The FBI has searched the Mar-a-Lago home of Donald Trump, the former president said in a statement.
“They even broke into my safe,” Trump said on Monday in a lengthy statement describing it as a “raid.”
It was not immediately clear why the agents were present at Mar-a-Lago, but he said it was “under siege, raided, and occupied by a large group of FBI agents.”
“After working and cooperating with the relevant Government agencies, this unannounced raid on my home was not necessary or appropriate,” he said.
The FBI and U.S. Attorney’s offices in Washington and for the Southern District of Florida did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The news of the FBI action comes amid an increasingly complex thicket of legal threats encircling Trump and his inner circle. Most prominent among them is the escalating investigation of efforts by Trump and his allies to disrupt the transition of power in 2020, in part by attempting to appoint fraudulent presidential electors that would create a pretense for blocking Joe Biden’s victory.
That investigation has become an increasingly public threat to Trump, with some of his top allies and former White House facing grand jury subpoenas and FBI searches. Earlier in the day, the Justice Department defended its decision to seize the cell phone of John Eastman, the attorney who helped devise Trump’s strategy to seize a second term he didn’t win.
Federal investigators are also pursuing evidence that Trump’s administration mishandled presidential records and even removed some boxes to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.
An executed search warrant would require the signoff of a federal judge, who would issue the warrant based upon evidence of a potential crime.
* Article from: Politico
