Former US President Donald Trump has said that his home in Florida has been "raided" by the FBI. "My beautiful home, Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, is currently under siege, raided, and occupied by a large group of FBI agents," Trump added on Monday in a statement released through his political action committee -- `Save America`.
The former President was not present at his home at the time of raids.
The FBI declined to comment on whether the search was happening or what it might be for, nor did Trump give any indication of why federal agents were at his home -- a situation that adds to the legal pressures on the ex-president.
Multiple US media outlets cited sources close to the investigation as saying that agents were conducting a court-authorized search related to the potential mishandling of classified documents that had been sent to Mar-a-Lago.
In a statement posted on his Truth Social network, Trump said his "beautiful home, Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, is currently under siege, raided, and occupied by a large group of FBI agents."
One person familiar with the search said it was related to Mr Trump’s handling of sensitive material from his time in the White House. Earlier this year, 15 boxes of classified documents, including some that were marked “top secret”, were passed to the National Archives by Mr Trump, who had kept them at his Florida home.
Mr Trump said the “unannounced raid was not necessary or appropriate” since he had been “working and co-operating” with relevant government authorities, although he did not specify on what subject. “They even broke into my safe!” Trump wrote.
The search by the FBI represents a remarkable step by US authorities to scrutinise the actions of a former president. Such a move would have to be authorised by a judge and most likely approved at the highest levels of the justice department, including attorney general Merrick Garland.
In February, Mr Garland had told reporters that the justice department was notified by the National Archives about the classified material at Mar-a- Lago, adding: “We will do what we always do under these circumstances: look at the facts and the law and take it from there.”
The former president's son, Eric Trump, defended his father's actions on Fox News by saying that he "always kept press clippings, newspaper articles, pictures, and notes from us" in addition to "boxes when he moved out of the White House" - but maintained a "open-door policy" when it came to allowing law enforcement to access them.
Trump has been under increasing scrutiny for his attempts to overturn the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, which he lost to Joe Biden, and the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, which occurred only days before the change of power.
The hunt is taking place as Mr. Trump considers running for president a second time in 2024. He still has a firm hold on the Republican Party's conservative base, making him the clear favourite in a contest for the party's candidacy.
Republicans have been looking for alternatives, such as former vice president Mike Pence or Florida governor Ron DeSantis, since they believe that Mr. Trump would be a bad choice in a general election given the instability of his four years in office and his denial of the results of the 2020 election.
"The 2024 Republican primary is completely up in the air after the FBI raided Trump's cherished Mar-a-Lago. The Trump period is finished, and now it's anyone's game, according to Republican donor Dan Eberhart, who was with Mr. Trump three months ago at Mar-a-Lago.
"We did not receive notice of the purported action," a White House representative said, "and would recommend you to the justice department for any further information." Instead of being in Florida at the time of the raid, Mr. Trump was in New York City.
The raid was sharply criticised by Republicans on Capitol Hill, who said it was more about political vengeance than law enforcement and vowed to fight back.
The search, according to Mr. DeSantis' tweet, revealed how federal agencies were being used to target "political opponents" and were transforming the US into a "Banana Republic."
Representatives would conduct "immediate oversight" of the justice department's actions if the Republican Party were to regain control of the lower house of Congress, according to Kevin McCarthy, the leader of the Republican Party in the House of Representatives. He claimed that the department had reached "an intolerable state of weaponized politicisation."
"Attorney General Garland, keep your records and clear the calendar," he said in a statement.
But the Democrats pushed back. 'Elected officials like me are not above the law. Neither is Trump,” Ted Lieu, a House Democrat from California, tweeted. "Why would you exempt anyone from an authorized search warrant?"
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