In promoting her upcoming memoir, former first lady Melania Trump issued a “warning” to Americans about the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) after the government agency conducted a raid on Mar-a-Lago in August 2022 in regard to classified documents.
In the video posted to X, formerly Twitter, on Saturday, Melania Trump, the wife of GOP presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump, speaks over images of Mar-a-Lago, the Trumps’ Florida estate, with text from the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution superimposed. The Fourth Amendment protects people from unreasonable searches and seizures by the government.
“I never imagined my privacy would be invaded by the government here in America,” the former first lady states. “The FBI raided my home in Florida and searched through my personal belongings. This is not just my story, it serves as a warning to all Americans, a reminder that our freedom and rights must be respected.”
Newsweek contacted Melania’s press contact as well as the FBI’s national press office via email on Saturday for comment.
The controversy surrounding classified documents at Mar-a-Lago began shortly after Donald Trump left office in January 2021. The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) reported receiving some of his presidential records, noting that some had been torn up and taped back together.
In February 2022, NARA confirmed it had retrieved 15 boxes of presidential records from Mar-a-Lago, some of which contained classified national security information. This revelation prompted an investigation by the House Committee on Oversight and Reform.
As the situation escalated, the Department of Justice (DOJ) became involved in the investigation. In April 2022, the FBI interviewed several of the former president’s former aides regarding his handling of classified documents. By June, DOJ investigators met with Donald Trump’s attorneys and served a grand jury subpoena for the remaining documents still at Mar-a-Lago.
Matters came to a head on August 8, 2022, when FBI agents executed a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago. The raid resulted in the recovery of approximately 11,000 documents, according to the FBI. This included over 100 documents marked as classified and at least 18 marked “top secret.” Additionally, 48 empty folders marked as classified were found.
AFP / Getty Images/PATRICK T. FALLON
The former president was facing 40 federal charges over his alleged handling of the sensitive materials seized during the raid. He was also accused of obstructing efforts by federal authorities to retrieve them. He pleaded not guilty and said the raid was nothing more than a political witch hunt.
Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, tossed out all the charges in July, ruling that DOJ special counsel Jack Smith was wrongfully funded and appointed to oversee the case, making his position both a violation of the Constitution’s Appointments Clause and Appropriations Clause.
Smith has appealed Cannon’s ruling, asking the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse her order to dismiss the case and send it back “for further proceedings.” In August, Donald Trump filed a $100 million lawsuit against the DOJ over the raid, claiming political persecution.
Melania’s latest statements on the raid at Mar-a Lago echo concerns previously shared by the former president about the FBI’s actions. In an interview with Newsmax, he elaborated on the “terrible” impact of the search on his wife. “They go into her closet, they go through her dresses and who knows what else,” he told the network.
The former president further alleged that federal agents carried out a “deep and ugly search” of his and Melania’s 16-year-old son Barron’s room during a 2022 rally, claiming they left “everything they touched in far different conditions than it was when they started.” He also criticized agents for not taking off their shoes in his bedroom.
Meanwhile, this is not the first time Melania has used controversial topics to market her upcoming memoir, Melania. She previously shared a video discussing the failed assassination attempt on her husband during a Pennsylvania campaign rally, urging viewers to “uncover the truth,” while ending the clip with the release date of her book.
This pattern of leveraging high-profile incidents for book promotion has drawn harsh criticism from some. X user Art Candee reposted Melania’s announcement video to the social media platform, calling it a “sad hype video” for her new book.
Melania Trump released a sad hype video for her memoir.
She whines about public scrutiny and “misrepresentation.”
And she wants to “clarify the facts” and share “the truth.”
Spare me, lady. pic.twitter.com/AmMoTjqtG0
— Art Candee 🍿🥤 (@ArtCandee) September 5, 2024
Emmy-award winning actress Yvette Nicole Brown also blasted the former first lady’s controversial past comments while in the White House. “Did we misrepresent that you’re a #Birther? Or a beneficiary of the #ChainMigration you and your pig of a hubby rail against?”