US media outlets outlets have cited sources saying a court-authorised search was being conducted related to potential mishandling of classified documents. Source: Wikimedia Commons.
Former US president Donald Trump said his Mar-a-Lago residence has been raided by FBI agents, calling it “prosecutorial misconduct”.
“After working and cooperating with the relevant Government agencies, this unannounced raid on my home was not necessary or appropriate,” the former president said in a statement.
“It is prosecutorial misconduct, the weaponisation of the Justice System, and an attack by Radical Left Democrats who desperately don’t want me to run for President in 2024, especially based on recent polls, and who will likewise do anything to stop Republicans and Conservatives in the upcoming Midterm elections.”
Neither the FBI or the US Department of Justice have confirmed or commented on it and there has been no specific reason given for the search by the federal agents.
However, media outlets have cited sources saying a court-authorised search was being conducted related to potential mishandling of classified documents.
Eric Trump has also said the search warrant concerned the National Archives and material taken from the White House.
Mar-a-Lago has been previously described as the “winter White House”, with the former president spending significant amounts of time at the Florida complex.
According to a tally by the Washington Post, he was reportedly there for all or part of 142 days of his presidency over 32 visits.
The National Archives said in February it had recovered 15 boxes of documents from Trump’s Florida estate.
This reportedly included highly classified texts that were taken when he left Washington after his re-election defeat.
There is also the separate investigation into efforts to undo the results of the 2020 presidential election and the January 6 riot at the US Capitol.
Attorney General Merrick Garland has refused to comment on the speculation Trump could face criminal charges but has said no person is above the law and he will “hold accountable every person who is criminally responsible for trying to overturn a legitimate election.”
