Trump has delighted in seeing his supporters protest outside Mar-a-Lago and thinks the FBI raid will boost his political fortunes, Politico reports.
Seth Wenig/AP
Former President Donald Trump is largely "cheerful" and "upbeat" despite the recent FBI search of Mar-a-Lago and multiple active investigations in which he is entangled, sources close to him told Politico.
Since the FBI searched his Florida club and winter residence on August 8 to recover classified documents and other top-secret items that he took when leaving the White House, Trump has kept up his usual schedule of playing golf, entertaining guests, and hosting some fundraisers at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, Politico reported.
One person in Trump's orbit told Politico that Trump and his allies don't believe the former president is "in legal jeopardy."
"They see this as just another headache to deal with and it's an unnecessary issue when they could be focused on other things like preparing for a potential run," the person said.
And a member of the Republican Study Committee, an influential group of House Republicans, told Politico that Trump was "upbeat, not downbeat," at a dinner for the group that Trump attended on August 9, one day after the raid.
Other sources close to Trump told Politico that the former president has delighted in seeing his supporters protesting the FBI search outside Mar-a-Lago and believes the investigation will only bolster his standing within the GOP as he gears up for a 2024 presidential run.
Trump struck a different tone, however, in a series of angry posts on his social media platform Truth Social on Thursday morning in which he decried "all of the many Hoaxes and Scams that were illegally placed on me by very sick & demented people," maintained he is "as innocent as a person can be," and in one post, wrote: "PRESIDENTIAL RECORDS ACT!"
His lawyers also filed a lawsuit asking a judge to appoint a "special master" to review the documents and materials the FBI seized by way of the Mar-a-Lago raid.
The former president has hosted some events and guests — and testified in a closed-door deposition for New York Attorney General Letitia James' investigation into the Trump Organization — but has largely stayed out of the public eye since the search of his property.
Trump is set to hold his first political rally since the raid in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, on September 3.
