Donald Trump mulls releasing CCTV footage of FBI team's search at Mar-a-Lago property

Amid the tension over the federal search of Donald Trump’s Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago, some associates of the former United States President want him to publicly reveal surveillance footage of FBI investigators carrying out a search warrant at his Mar-a-Lago residence, CNN reported. Further, sparking debate among his allies, a person close to Trump noted that the CCTV footage has been kept so secretively that the former President's aides are unsure if he has viewed it completely. This individual said, "I don't think it's been shared by anyone outside of the attorneys".   

Besides this, some of Trump's allies have even urged the former President to release some of the videos to the public because they think it will energise the Republican Party. According to a person with knowledge of the discussions, there have been talks about using the August video in campaign-style advertisements since it is thought the footage will support Trump's claims of political persecution, CNN reported.  

Furthermore, when Fox's Sean Hannity questioned Trump's son Eric earlier this week about if the video will be made public, Eric responded, "Absolutely Sean, at the right time." 

Some of Trump's inner circle warned about possible risks if he does disclose the video

In the meantime, others in Trump's inner circle have cautioned about the former President's possible risks if he does disclose the video. The release of the video, as per a second person close to Trump, may backfire by giving the public a visual grasp of the enormous number of materials that federal officers took from his seaside home, including sensitive information. 

Additionally, on Sunday, August 14, former president Donald Trump asked that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to hand over the documents that they had taken from his Florida resort's Mar-a-lago during the recent federal search. Trump stated on Truth Social that the documents FBI officers seized from his home contained private attorney and client interactions. 

Notably, 11 boxes that appear to be filled with classified documents labelled as top secret, confidential, and "TS/SCI" have been confiscated by the FBI. Quoting a Fox News report, Trump denied having any secret materials. He said that the search was in fact a question of the FBI's credibility because of its "long and unrelenting history of being corrupt.” 

As per media reports, Trump said in the post, “Number one, it was all declassified,” and added, “Number two, they didn’t need to ‘seize’ anything. They could have had it anytime they wanted without playing politics and breaking into Mar-a-Lago. It was in secured storage, with an additional lock put on as per their request. They could have had it anytime they wanted—and that includes LONG ago.” 

(Image: AP)