos. he videotaped everything. that was his thing. there's not a lot of gray area there. not only do they not raid hunter, arrest him, but no one expects them to. no one has any faith in the justice system. i think what we're dealing with today is our rfp fbi. it feels like it's over, that everybody has to understand that they're the partisan militant wing of the biden administration. i would remind everybody that about three hours ago, will, joe biden couldn't put on his sportcoat. he struggled. he's not -- i don't think he's controlling things here. that's a question we got to ask. i mean, you could get to that? who's calling the shots here. another question i have is does anyone really believe the new 87,000 irs agents are going to go after billionaires and corrupt corporations when you

see how they don't hesitate to weaponize, militarize, the various administration departments against their enemies. it is the most frightening thing. they're going after political enemies. one other thing, they got five months left where they have the house. right? five months left. they have two months left where they have the white house. i don't think they care how it looks. this looks really bad. it looks like banana republic stuff, as everyone said. they've moved past the point how it looks. they don't care. they'll inflict as much damage on their political enemies over th five months and certainly two years. >> will: i've heard about elections in 2022 and 2024. i find that optimistic. i think there's a distrust, an undeniable distrust among the american people for the institutions that survive beyond

elections. i think you're exactly right to point to the fbi. how do you explain the interest in donald trump, but more importantly, the lack of interest, jerry, in potential corruption in the white house? i'm going to use the word "potential," because allegations are designed to be investigated by the fbi. in this case what we've seen, and wray said last week, well, it's concerning that we haven't given that more attention. it's a problem that you called disinformation. not only did you decline to investigate, you explained it away as russian disinformation. >> right. that's a great point. think about this. i've heard a lot of your guests talking about hillary clinton deleting the emails. obviously donald trump pointed that out. bill clinton went to, you know, pedophile island a couple dozen times. you don't even expect an investigation, let alone a raid. with hunter biden, this always blows my mind, we don't need an investigation. it's right there in front of you. they handed it to you,

christopher wray, we see the videos, we know there's probably underage hookers, but we know there's crack, influence influee peddling. he was there at for the medal of freedom ceremony, he's not even worried. who's worried is anybody in donald trump universe, they're afraid of the 6:00 a.m. raid where they're in their boxer shorts and the cia is across the street. at least donald trump wasn't in his underwear. at least it didn't reach that point. who knows what's next. >> will: coming up shortly, we'll talk to members of the trump family. we appreciate hearing from you, jerry. thank you so much, jerry. >> thank you, will. >> will: this just in from fox digital. a fox told fox news that fbi agents went to mar-a-lago and looked in every single office. his safe, the former president's

safe. and grabbed documents and boxes without going through them on the property. so immediately left the property with those boxes. the source said the agents took the documents to go through later once they left mar-a-lago. the territories told fox news, quote, they were not being judicious about what they took. lara trump, as promised, a member of the trump family, former senior advisor to donald trump joins us now. lara, thank you for being on the program with us tonight. i'll start with this. have you spoken to the former president? how is he doing? what is the attitude of the family? >> i have spoken to my father-in-law. i got to tell you, you know, he's as shocked as anybody. i think for someone -- and anyone quite frankly -- who loves this country, and believes in america, this should shake you to your core. what has happened today. this is a very clear demarcation in the history of america. never before, as many of or guests have already talked about, will, have we seen something like this happen, where an unannounced raid by the

fbi is conducted on a former president of the united states. think about this. if this is what they're able to do to the former president of the united states, think about they could do to you, to anybody in america. the bottom line here is that these documents that have been in question have been -- everybody's cooperating, everybody from my father-in-law's team -- has been cooperating with the fbi with any authority that asks for anything up until now. there was no need to make such a big scene, to do something this insane, quite frankly, to a former president. i think everybody clearly knows what's going on here, will. this is about weaponizing the justice system has it has been so many times in the past against somebody who you politically do not like. they detest donald trump, not just on the democrats' side, but the general establishment, because he's not one of them,

