Media

Don Lemon, Jean-Pierre Spar On What The White House Knew Before Mar-A-Lago Raid

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Nicole Silverio Media Reporter
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CNN anchor Don Lemon sparred with White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Thursday over the White House’s knowledge prior to the raid on Mar-a-Lago.

Lemon suggested that White House officials had prior knowledge of the investigation into the classified documents given that the administration signed off to have the Justice Department examine hundreds of documents handed over from Mar-a-Lago. Jean-Pierre denied that the Department of Justice and FBI briefed any official at the White House regarding the investigation.

“Are you saying that he [Biden] didn’t know about the actual…that there would be a search warrant carried out?” Lemon asked. “Because he did have to know about it, about the documents being there because he had to sign off on giving the Archives.”

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“Okay, those are two different things,” she replied. “No, no, no, we did not know. Again, I’m just gonna repeat myself—”

“But you knew about it,” Lemon interjected. “I mean, you had to know that it was there or that they were missing because he signed off on giving the Archives the authority on the executive privilege to make a decision, the council’s office, excuse me.” (RELATED: ‘Political Witch Hunt’: Mike Davis Alleges Biden Knew About The Mar-A-Lago Raid)

President Joe Biden signed a letter to allow the FBI and Justice Department to examine hundreds of pages of classified documents handed over to the Archives in January and prevented Trump from claiming executive privilege on the classified materials. The press secretary told Lemon that this letter deferred the matter to the National Archives and Records Administration and did not know about the search or the approval for the search warrant by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland.

“Who’s we? Who knew about it at the White House?” Lemon asked.

“I’m just telling you the White House, I don’t have specific names…the White House deferred that to the National Archives. It’s in the letter. It’s very clear in the letter. It’s out there, you guys have shown the letter, folks can take a look,” the press secretary said.

Biden denied having any advance notice of the FBI’s search warrant to raid the former president’s home.