READ: Trump Says FBI Conducting Search Of Mar-a-lago Estate

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Last Updated: 7:42pm
Armed Secret Service agents stand outside an entrance to former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate, Monday, Aug. 8, 2022, in Palm Beach, Fla. Trump said in a lengthy statement that the FBI was conducting a search of his Mar-a-Lago estate and asserted that agents had broken open a safe. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI searched former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate as part of an investigation into whether he took classified records from the White House to his Florida residence, people familiar with the matter said Monday. Trump disclosed the action in a lengthy statement, asserting that agents had broken into his safe in a search he decried as evidence of “dark times for our nation.”

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The search, which the FBI and Justice Department did not immediately confirm, marks a dramatic escalation in law enforcement scrutiny of Trump and comes amid a separate but intensifying probe into efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Trump and his allies immediately sought to cast the search as part of a Democratic-driven effort to keep him from winning another term in 2024, even though the Biden White House said it had no prior knowledge of it and the current FBI director, Christopher Wray, was appointed by Trump five years ago and served as a high-ranking official in a Republican-led Justice Department.

“After working and cooperating with the relevant Government agencies, this unannounced raid on my home was not necessary or appropriate,” Trump said in his statement.

He added: “These are dark times for our Nation, as my beautiful home, Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, is currently under siege, raided, and occupied by a large group of FBI agents. Nothing like this has ever happened to a President of the United States before.”

Justice Department spokesperson Dena Iverson declined to comment on the search, including about whether Attorney General Merrick Garland had personally authorized the search.

Trump did not elaborate on the basis for the search, but the Justice Department has been investigating the potential mishandling of classified information after the National Archives and Records Administration said it had retrieved from Mar-a-Lago 15 boxes of records containing classified information earlier this year.

The National Archives referred the matter to the Justice Department. Trump has previously maintained that presidential records were turned over “in an ordinary and routine process.”

There are multiple federal laws governing the handling of classified records and sensitive government documents, including statutes that make it a crime to remove such material and retain it at an unauthorized location.

Two people familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation, said the search happened earlier Monday and confirmed that agents were also looking to see if Trump had additional presidential records or any classified documents at the estate.

Though a search warrant does not suggest that criminal charges are near or even expected, federal officials looking to obtain one must first demonstrate to a judge that they have probable cause that a crime occurred.

In his first public remarks since news of the search surfaced, Trump made no mention of it Monday evening during a tele-town hall on behalf of Leora Levy, the Connecticut Republican he has endorsed in Tuesday’s U.S. Senate primary to pick a general election opponent against Democratic U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal. Trump gave his public backing to Levy late last week, calling her on Monday the best pick “to replace Connecticut’s joke of a senator.”

But in a social media post Monday night, he was much more unguarded, calling the search a “weaponization of the Justice System, and attack by Radical Left Democrats who desperately don’t want me to run for President in 2024.”

During the 2016 presidential election, Trump sought to exploit an FBI investigation into his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, over whether she mishandled classified information through a private email server she used as Secretary of State. Then-FBI Director James Comey concluded that Clinton had sent and received classified information but the FBI did not recommend criminal charges because it determined that Clinton had not intended to break the law.

Trump lambasted that decision and then stepped up its criticism of the FBI as agents began investigating whether his campaign had colluded with Russia to tip the 2016 election. He fired Comey during that probe, and though he appointed Wray months later, he routinely criticized him too while he was still president.

The probe is hardly the only legal headache confronting Trump. A separate investigation related to efforts by Trump and his allies to undo the results of the 2020 presidential election — which led to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol — has also been intensifying in Washington.

And a district attorney in Fulton County, Georgia, is investigating whether Trump and his close associates sought to interfere in that state’s election, which was won by Democrat Joe Biden.


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Ari
Ari
1 year ago

This has potential to get ugly. Big q is will we see Trump loyalists begin attacking federal agents?

But Trump should really be mad at the guy who appointed Chris Wray as head of FBI. That guy sure has A LOT of blame on his shoulders.

Alen
Alen
1 year ago

Dems just don’t get it This type of behavior is making trump and his crowd like him even more!!!!!

Dominionoes
Dominionoes
1 year ago

Playing with fire . Millions aren’t going to put up with this . Very dangerous times coming.

Disgusted
Disgusted
1 year ago

Another Meuller style investigation going nowhere,
Another 32 million taxpayer dollars flushed down the toilet
Add that to the additional 1 billion taxpayer
Dollars Biden is flushing down the Ukrainian toilet
If these scoundrels are re-elected , we deserve everything they foist upon us .

Heshy
Heshy
1 year ago

Can’t wait to vote Republican down the line. And then elect our greatest president America has ever had. Donald Trump. We Orthodox Jews love you. Don’t give up. Hashem is with you.