because he doesn't play their game. they're terrified he'll announce he's running for president in 2024, and this is a convenient way to throw a little more mud on donald trump as though they haven't already done enough. this is the same agency, don't forget, the fbi, who, you know, who had falsified documents to get pfizer warrants to conduct this entire sham russia hoax that the country had to deal with for two years, millions of taxpayer dollars and our time we'll never get back to find what? absolutely nothing. they've been trying to shove january 6th down everybody's throat. that hasn't worked. will they're heading into a midterm, heading into a presidential election season coming up, where they know they have no hope on the democratic side. they have nothing positive to show they've done for the american people. so what do you do? you try to take out a guy who hasn't even announced he's running yet, but they're terrified of him on the

democrats' side for sure, and i'll say it again, in the general establishment. >> will: lara, you've spoken to your father-in-law. therefore you have the most immediate information of anybody we've spoken to tonight. does he know, do you know, why his home was raided? >> he believes it's the documents in question, that, you know, everybody has been really upset about from the white house. look, my father-in-law, as anybody knows, who's been around him a lot, loves to save things like newspaper clippings, magazine clippings, photographs, documents that he had every authority, will, to take from the white house. you know, again, he's been cooperating every single step of the way with the people that have questioned any of this. i know people have brought it up before, but, you know, look at hillary clinton, the 33,000 emails she deletes that are completely gone and nobody bats an eyelash about it. donald trump takes documents that he had every right to take,

that every president does, didn't took antiques like hillary clinton took out of the white house, and paintings apparently, but that's what he believes, and that's what i think is at the bottom of all of this, and the reason they raided mar-a-lago quite frankly. >> will: thank you for that firsthand perspective from inside the family tonight. >> you got it. >> will: steve bannon has experienced the weapon of the justice system. he's been targeted relentlessly by the january 6th committee. he joins us by phone to react to the news of the fbi raid of mar-a-lago. steve, what's your immediate reaction? >> will: i gave the keynote address on friday night. i said we're at a political and ideological war. they've weaponized the justice department -- this had to be approved, going up to the white house to be approved.

absolutely. anybody saying it didn't is a liar. this had to go through merritt garland at least and wray and these guys. who, here's the thing. this is about pure power politics. they're scared to death about trump, the guy that laid out the effort to try to steal the 2020 election. he's tweeting right now all the u.s. code about documents to make sure you can't run for federal office again. they're terrified that he'll announce in a couple weeks to win the republican nomination and win the white house. we need a full investigation, cutting off appropriations to the fbi to get to the bottom of this. okay? this is going to continue on. the fbi right now is the gestapo. the fbi is the gestapo, whether it's out in colorado, putting a gold star mother in chains,

peter navarro in chains. .it's insane. we need to choke down the fbi and choke down the justice department and get to the bottom of who approved this. this is so outrageous it needs to to be investigated. >> will: i want to ask you this question, steve. >> yeah. >> will: i'm familiar with your point of view. i'm familiar with the opinions you share on war room. i'm familiar with how deep you think the corruption has run within the united states of america. i said this earlier in the program, believing elections can change the place in which we sit in the united states of america is an optimistic point of view, because this corruption, if it is partisan corruption, isn't relegated to the fbi. we saw 87,000 new irs agents have been ired. look at almost any federal institution, including the intelligence community, who dismissed hunter biden's laptop

as misinformation. this is not one depth, not one election. our problem is deeper. >> you're 100% correct. this is about the administrative state, about an undemocratic apparatus, the administrative state that wants to run things their own way, pick and choose who runs and who wins. it's incumbent -- look, we have 2/3 of the nation in back tuesday, hispanics, african americans, asian america americ. it's now time to take control of the house of representatives with an overwhelming victory, and then act like we mean it. the jim jordans and people have step up. and kevin mccarthy has to step up and say we're going to do a full investigation, choke them down. >> will: i got you, steve. i hate to cut you off, steve. we have more information coming in as we speak. i got to get to that. steve, thank you for your time. this is a fox news alert. donald trump said tonight his mar-a-lago home is under siege

by fbi agents, indiscriminate removing items from the house. the president's son, eric trump said as many as 30 agents raided the former president's mar-a-lago home. mike? >> sources tell fox news that the fbi raid of former trump's palm beach home is related to the taking of classified information from the white house upon leaving january 20th of last year. the national archives says there were 15 boxes of what they believe to be presidential records, noting they must be preserved. fbi agents went to mar-a-lago looking in every single office in the president's safe, and grabbed documents and boxes without reviewing them there on property. the source telling fox they took boxes and documents to review once they left mar-a-lago, and were told they were not being judicious about what they took. ofox has learned former

