Ex-Trump chief of staff Mick Mulvaney says FBI informant likely ‘very close’ to ex-president

“My guess is there's probably six or eight people who had that kind of information,” said Mulvaney on CNN

One of former president Donald Trump’s former chiefs of staff says that the source of information which led to the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago would have had to be someone “very close” to Mr Trump and who knew where he kept the documents he took from the White House before leaving office.

Mick Mulvaney, who served as the director of the Office of Management and Budget before Mr Trump tapped him as acting chief of staff from January 2019 to March 2020, told CNN on Thursday that the search of Mr Trump’s property most likely came after federal investigators were tipped off by someone deep in the ex-president’s inner circle.

"I didn't even know there was a safe at Mar-a-Lago, and I was the chief of staff for 15 months," Mr Mulvaney said, adding that the person whose information the FBI relied on must have known “where the documents were”.

"My guess is there's probably six or eight people who had that kind of information. If you know where the safe is and you know the documents are in 10 boxes in the basement, you're pretty close to the president," he said.

The ex-White House chief of staff’s comments came just hours before Mr Trump said he would not oppose the unsealing of the search warrant which FBI agents used to gain access to his property, nor would he fight disclosure of the inventory of what agents removed after the search.

The unprecedented search of the ex-president’s home has prompted outrage among Mr Trump’s supporters, who have seized on his claims that the investigation into whether he illegally harboured classified documents after leaving the White House is a “hoax.” They’ve also directed violent rhetoric towards law enforcement officials.

Attorney General Merrick Garland announced on Thursday that the DOJ asked the Florida federal magistrate judge who approved the search to order the warrant unsealed. He said “more information” about the case would “will be made available in the appropriate way and at the appropriate time”.