Former President Donald J. Trump mentioned on Monday that the F.B.I. had searched his Palm Beach, Fla., house and had damaged open a protected — an account that, if correct, could be a dramatic escalation within the quite a lot of investigations into the previous president.
The seek, in step with two other folks aware of the investigation, gave the impression to be desirous about subject matter that Mr. Trump had introduced with him to Mar-a-Lago, his personal membership and place of dwelling, after he left the White House. Those packing containers contained many pages of categorized paperwork, in step with an individual aware of their contents.
Mr. Trump behind schedule returning 15 packing containers of subject matter asked by means of officers with the National Archives for lots of months, most effective doing so when there become a risk of motion being taken to retrieve them.
Mr. Trump used to be recognized all through his time period to tear up respectable subject matter that used to be supposed to be held for presidency archives.
“After working and cooperating with the relevant Government agencies, this unannounced raid on my home was not necessary or appropriate,” Mr. Trump mentioned, keeping up it used to be an effort to forestall him from operating for president in 2024. “Such an assault could only take place in broken, Third-World Countries.”
“They even broke into my safe!” he wrote. “What is the difference between this and Watergate, where operatives broke into the Democrat National Committee? Here, in reverse, Democrats broke into the home of the 45th President of the United States.”
Mr. Trump didn’t proportion any information about what the F.B.I. brokers mentioned they had been in search of. But he depicted himself as a sufferer of shadowy forces in the hunt for to wreck him.
The seek happened on Monday morning, an individual aware of it mentioned, even though Mr. Trump claimed brokers had been nonetheless there many hours later.
The seek used to be no less than partly for whether or not any information remained on the membership, the individual aware of the quest mentioned.
The reported seek got here at a time when the Justice Department has additionally been stepping up wondering of former Trump aides who have been witnesses to dialogue and making plans within the White House of Mr. Trump’s efforts to stay in administrative center after his loss within the 2020 election.
Mr. Trump has been the focal point of questions requested by means of federal prosecutors in reference to a scheme to ship “fake” electors to Congress for the certification of the Electoral College.
“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,” Mr. Trump mentioned within the remark. “Nothing like this has ever happened to a President of the United States before,” Mr. Trump mentioned.