president trump was at trump tower in new york city when he learned the raid was taking place in florida. the former president saying in his public statement, they broke his safe. obviously he's quite upset with the raid taking place there today. will? >> will: all right, mike. thank you there for the latest. as you heard tonight, now the president of the united states -- the former president of the united states' home in mar-a-lago has been raided by fbi agents, upwards of 30 agents, broke into his safe, took boxes of documents away, not discovering them, not going through them on premises, but taking them away for further analysis. we do not have information at this time as to why -- what is the legal or evidentiary basis as to what is the investigation and raid into donald trump? for now we turn to fox's shannon bream for a legal analysis of the situation unfolding tonight. shannon, great to have you with me. let's take this from a legal perspective, as you look at

what's happened and what's occurred, what's your takeaway? >> well, i can't wait to see the warrant. i think everybody wants to know about the underpinnings of this. will, you're a gifted lawyer, know this as well as anybody, you've talked us through what would happen. this doesn't happen overnight o. you go through an internal process at the fbi, people talk about the possibilities of what could happen here. you know, it's so rare, because there's never been an indictment of a former president, a criminal indictment of a former president. who knows whether we'll get to that place. this is part of what you would do, is go get information, get things you would claim are evidence. it's interesting, what lara trump has been saying. i'm interested to see if the doj and fbi believe -- as she said, he's been cooperating, working with them. they may believe otherwise, because to go to a judge and get the underpinnings and get the warrant you need someone to sign

off, they need to make an allegation that the president has not been cooperating with them, at least not in their definition of cooperation. it calls to mind other raids that you've talked about. you know, the arrest of, you know, peter navarro, how these come together. there's always the political optics you have to consider as well. any doj or fbi, any administration, will want to be exceptionally careful, because there's always that perception of political basis. we don't want to think our institutions are right. this attorney general has clearly made the calculation that they think they have enough to move forward and risk the political optics of this. sen, as you discussed earlier on the show, there's a conversation about not pursuing indictments

so close to an election that they would have an impact in a way that could upset the political balance. so feel they are justified in moving forward. that's all we can assume at this point. >> will: help me understand what you mean by "moving forward." we know they've raided the home of former president donald trump. there had to be a burden that had to see bed. i'll lean on you for that burden. are they committed to some further action, to bringing some charges? this simply can't be a fishing expedition. >> normally you would say, in a case, that if a warrant is executed, it does not mean there's an indictment looming or something further would move forward. in a case like this, they've had to think through the next many several steps. this is a former president.

this is not something that's happened before. so clearly they feel like they have the strength of whatever they've alleged so far in this investigation to move forward. now, we've been considering this in the context of the january 6th investigations and hearings. but what we're hearing tonight, the indications seem to be this is not about this, that this is about presidential records, and the maintaining of them after someone has left office. it can be a different thing, if you're talking about indicting a former president for something that happened while he was president, that kind of conversation we've been having, if this is connected to january 6th. tonight it sounds like a different conversation, like they may be talking about pursuing something against the president for something they believe that happened after his time in office, and what he did with records after he left washington, and was no longer the president of the united states. those are two different tracks there. you got to think because of the political calculations they wouldn't move forward unless they had some confidence, some level, that they have at least a basic makings for what you would

pursue in this kind of case, because otherwise it does get into the optics of where we've seen the other cases, where it seems like a hammer is being used instead of a flyswatter in some of these guys. only they inside the doj and fbi know tonight. >> will: yeah, that would be a hard image for the fbi to overcome. you would think they would calculate a next step. this is not the end of their story. shannon bream, thank you for being with us tonight. >> you're welcome. >> will: the former president of the united states' home was raided before hunter biden's. there's a lot more evidence of hunter biden's crimes. a columnist with the "new york post" joins us now to put this raid into context. miranda? >> good evening, will. it's pretty incredible. and you can only wonder how this is going to play with the hunter biden -- we know that the investigation in delaware is

