The FBI’s action is the latest headache for the former president, who is facing numerous federal and state investigations.īarbara McQuade, a former federal prosecutor who teaches law at the University of Michigan said she was not aware of any prior case where a warrant was executed at the home of a former president. The House committee investigating the January 6 riot also declined to comment. Trump seized on the event to cast himself as a political victim, saying he was being targeted to derail his potential candidacy through “the weaponization of the Justice System.” Trump complained that he was being mistreated by “Democrats who desperately don’t want me to run for president in 2024.”Ī White House official said it had no notice of the action and referred questions to the Justice Department, which declined to comment. DeSantis has been mentioned as a possible opponent should Trump follow through on teases to make another White House bid. Other Republicans, including Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, also publicly rallied around Trump and cast doubt on the merits of the raid. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican, tweeted at Attorney General Merrick Garland to “preserve your documents and clear your calendar,” saying that Republicans “will conduct immediate oversight” of the Justice Department should they take control of the House in November. The immediate reaction from the GOP displayed Trump’s hold on the party. The revelation will shed new light on Trump’s musings about another bid and on midterm elections, with Trump continuing to wield considerable influence over the Republican Party, which is poised to make gains in Congress. The location of the safe at Mar-a-Lago was a tightly held secret, according to several people familiar with the matter, who said that some of Trump’s closest aides were unaware of its existence. Trump turned those documents over only after facing possible legal action over their removal. The Archives in January retrieved 15 boxes of records from Mar-a-Lago. Monday’s search is related to a request from the National Archives and Records Administration to the Justice Department to look into the transfer of presidential documents to Mar-a-Lago, including classified materials.
Photographer: Giorgio Viera/AFP/Getty Images and was related to the potential mishandling of the records. The Justice Department declined to comment on Trump’s statement, but a person familiar with the search said it began in the morning, lasted until after 6 p.m. He did not indicate what they were seeking. “My beautiful home, Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, is currently under siege, raided, and occupied by a large group of FBI agents,” he said in a statement Monday. Trump was in New York City at the time of the search and accused the Federal Bureau of Investigation of raiding his property. Trump Search Was Unprecedented, But Records Case Will Be Tough 6 committee, and federal investigators, probe the actions of Trump’s inner circle related to the fatal riot at the Capitol. The search is a stunning development in the ongoing legal battles involving the former president as he teases another White House bid in 2024 and plays kingmaker in Republican primaries for November’s midterm elections. Donald Trump faces intensifying legal and political pressure after FBI agents searched his Florida home in a probe of whether he took classified documents from the White House when he left office, casting a shadow on his possible run for the presidency in 2024.