Former President Donald J. Trump said on Monday that the FBI had searched his Palm Beach, Fla., home and had broken open a safe
Palm Beach, August 9 (RHC)-- Former U.S. President Donald J. Trump said on Monday that the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the FBI, had searched his Palm Beach home and had broken open a safe.
The search, according to two people familiar with the investigation, appeared to be focused on material that Trump had brought with him to Mar-a-Lago, his private club and residence, after he left the White House. Those boxes contained many pages of classified documents, according to a person familiar with their contents.
Donald Trump delayed returning 15 boxes of material requested by officials with the National Archives for many months, only doing so when there became a threat of action being taken to retrieve them.
Trump was known throughout his term at the White House to rip up official material that was intended to be held for government archives.
“After working and cooperating with the relevant Government agencies, this unannounced raid on my home was not necessary or appropriate,” Trump said, maintaining it was an effort to stop him from running for president in 2024. “Such an assault could only take place in broken, Third-World Countries.”
“They even broke into my safe!” he wrote. “What is the difference between this and Watergate, where operatives broke into the Democrat National Committee? Here, in reverse, Democrats broke into the home of the 45th President of the United States.”
The search took place on Monday morning, when Trump was at one of his properties in New York City. The search was at least in part for whether any records remained at the club in Florida, the person familiar with the search told news media.
The extraordinary move to search the home of a former president raises the stakes for the Justice Department and comes as Trump's legal problems continue on multiple fronts. Trump is also expected in the coming months to announce he will launch another bid for the White House in 2024.
