Former President Donald Trump said Monday night that the FBI had “raided” his home in Mar-a-Lago, claiming they even “broke into [his] safe.”
The raid appears to be related to boxes of materials Trump brought back with him to his resort in Florida after leaving office, sources confirmed to the New York Times and CNN. The National Archives said presidential records in 15 boxes obtained from Mar-a-Lago earlier this year included materials marked as classified national security information. The agency also noted that the Justice Department had been notified.
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“These are dark times for our Nation, as my beautiful home, Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, is currently under siege, raided, and occupied by a large group of FBI agents,” Trump said in a statement Monday evening. “Nothing like this has ever happened to a President of the United States before. After working and cooperating with the relevant Government agencies, this unannounced raid on my home was not necessary or appropriate. It is prosecutorial misconduct, the weaponization of the Justice System, and an attack by Radical Left Democrats who desperately don’t want me to run for President in 2024.”
Trump added: “The political persecution of President Donald J. Trump has been going on for years, with the now fully debunked Russia, Russia, Russia Scam, Impeachment Hoax #1, Impeachment Hoax #2, and so much more, it just never ends. It is political targeting at the highest level!”
The Justice Department and the FBI declined to comment. The FBI notified Secret Service that a warrant would be executed, and Secret Service agents facilitated access to the resort but did not take part in the search itself, per NBC News. A senior White House official told CBS News the president’s team had no prior notice of the raid, with some West Wing staff learning of it on social media.
Trump has recently been in Bedminster, New Jersey, and was at Trump Tower in New York City when the raid took place, a source told CNN.
Presidential records improperly kept at Trump’s resort were collected by the National Archives in January after the agency had identified records from the Trump White House that were not in its possession.
The boxes reportedly contained correspondence with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, a letter left by outgoing President Barack Obama for Trump, and other mementos and letters from world leaders, according to the Washington Post. Trump advisers denied at the time that the records were kept for nefarious reasons.
“The National Archives did not ‘find’ anything, they were given, upon request, Presidential Records in an ordinary and routine process to ensure the preservation of my legacy and in accordance with the Presidential Records Act. If this was anyone but ‘Trump,’ there would be no story here. Instead, the Democrats are in search of their next Scam,” Trump said in a statement at the time released by his Save America PAC.
David Ferriero, the archivist of the United States, told Congress in a letter in February that the agency had asked representatives of Trump to continue searching for other presidential documents.
The Presidential Records Act of 1978 requires presidential administrations to preserve certain documents. There are no clear penalties for presidents that violate the law, though different laws govern how classified information must be handled.
Trump is facing multiple investigations, including a sprawling Capitol riot inquiry in which the Justice Department is reportedly beefing up its team investigating Jan. 6.
Attorney General Merrick Garland has called the Capitol riot investigation “the most wide-ranging investigation and the most important investigation” the Justice Department has ever conducted. Trump has denied wrongdoing.
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The Justice Department said last week that more than 850 defendants had been arrested in relation to the Capitol riot, including over 260 charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement. Members of the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers have been hit with seditious conspiracy charges and have pleaded not guilty.
The search of Trump’s Florida residence takes place just months ahead of the midterm elections. Trump has endorsed a slew of candidates that will be on the ballot in November and is himself flirting with a presidential bid in 2024.