Triumpinwhitehouse
Triumpinwhitehouse
1 year ago

Like north Korea, like kgb like stasi soros and the liberal democrats go after opponents no democracy in America after chuck fjcc schumer took over

Vote GOPQ
Vote GOPQ
1 year ago

FBI Director Wray is a Republican appointed by Trump. He has full support from Republicans during his confirmation hearings.

Every search warrant must be approved by a judge to establish that their is just cause. This warrant was approved.

A president or former president is not above the law.

think
think
1 year ago

Trump statement:
“Nothing like this has ever happened to a President of the United States before.”

yes yes, perhaps you should reflect on the fact that no PRESIDENT HAS EVER DONE WHAT YOU DID…

Phineas
Phineas
1 year ago

Trump doesn’t keep incriminating items and doesn’t overtly tell people how he wants them to break the law, only the result he wants.

I would be surprised if they found anything they can use against him.

anonymous
anonymous
1 year ago

A letter writer to one of the newspapers in N.Y. tried to say that Trump had leadership skills.
Here is a letter (paraphrased, to protect the innocent) that answers back:
Just what leadership skills are you touting as those we need from the former sociopathic president? The ability to find the most corrupt people in every agency and get them to do his bidding? The ability to convince those around him to lie about COVID-19, leading to the unnecessary deaths of more than half a million Americans?
The ability to convince gullible people that he won an election he lost in order to make them march to the U.S. Capitol, erect a gallows on the grounds, break into the building, defecate and urinate on the walls and floors, attack policemen with bear spray and spears and attempt to stop the certification of the newly elected president? The ability to surround himself with people who beg for pardons at the end of his presidency because they know they have committed a plethora of crimes?
Just what is it that the people who adore this man have been smoking for the past six years? I can understand how someone could be fooled into voting for him once, but anyone who wants him to be president again has got something wrong with them — unless they want to live in a dictatorship, in which case they should move to where his pals rule in Vladimir Putin’s Russia or Kim Jong Un’s North Korea (who, by the way, Trump “loves”).

Paul Near Philadelphia
Paul Near Philadelphia
1 year ago

I wonder what will come of this.

a yid
a yid
1 year ago

either this is his death….
…or its his tchiyas hamesim!!!

Libs are crack babies
Libs are crack babies
1 year ago

What happened to the once great FBI? They went down the toilet with the rest of the country.

Enough
Enough
1 year ago

Let’s see he’s accused of flushing documents down toilet colluding with the Russians not going anything about corona
Each has blown up in dem faces.

Anonymous
Anonymous
1 year ago

This is a typical mix of AP lies and propaganda.

(But the AP does deserve credit for finally, finally, not falsely labeling 1/6 an “insurrection”. Someone must have been asleep there…)

“The probe is hardly the only legal headache confronting Trump…investigation related to efforts by Trump and his allies to undo the results of the 2020 presidential election — which led to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol — has also been intensifying in Washington.”

Lots to unpack there. They were not attempting to “undo” the results of the election. There are no election “results” until the VP certifies the electors.

President Trump was therefore not attempting to undo any results. As well, what he did want, which was perfectly legitimate, was for the VP to have the improper electors sent back to their respective states. Those states would then choose new electors – for either (or any) candidate.

Finally, they are clearly and falsely implying that President Trump is at fault for the 1/6 riots. First, he had every right to demand that all electors be valid. So, even if that were the cause of whatever happened on 1/6, that’s not to be blamed on him.

More importantly, though, President Trump, in advance of 1/6, offered National Guard troops for 1/6, and the (D) women refused it. He also told the people at the rally to march peacefully. And the guards at the Capitol waved in those protesters, not fought them off.

So, this is all lies and propaganda.

amil zola
amil zola
1 year ago

He has the search warrant. He knows what they were looking for, it is specified in the warrant. They laws they believe he has violated are also specified in the warrant. This grifter is just trying to fleece more of his sheep. Why else would he have his PAC issue his statement.

A REAL YID
A REAL YID
1 year ago

Trump- the new Shabbatai Tzvi.
Follow him at your pleasure – and disaster for Yidden.

G5S
G5S
1 year ago

Don’t gloat Trump haters and RINOS. This here Nazi regime is coming after all of you.

lazerx
lazerx
1 year ago

Well if the FBI doesnt come up with something of importance, they will really be discredited along with the current government.

A REAL YID
A REAL YID
1 year ago

What took so long?

Sam
Sam
1 year ago

No more sitting out elections. Very important that everyone votes. If you’re not registered, register now. In November vote straight Republican down the line. This is the only way to save us from the Woke Supremacists. Save our country. Vote Republican.

Educated Archy
Educated Archy
1 year ago

If he had brains he wouldn’t keep anything there . Bury it all deep in the ground somewhere.

no lashon hara
no lashon hara
1 year ago

Trump’s statement sounds like it was taken straight from the Onion. Can’t make this stuff up.