published9. August 2022, 01:14
FloridaFBI raids Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate
The US federal police have gained access to former President Donald Trump’s private club. This one seethes with anger.
Visit of the Federal Police: The ousted US President Donald Trump. (archive image)
REUTERS/Octavio Jones
The New York Times reported that the search might be related to documents Trump took from the White House to Mar-a-Lago following the end of his presidency.
Getty Images via AFP/Eva Marie Uzcategui
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The FBI searched the home of former US President Donald Trump.
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“They even broke my safe,” Trump wrote on the online platform he founded, Truth Social.
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The federal police gave no reasons for the search.
According to former US President Donald Trump, the federal police FBI searched his property in Mar-a-Lago in the US state of Florida. “My beautiful home, Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, is currently under siege, search and occupation by a large group of FBI agents,” Trump wrote Monday night on Truth Social, a network he co-founded. According to media reports, the process is related to Trump’s handling of files and documents from his time in the White House. Searching the property of a former president is highly unusual.
“This unannounced raid on my home was neither necessary nor appropriate,” Trump continued. “Even” his safe was opened. Trump called the process “political persecution” and an attack by the “radical left Democrats”. He compared the search to the Watergate scandal that forced then US President Richard Nixon to resign in 1974. Media reported that the FBI had completed the search Monday evening. Trump is said not to have been at home during the campaign.
Heavy charge due to Capitol attack
The ex-president was recently heavily incriminated by witnesses at the public hearings of the investigative committee on the Capitol attack. Accordingly, Trump knew that the demonstrators were armed on January 6, 2021 and deliberately sent them to the Capitol. Recently, there had been increasing evidence that the Justice Department was investigating Trump’s own behavior around the 2020 presidential election and the storming of the Capitol. The question is whether Attorney General Merrick Garland might take criminal action once morest Trump.
However, the search of Trump’s home appears to be linked to something else. Trump was accused of withholding files and documents from his time in the White House. The New York Times journalist Maggie Haberman even reported that Trump flushed documents down the toilet during his presidency. Trump rejected that. On Monday, photos finally appeared to prove this.
Documents taken to Florida?
There was anger mainly because Trump is said to have taken documents to Mar-a-Lago that allegedly contained classified information on national security. In addition, in the USA all correspondence of the President is actually archived and kept for posterity. This is required by law. Trump, however, is said to have brought 15 boxes full of government documents, memorabilia, gifts and letters from the White House to his home in Florida following his term in office. According to the media, these included letters from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and a letter from Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama.
Trump finally handed over several documents to the National Administration for Archives and Records and confirmed this himself at the time. However, the judiciary is said to have launched an investigation. A search of an ex-president’s property requires approval from the highest level of the Justice Department. Justice Department officials declined to comment on any aspect of the search warrant, the New York Times wrote.
Will Trump run once more?
Trump attended a scheduled event Monday night with ultra-conservative former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin over the phone. She wants to be elected as a member of the US House of Representatives in the congressional elections in the fall. According to the newspaper, “Another day in paradise” and “That was a strange day” was all Trump said regarding the events. Leading Republican Kevin McCarthy said he would launch an investigation into the Justice Department if Republicans win a majority in the House of Representatives in the fall congressional elections.
Trump had recently flirted with running once more in the 2024 presidential election. However, he has not yet announced his candidacy. Observers had speculated that Trump might soon announce a candidacy because of the pressure from the Capitol Committee investigations. The candidacy would be a way to dismiss investigations once morest him as politically motivated. In his statement, he now complained that the Democrats wanted to prevent him from running once more in 2024.
(DPA/chk)