about to come to fruition. there's probably a plea deal going to happen. will that happen in the shadow of this, some sort of square-up. what we do know is that these documents that were supposed to be taken from the white house were actually packed up by the general services administration, and shipped to mar-a-lago. donald trump has kept them in a locked room there. and the fbi had access to them a couple months ago, were able to come in and go through them and look at whatever they liked. so it is unusual, since they have told "the new york times," someone at the doj has told "the new york times" this is just about the presidential records act and not anything to do with the january 6th committee. you know, lawyers i've spoken to have said that this really looks like to them like a fishing expedition, because if you can enter with a warrant on the -- on these sort of documents that

are supposed to be given to the archives, and you find something else related to any of the other seven mashes that they seem to be trying to trick president trump up on, like something to do with january 6th, if you find that other evidence you could use it in a new investigation. so if that's the case, that is just so appalling. it just strengths the american people's basically prejudice or suspicion that the fbi is just the secret police of the democratic party. it's a terrible thing for america. and i think it's going to be backfire terribly on the democrats, because it's just going to rally support behind donald trump because no matter what people think of donald trump they know that this is an outrage to be raiding a former president's home. he's not just the former

president either. he's the likely future candidate for president in 2024. so this is so political, and disastrous. when christopher wray, appeared on thursday with a shabby disingenuous performance when he didn't answer any of the questions that the senators needed to ask, crucial questions about our national security, and about the bearing of the hunter biden laptop story investigation, and about lying about it as two people inside the fbi said that it was russian disinformation, when the fbi director himself came out in october 2020 to say that the laptop was not russian disinformation, that, yes, the fbi had it in their custody, they had to do that, because adam schiff again was lying and saying that the laptop was

russian disinformation just as as he lied about the first impeachment of donald trump -- he said he didn't know anything about the ukrainian whistleblower, just as he lied about the russian hoax. this is the chairman of the intelligence committee, with oversight of the fbi. it is really quite frightening. >> will: miranda, how do you explain the devotion of resources to this, to what we're watching unfold today -- the fbi didn't just decline to investigate hunter biden. they spun it as disinformation. how do you explain that disparity? >> it just shows the politicalization of the fbi, under a completely weak director, christopher wray, one of donald trump's worst personnel choices.

the fbi is completely out of control. it's a number of, you know, different field offices that are their own fiefdoms. god knows what they're up to, particularly the washington, d.c. office which has carried this current raid. 100 fbi agents raiding the home of the former president, potential future presidential candidate, it's incredible as you had people say. it is unprecedented. it's frightening, because the fbi is supposed to be doing something about crime and terrorism. yet their biggest ever investigation has been into the capitol riot on january 6th, which was bad, but in the context of things that are wrong in this country it is really not the worst thing to be looking at. yet, it seems that nancy pelosi, adam schiff, chuck schumer,

sadly joe biden, seem to be running the fbi and its priorities. >> will: miranda, you characterized it as potentially a fishing expedition. shannon bream said they have to have their next steps in mind. whatever it is, i think something is clear, the burden of proof is going to be incredibly high on the american institution, because the electorate, a large percentage of the electorate, are looking at this with a great amount of jaundiced skep simple. miranda, great to talk to you this evening. >> you too, will. >> will: you're looking there on your screen of former president trump leaving trump tower in new york city tonight, there on your screen a moment ago, as the sun has set in new york city. we turn now to joe kemp for reaction, a former army special forces, running for congress in the state of washington. joe, it's great to have you with us tonight. year five, year six. basically from before donald trump's election to tonight, we

have seen investigation after investigation, and allegation after allegation. do you think tonight, what we're looking at now, will be any different than the outcome of the past six years or will it simply be another illustration of the power of an allegation? >> it has to be different than what we've seen before, because we've seen the complete and total weaponization of our national security state. you mentioned how this all began with the russiangate sham hoax. we saw the national security at the highest levels weaponized against president trump and his campaign and throughout his administration. now with the narrative of january 6th, where this narrative was fortified, to turn the potent tools, against not only just president trump, but many on the ground in january 6th, folks thrown into political prison, without due process, and now the national security state continues to be on the hunt against president

