Insiders say Trump is panicking as Kushner and Melania pointed to as possible moles in FBI raid

Jared Kushner, Melania Trump, and many others have been pointed to as possible FBI informants following the raid on Mar-a-Lago, former President Donald Trump’s private club in Southern Florida.

The raid is reported to have been aimed at recovering documents containing classified information that was brought to the home after Mr Trump left the White House in January 2021.

Fifteen boxes of documents were taken from the club by the National Archives earlier this year.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that after a meeting in June with the FBI at Mar-a-Lago, someone with knowledge of the stored files told the authorities that there could be further classified documents stored at the club.

Conservative lawyer and husband of former Trump aide Kellyanne Conway, George Conway tweeted in response toThe Journal report, asking “Who is CI-1?”

In a federal court filing, CI-1 refers to the initial mention of confidential information.

According to Newsweek, the Mar-a-Lago raid was mostly based on a confidential human source to the FBI, concerning what classified files Mr Trump was still storing at the Florida residence. Officials told the outlet that the raid was scheduled to occur when Mr Trump wasn’t present.

“I know that there is much speculation out there that this is political persecution, but it is really the best and the worst of the bureaucracy in action,” one official told Newsweek. “They wanted to punctuate the fact that this was a routine law enforcement action, stripped of any political overtones, and yet got exactly the opposite.”

Former deputy assistant FBI director and head of the counterintelligence division Peter Strzok responded to Mr Conway, “And -2? And -3? So much paranoia in a mole hunt, no one to trust, so much to do, so much to lose, so many walls closing in so fast. [also, might be Melanie]”.

Mr Strzok included an image of former CIA official and Russian spy hunter James Angelton who was the head of counterintelligence from 1954 until 1974.

“If there’s probable cause for a physical search, there could be probable cause to intercept electronic communications and phone calls,” Mr Conway responded.

The co-founder of the Lincoln Project, Rick Wilson, appeared on MSNBC to discuss the group’s new ad running in the area around Mr Trump’s Bedminster, New Jersey club.

The ad ponders who could’ve flipped on Mr Trump and shared information with federal authorities, prompting the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago.

“We knew that Donald Trump would try to gaslight the entire country and try to psychologically destabilize the minute this raid happened,” Mr Wilson said on MSNBC. “We knew he would immediately start lying and they would immediately try to tell an alternate narrative of why it’s happening and why it’s really happening. And we wanted to immediately push back. And something we’re good at — which is getting inside his decision cycle and getting inside his head space and pushing back in a way that we’ve been very, very successful in the past.”

Host John Heilemann asked Mr Wilson who could’ve flipped.

“I think there were a lot of stories a few weeks ago about Jared and Ivanka trying to back away from Trump and trying to start their own brand, essentially break off from Trump and pulling away from the Trump orbit,” Mr Wilson said. “I think Jared Kushner has a great paranoia for reasons to do with his family’s past. He doesn’t ever want to ever go to jail. I suspect that the FBI and folks have a persuasive argument there that he should talk.”

He added that there are plenty of other possible suspects.

“They know they’re imminently ready to be thrown under the bus,” Mr Wilson said. “So, it could be any one of them. Which is kind of the point we were making. And look, I could have made a longer spot than 60 [seconds] and told a more complete story. But, look, they’re always like crabs in a bucket down there in Mar-a-Lago. They’re always fighting with each other. They’re always competing with each other and they’re always looking to protect themselves. So someone is protecting themselves in a pool right now.”

Mr Trump is reportedly trying to hunt down someone who could’ve communicated with the federal authorities. Rolling Stone magazine also reported that he believes he’s being wiretapped “by Biden”.

“He has asked me and others, ‘Do you think our phones are tapped?’ Given the sheer volume of investigations going on into the [former] president, I do not think he’s assuming anything is outside the realm of possibility,” one person told Rolling Stone.

“I’m getting a lot of messages saying, ‘this guy must be the informant,’ and others … calling for the president to start doing phone-checks of his staff,” on Trump advisor told the magazine. “To be honest, a lot of it feels like people trying to screw over the ones they don’t like.”