The former president confirmed that FBI agents were at Mar-a-Lago and said they “even broke into my safe.” He was at Trump Tower in New York when the search warrant was executed in Florida, a person familiar with the matter told CNN.
“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 said in a statement Monday evening.
The extraordinary move to search a former president’s home raises the stakes for the Justice Department and comes as Trump’s legal troubles continue on multiple fronts. Trump is also expected to announce in the coming months that he will launch another bid for the White House in 2024.
The search began early Monday morning and law enforcement personnel appeared to be focused on the area of the club where Trump’s offices and personal quarters are located, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The FBI’s search included examining where documents were kept, according to another person familiar with the investigation, and boxes of items were taken. After the National Archives retrieved Mar-a-Lago White House records in recent months, the FBI on Monday had to verify that nothing was left behind.
Christina Bobb, Trump’s lawyer, said the FBI seized documents. “President Trump and his legal team have cooperated with FBI and DOJ officials every step of the way. The FBI conducted an unannounced raid and seized paper,” Bobb said.
There was communication between the FBI and the U.S. Secret Service before the search warrant was executed Monday, a person familiar with the matter said, allowing the FBI access to the estate without no complications There is only a small Secret Service footprint at Mar-a-Lago when Trump is not there.
CNN has reached out to the FBI for comment. The Justice Department declined to comment to CNN.
A White House official said he had not been notified of the search. President Joe Biden, a senior administration official, said he was unaware of the Mar-a-Lago search until it was reported in the news.
Document research
The National Archives, which is responsible for collecting and sorting presidential material, has previously said at least 15 boxes of White House records were recovered from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, including some that were classified.
In early June, a handful of investigators made a rare visit to the property to seek more information about potentially classified material from the Trump White House era that had been brought to Florida. The four investigators, including Jay Bratt, the head of the Justice Department’s counterintelligence and export control division, met with two of Trump’s lawyers, Bobb and Evan Corcoran, according to a source present at the meeting.
At the start of the meeting, Trump stopped and greeted investigators near a dining hall. After he left, without answering any questions, investigators asked the lawyers if they could see where Trump kept the documents. The lawyers took the investigators to the basement room where the boxes of materials were stored, and the investigators looked around the room before leaving, the source said.
A second source said Trump came in to say hello and make small talk, but left while the lawyers spoke with investigators. The source said some of the documents shown to investigators were marked as top secret.
Five days later, on June 8, Trump’s lawyers received a letter from investigators asking them to further secure the room where the documents were stored. Helpers later added a padlock to the room.
In April and May, the FBI interviewed Trump aides at Mar-a-Lago as part of the investigation into the handling of presidential records, according to a source familiar with the matter.
“It’s a federal crime to remove classified documents improperly. And so if you fill out that affidavit and you have to list the crime, you can list it as a crime,” said Elie Honig, a former federal and state prosecutor and a CNN Senior Legal Analyst.
Honig told CNN’s Erin Burnett on “OutFront” that the timing of the search kept with the department’s longstanding rule of not executing politically sensitive moves within 90 days of an election.
“Today is exactly 90 days away from the mid-sessions, I think maybe 91 or 92 days out. That policy, that may be a reason why they did it today because they want to stay out if they interpret it as a rule of 90 days,” he said.
GOP members support Trump
Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said in a statement that Democrats “continually weaponize the bureaucracy against Republicans,” and several Republican lawmakers came to the former president’s defense on social media.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a Republican from California, wrote that he had “enough.”
“Attorney General (Merrick) Garland – save your documents and clear your calendar. I’ve seen enough. The Department of Justice has reached an intolerable state of weaponized politicization,” the Republican leader wrote. “When Republicans take back the House, we will conduct immediate oversight of this department, follow the facts, and leave no stone unturned.”
Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida said “we need answers NOW. The FBI needs to explain what they were doing today and why.”
But the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, which is investigating Trump’s handling of documents, called on the Justice Department to “fully investigate” the former president’s handling of information.
“Presidents have a solemn duty to protect the national security of the United States, and allegations that former President Trump put our security at risk through his mishandling of classified information warrant the utmost scrutiny,” said the Democratic Rep. Carolyn Maloney of New York.
“While the details of today’s actions at Mar-a-Lago are still emerging, it is clear that the Department of Justice must fully investigate President Trump’s potentially serious mishandling of classified information.”
This story has been updated with additional details.
CNN’s Dana Bash, Zachary Cohen, Jeremy Diamond, Shawna Mizelle and Megan Trimble contributed to this report.