trump, even down to parents that show up to school board meetings. we have to realize we're at war. when we take back the house in 2023, bringing the national security state to heal must be our top priority. any republican not ready for that fight is unfit for duty. >> will: i imagine if you're sitting at home watching this sense of -- and we heard earlier on the program, it's not simply corruption, it's just -- what we're watching unfold in america isn't limited to, as you mentioned, the national security state, it's not limited to law enforcement. you very aptly pointed out, school board meeting, which the doj classified those parents as domestic terrorists, but beyond that, censorship within big technology. it's hard i would imagine for an american citizen who doesn't subscribe to the current thing, to think there's anything even

resembling a fair playing field in america. >> no, not at all. you know, i served for a while in the military, special forces. i served in lots of countries that were ran as police and security states. that's the reason why this looks very familiar to me. if you're an american, you've enjoyed how great this country is, where we have these freedoms. this is hard to recognize. people need to recognize exactly what this is. it's the totality of this regime. i call it a regime, because it's the weaponization of the national security state. they're partners in big tech, like you mentioned. it's being totally weaponized against anyone who doesn't fully comply. president trump said for years it wasn't him they were after, it was just us. he happened to be in the way. even now that he's kind of out of the way, he's potentially rising back up again, they're going after him. it's a total full frontal assault, going after every one of us. we have to elect republicans who

know what time it is, because our one hope of saving this republic is going to be fought out on the floor of the oversight committee. we have to bring these people to heal, and bring them to full account, criminal charges, too, not just sound clips that turn into fundraising asks, but we have to go after these people and take away their power. >> will: you're running for office. let's cut to the heart of the matter. this is politics. what do you think this does to donald trump's candidacy were he to run in 2024? >> well, i think we all know that president trump is more than likely going to run. they're going to keep coming at him. we have to get unified. the republicans, the conservatives, the america first movement, we have to see what the other side is doing. the other side is 100% in lockstep. they are unified. we have to get that exact same way. we just fought a hard primary throughout the entire country. some of them are still going on, i understand that, but we have to come together if we're going to save this republic. we have to work in unison.

trump saved us from a lot back in 2016, but even trump couldn't bring us through all of this. however, together we can take back our republic and have to get unified. >> will: joe, i understand you're currently leading your race for congress. best of luck. thank you tonight for jumping on "tucker carlson tonight." >> absolutely. thank you for having me. >> will: reports tonight that the raid on donald trump's mar-a-lago residence was approved at the highest levels of the doj at the very least. donald trump is calling this raid lawless and unprecedented. the question is, who had to sign off on this? jonathan turley joins us to break down the legal implication. thank you for being on the program. >> thank you. >> will: how high did this have to be approved? >> i think that attorney general merritt garland almost certainly signed off on this. it's hard to imagine a decision of this magnitude would be made without his knowledge and approval. he hasn't recused himself.

so that assumption i think is well founded. but the news accounts income accounts incomethis is not abou, but the presidential records act. the archivist can ask the attorney general to intervene when someone is not complying, including a former president by turning over material. we know that material was taken previously two months ago. now, putting all of that together we're still speculating as to what the federal judge signed off here as probable cause of a crime. there are provisions, like section 2071, which allows for three years in prison for people who knowingly conceal information they're not allowed to retain. that would include classified information. but the problem with the pra, or presidential records act, being the basis of this type of action, is that it's not been traditionally a criminal matter.

certainly it's not been that way for former presidents. indeed, you have people like sandy berger, a former national security advisor, who was found to have taken classified documents out, hidden in his socks, and he was not prosecuted. you also have records cases like james comey, who was accused of taking fbi material out when he left the fbi. the history has been not to prosecute those cases, which will become more relevant as we go forward. >> will: wow. that's fascinating and important information. so what you highlighted for us here is the willingness of the doj to go after i assume, quote, unquote, classified material in the past, jonathan, and then choosing, again, once again, to see an inconsistent application here when it comes to president trump. one legal question before we go, jonathan. would it not -- let's assume this is about those -- we're speculating -- let's assume it's

about those documents and they are -- i'm assuming classified has a lot to do with this, that they were not supposed to be removed because their classification. you're assuming when he left he still had the power of the presidency and took those documents. doesn't he also have the power to declassify documents, jonathan? >> he does. i testified on that in congress on this very issue with -- about president trump, when he was still president. he had the ultimate declassification authority that ended when his president ended. they could be arguing that if he did not turn over these documents he knowingly retained documents. >> will: that's key. that's excellent information tonight from jonathan turley. thank you so much. >> thank you. >> will: the raid on mar-a-lago isn't the first time joe biden has used the doj to target his political opponents. earlier this year, armed federal agents arrested jeff clark in his pajamas in a predawn raid.

