5 hours ago
image source,EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock
Police car outside Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach
Former U.S. President Donald Trump said the FBI raided his Florida residence Mar-a-Lago, and agents opened a safe.
In a statement, Trump said Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach was “occupied by a large group of FBI agents.”
The search on Monday was reportedly related to an investigation into Trump’s handling of official documents.
“These are dark times for our country,” Trump said in a statement. “Nothing like this has ever happened to a President of the United States before.”
Neither the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) nor the U.S. Department of Justice have commented on the reported search.
‘Unprecedented’ search warrant
A law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the BBC’s US partner CBS News that the Secret Service was at about 10:00 local time (14:00 GMT), shortly before the search warrant was issued. Agents protecting Trump assisted FBI investigators after being notified.
The source also said several boxes were taken, the door was not kicked down, and the raid ended in the late afternoon.
Federal search warrants must be signed by a judge. While such a search warrant does not mean the person may be subject to criminal charges, law enforcement agencies must first demonstrate that it is possible to find evidence of the violation.
Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg told the BBC that such a search warrant was “unprecedented” in American history and a “major event”.
The Presidential Archives Act (PRA) of the United States requires the President of the United States to transfer all correspondence, working papers, and e-mails to the National Archives (NA).
There are other federal laws in the United States regarding the handling of classified documents.
In February, the National Archives said it retrieved 15 boxes of documents from Mar-a-Lago that were supposed to be turned over when Trump left the White House.
The agency later told Congress that the boxes included “documents marked as classified national security information.”
Trump’s attorney, Christina Bobb, told NBC News that some documents were taken during the search.
image source,Getty Images
Trump says reports of his mishandling of official documents are ‘fake news’
“Weaponization of Justice”
The escalating law enforcement investigation into Trump comes as the GOP prepares for a 2024 presidential race.
News of the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago has alarmed some Trump supporters. A group of Sichuan fans gathered outside Mar-a-Lago and waved flags to express their anger.
House Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said: “I’ve seen enough. The Justice Department has gotten into an intolerable state of weaponization of politics.”
Meanwhile, Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida, tweeted: “The use of government power to persecute political opponents is something we’ve seen many times in Third World Marxist dictatorships.”
Trump said he had cooperated with all relevant government agencies, so “the raid on my home was unnecessary and inappropriate.”
He said it amounted to “prosecuting misconduct” and “weaponizing the justice system” in an effort to prevent him from running for the White House again.
“This kind of attack can only happen in a broken third world country,” he said. “Sadly, the United States is now one of those countries with unprecedented levels of corruption.”
“They even hit my safe!”
According to reports, Trump himself was inside Trump Tower in New York City when the search took place.
A senior White House official told CBS that the Biden administration was not notified of the FBI search in Florida on Monday.
The White House said it was trying to avoid interactions with senior Justice Department officials to avoid giving the appearance of political pressure or wrongdoing.
Analysis: a significant move
BBC correspondent Peter Bowes, Los Angeles
One view is that the search was timed to avoid a long-held belief that the judiciary does not engage in actions deemed politically sensitive in the run-up to elections.
With just three months to go to decide on the next Congress, the US midterm elections, there are few such sensitive times in American politics.
Trump, of course, believes the motive behind the “raid” is entirely political — to undermine his chances of running for the White House in 2024.
There’s a lot more we don’t know right now, but Trump supporters are outraged by what happened.
The former president said he had been cooperating with relevant government agencies, why did he get a search warrant into Mar-a-Lago? This is an open question. To be sure, this is a major action by the Department of Justice.