A “prosecutorial misconduct” act, according to the former US president, was being carried out at his Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago, he claimed on Monday.
A search of Trump‘s residence by federal officials has gone unannounced by the FBI and the former president has given no clue as to why the search was taking place.
There have been several reports in the US media citing people familiar with the inquiry that agents were conducting a court-authorized search at Mar-a-Lago because of concerns about the possible mishandling of secret information.
“My magnificent home, Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach is currently under siege, seized and occupied by a huge group of FBI agents,” Trump said on his Truth Social network.
Police cars may be seen parked outside of Mar-a-Lago in aerial imagery. Outside, Trump backers gathered as well, some holding banners bearing Trump’s name or American flags bearing Trump’s likeness.
It’s a case of prosecutorial misconduct, a weaponization of the Justice System, and an attack on me by Radical Left Democrats who urgently don’t want me to run for President in 2024,” Trump stated, according to the New York Times. Trump was not there during the raid.
“Only a country in the Third World in such disrepair could be the target of such an attack. Even my safe was breached,” he claimed. “Sadly, America has now become one of those countries.””
Senior Republicans have also used to social media to express their displeasure with the raid and to accuse the Justice Department of going too far in its pursuit..
As recently as February, the National Archives announced that it had retrieved 15 boxes of records from Trump’s Florida resort, including highly classified writings that he had brought to the White House after losing the election.
They were supposed to be turned over after the end of Trump’s administration, but instead wound up at his Mar-a-Lago property, which is owned by Trump’s son-in-law.
Presidents have been required to keep official records since the Watergate incident of the 1970s, and Trump’s retrieval of the boxes has raised doubts about his compliance with these rules, which were passed in the wake of that scandal.
The Archives had already asked the Justice Department to investigate Trump’s conduct.
A upcoming book by New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman claims that White House personnel noticed paper wads clogging toilets on a regular basis, prompting them to suspect Trump was trying to get rid of particular documents.
As of January 20 of this year, Trump has remained the most controversial figure in American politics, maintaining his extraordinary attempt to spread claims that he won the 2020 election.
Hearings in Congress on the January 6 takeover of the Capitol by a crowd of Trump supporters and their attempts to invalidate the election have held Washington spellbound for weeks.
The January 6 attack is also being investigated by the US Department of Justice.
In spite of Attorney General Merrick Garland’s refusal to comment on the growing speculation that President Trump may face criminal charges, he has insisted that “no person is above the law” and that he intends to “hold accountable every person who is criminally responsible for trying to overturn a legitimate election.”
In addition, Trump is being investigated in Georgia for his efforts to manipulate the 2020 election results, while his business operations in New York are being probed in two separate civil and criminal lawsuits.
While the real estate tycoon hasn’t made a formal announcement, he’s been making strong indications that he may run for president in 2024.
Trump appears certain that he can ride the Republican wave to the White House in 2024, despite President Joe Biden’s favor rating being below 40% and Democrats losing control of Congress in November’s midterm elections.