FBI raid on Donald Trump's luxury residence

FBI raid on Donald Trump's luxury residence

Of:

Emmanuel Silva

PUBLISHED: TODAY 01.02

UPDATED: TODAY 07.10

NEWS

The FBI has raided Donald Trump's luxury residence in the Mar-a-Lago resort.

The ex-president confirms this for CNN.

"My beautiful home, Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, is currently under siege," Trump said.

Former US President Donald Trump.

Former US President Donald Trump.

Photo: John Raoux/AP

During the night of Tuesday, former US President Donald Trump announced that the FBI has raided his luxury residence at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida.

This is confirmed by the former president of CNN.

Donald Trump states that the raid was unannounced and "neither necessary nor appropriate".

"My beautiful home, Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, is currently under siege, looted and occupied by a large group of FBI agents," Trump said in a statement.

"They even broke into my safe," he writes.

Linked to investigation

The raid began early Monday morning local time and continued until the evening. The FBI agents are said to have focused on Trump's office and his personal quarters.

The raid should be connected to an investigation into Trump's handling of official documents, three sources with access to information told CNN. The FBI has not confirmed that this would be the reason for the raid.

It must be at least 15 boxes of documents said to contain classified information. These boxes were reportedly taken from the White House to Mar-a-Lago in Florida when Trump was no longer president.

This is instead of taking the documents to the National Archives, the agency that collects and archives the president's documents. Something that would constitute a federal crime.

Police on site outside Mar O Lago in connection with the FBI crackdown on Donald Trump.

Police on site outside Mar O Lago in connection with the FBI crackdown on Donald Trump.

Photo: Terry Renna / AP

Wanted to verify nothing had been left behind

A source familiar with the investigation says the FBI wanted to find out where Trump kept documents at Mar-a-Lago. The source states that "boxes of items" must have been seized.

In recent months, the National Archives reportedly retrieved documents from the luxury residence in Florida. During Monday, the FBI must have had to verify that no documents had been left behind.

According to reports, investigators have visited Mar-a-Lago in recent months to speak with Trump's lawyers about documents from his time in the White House. Trump is said to have been present at these meetings.

Trump's lawyer confirms

Christina Bobb, Donald Trump's lawyer, confirms that the FBI has seized documents.

- President Trump and his legal team have been cooperative with FBI and Department of Justice officials, she says.

Trump was not in Florida at the time of the search. But he is in Trump Tower in Manhattan in New York City.

The Department of Justice declined to comment on the incident. The White House does not want to comment either.

The FBI conducted its raid on Donald Trump this morning.

The FBI conducted its raid on Donald Trump this morning.

Photo: Terry Renna / AP

Son: The kind of thing that happens in banana republics

Donald Trump writes in his statement that "Nothing like this has happened to an American president before".

He believes that the raid is an attack by "radical left-wing democrats" who do not want him to stand in the presidential election in two years.

"Such abuse could only happen in dysfunctional countries in the third world. Unfortunately, the United States has now become such a country, corrupt on a level not seen before," he states.

The ex-president's sons, Erik Trump and Donald Trump Jr. has also spoken out about the raid.

"This is what you see happening in third world banana republics!!", Trump Jr. writes on Twitter.

"We really live in a third world country," writes Eric Trump on the platform.