jeff joins us now. jeff, as you see everything unfold, and of course your recent experience, what's your reaction? >> well, will, thanks to you to be here, but i'm outraged for president trump, and more importantly i'm outraged for the presidency. this is an unprecedented step that just shows the department is being weaponized, that it's out of control, that the fbi is out of control. i'd heard earlier remarks by steve bannon about the deep state or the administrative state. i think of them as a live but separate, with the deep state being the intelligent apparatus and the fbi is part of that. i think we need to get control over that agency. it's more out of control than the cia was when senator church held his famous church committee hearings. we need the incoming congress, which starts in january, to do

the same thing to turn the fbi upside down, looking at that department so it can be reformed, and so that if donald trump does run for president again and takes over and can use his ceo skills, he can reform that entity. >> will: yeah. yeah, jeff, you know, it's funny the word "conspiracy" has been thrown around the last several years. it would be a conspiracy to deny the existence of an administrative state. jeff clark, thank you too being with us tonight. >> thank you. >> will: ing fbi agents raided former president trump's home. the former president said the raid amounts to prosecutorial misconduct, the weaponize of the justice system, and attack by radical left democrats who desperately don't want me to run in 2024. trump said agents broke into his safe. a former federal prosecutor joins us now. francey, if we might, let's

narrow in the best that we can on the legal implications here. we've talked much tonight about the political state, the partisan potentiality of this. does this hold, in your estimation, any legal water? assuming this is about those documents, boxes of supposed classified documents. what is the burden of proof? where does this go legally? >> great questions, will. i worked in classified information. i worked in national security cases. i worked in front of the pfizer court. i would have said to you 10 years ago that a federal judge had to sign off on this. that means a federal judge had to be shown an affidavit that said there was probable cause to believe a crime was committed and that evidence of that crime would be found at mar-a-lago. i would have trusted that. but after the russia collusion hoax, the pfizer warrant gotten illegally against carter page, and the way the fbi treated the

hillary clinton investigation, where they never sent a single subpoena or served a single search warrant on hillary clinton or her aides, her laptop or her secret server, it's very hard for me now to say that this does hold water. i hope so, honestly, for the justice department that i served for 10 years, and the cause of justice that i've served my entire career as a prosecutor, i actually hope there's probable cause, but from what we're hearing i don't have any faith that's true. >> will: so little faith left i believe among the american people for their institutions. i think you're exactly right. the burden of proof for the fbi and doj to retain what little faith the american people have in those institutions, that's at stake. thanks for being with us tonight. >> thanks, will. >> will: donald trump said his mar-a-lago home has been under siege by fbi agents. ned rhine joins us with his reaction. ned, pick up on where francey

left off. you know, it's impossible to separate this from the last five years of allegations and investigations, from russia collusion to the supposed, you know, russian soldiers and bounties on american soldiers overseas to the lack of interest in hunter biden. we are being asked to trust an apparatus which has burned every ounce of trust. >> well, will, we need to disabuse ourselves of the notion that the doj and fbi are actually interested in the rule of law. i mean, i would remind people these very same institutions got warrants off a dossier they knew was bogus to target a sitting president of the united states. i don't think they care about much of anything except for targeting political enemies, who they view as an existential threat to the administrative state. instead of viewing the doj and fbi as rule of law, i think with he new ed to view them as a

pretorian guard of the administrative state. i think they might try to saban trump with a rigged grand jury before the midterms. >> will: i appreciate you jumping on at the end of the show. this story is not going away. you'll have excellent coverage starting right now with sean hannity, up next. ♪ ♪ >> sean: welcome to "hannity." tonight we start with a fox news alert, eric trump will join us with the moment, he was with his dad all day today, he will give us an inside scoop. first, a dark day for our republic. the department of justice, the rule of law, what looks to be potentially a shocking overreach, we will find out in due time that will have serious ramifications potentially for many, many years to come. biden's charged -- with already chronic valdis -- doj is now being used as a weapon against bidens top political rival, the former president of united states of america donald tru.