Array
Former President Donald Trump said Monday evening that law enforcement agents have raided his home at Mar-a-Lago in South Florida in a search related to the documents he removed from the White House last year, according to two people familiar with the investigation.
Trump did not say why the agents appeared to be at his Florida property but, in an emailed statement, added that “this unannounced raid on my home was not necessary or appropriate.”
Trump is under investigation by the Justice Department for removing presidential records from the White House and storing them at Mar-a-Lago for up to a year, a potentially serious violation of the law if the records were classified. Trump has denounced that investigation, saying he was entitled to take the records.
Capitol attack: Pressure campaigns, predictable violence: What we learned from all eight Jan. 6 hearings
Trump allies: Georgia election investigation heats up. Giuliani, Eastman facing dates with grand jury
Trump also claimed that agents searched his safe, but did not elaborate. “They even broke into my safe,” he said in his statement.
Trump and many of his associates are also under scrutiny by the FBI, the Justice Department, the Internal Revenue Service and other federal and state agencies for alleged wrongdoing during his four-year administration and related to his various business entities.
Federal law enforcement officials had no immediate comment on whether agents were at Mar-a-Lago and if so, for what reason. Traditionally, any search would need to be authorized by a judge after finding evidence of probable cause that a crime had been committed – but there are many other circumstances in which agents might be on the property.
The Justice Department declined to comment Monday.’Stunning … and unprecedented’
The idea that the FBI or any other law enforcement agency is raiding a former president’s house is stunning, period, – and unprecedented. Even for Trump,” said Matthew Dallek, a longtime presidential historian who has written extensively on modern-era politics and presidents.
“If the FBI or any other federal agencies are raiding the former president’s home, I would presume it is for a very active criminal investigation, or investigations,” Dallek told USA TODAY. “The FBI raids homes typically for hardened criminals and mobsters. It is an iconic image dating back decades. If a former President’s home is surrounded by FBI or other federal agents, that is certainly an even more iconic image.
