'Like the scene of a ‘Die Hard' movie': FBI raids Trump's Mar-a-Lago, breaks into safe
By Allie Griffin and Emily Smith - New York Post
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The FBI raided Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida and broke into a safe in his palatial home, the former president confirmed Monday.
Trump said in a message on his social media forum Truth Social that his home had been “raided, and occupied” and was “currently under siege.”
FBI agents were reportedly searching for classified documents that Trump allegedly brought with him from the White House to Mar-a-Lago after his presidency ended — which, if true, could be a violation of federal law.
The National Archives and Records Administration said it had found classified material in 15 boxes at the residence earlier this year and alerted the FBI. The agents executed a search warrant Monday to look for additional presidential records Trump may have relocated to his Florida estate.
“Nothing like this has ever happened to a President of the United States before,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“After working and cooperating with the relevant Government agencies, this unannounced raid on my home was not necessary or appropriate.”
The raid comes as the Justice Department is examining the actions of Trump in its criminal investigation of efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. That probe is separate from the department’s investigation into his handling of classified materials.
Federal law bars the removal of classified documents to unauthorized locations, though it is possible that Trump could try to argue that, as president, he was the ultimate declassification authority.
There are multiple statutes governing classified information — including a law punishable by up to five years in prison — that makes it a crime to remove such records and retain them at an unauthorized location.
Another statute makes it a crime to mishandle classified records either intentionally or in a grossly negligent manner.
Trump has also been accused of attempting to destroy presidential records.
The National Archives has said that some of the records it received back from the former president had been torn up, according to the Wall Street Journal.
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Photos published by Axios report to show torn White House documents in the bottom of a toilet though a spokesperson for Trump denied claims that he tried to flush the papers.
Trump called the raid a politically motivated move by Democrats who don’t want him to run again in 2024.
“It is prosecutorial misconduct, the weaponization of the Justice System, and an attack by Radical Left Democrats who desperately don’t want me to run for President in 2024,” he wrote.
Trump compared the FBI search to “an assault [that] could only take place in broken, Third-World Countries” and also to the Watergate scandal.
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The former Republican president said the “large group” of FBI agents even broke into his safe.
“The lawlessness, political persecution and Witch Hunt must be exposed and stopped.”
A source who was at Mar-a-Lago at the time of the FBI raid told The Post that it was “like the scene of a ‘Die Hard’ movie” as armored cars came screeching up to the Palm Beach resort Monday morning and “at least 100” FBI agents charged into Trump’s home.
“It was totally unexpected,” the source said. “The place was mostly closed today, so the only people there were close personal friends of Trump.
“The staff were absolutely terrified.”
The former president was at Trump Tower in New York at the time of the raid, Post sources said.
Justice Department spokesperson Dena Iverson declined to comment on the search, including about whether Attorney General Merrick Garland had personally authorized the search.
Despite Trump’s potential law-breaking, several GOP lawmakers have lined up behind him to denounce the Justice Department and FBI’s unannounced search.
“I’ve seen enough,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said in a statement. “The Department of Justice has reached an intolerable state of weaponized politicization.”
He threatened to conduct “immediate oversight” of the department and “leave no stone unturned” if Republicans take back the House.
“Attorney General Garland, preserve your documents and clear your calendar.”
Right-wing Rep. Lauren Boebert also attacked the FBI, saying the GOP must set up a Select Committee to investigate the “politically-motivated” raid.
“The #DepartmentOfInjustice has been weaponized against the American people,” she tweeted. “We’ve known this for awhile but they no longer are trying to hide it.”
Trump’s son Eric Trump slammed the abrupt search in an appearance on “Hannity.”
“To have 30 FBI agents, actually more than that, descend on Mar-a-Lago, give absolutely no notice, go through the gate, start ransacking an office, ransacking a closet — you know, they broke into a safe, he didn’t even have anything in the safe — I mean, give me a break,” Eric Trump said.
He said the raid was “more political persecution of Donald J. Trump.”
FBI Director Wray pushes back on threats following unprecedented raid on Trump: 'Deplorable and dangerous'
By Lawrence Richard | Fox News
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FBI Director Christopher Wray on Wednesday pushed back on social media threats made against him and other law enforcement officers, following his agency’s unprecedented search of former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.
On Monday, the FBI executed a "raid" on Trump’s Florida home and by that night, droves of social media posts criticized the incident and accused the bureau of being politicized in nature. Some messages also called for violence towards Wray, a massive uprising, and even a civil war.
"I’m always concerned about threats to law enforcement," Wray said Wednesday, condemning the posts. "Violence against law enforcement is not the answer, no matter who you’re upset with."
He called the threats "deplorable and dangerous."
The comments were made after a news conference at the agency’s field office in Omaha, Nebraska, where Wray provided comments about the FBI's focus on cybersecurity.
At the presser, Wray declined to comment further or answer any questions about why FBI agents spent hours on Monday searching Trump's Palm Beach, Florida resort. This was the first time in U.S. history that the FBI has conducted such a search at the residence of a former president.
Since Monday, scores of messages have been seen on Twitter, Gab, and TRUTH Social calling for violence across the country.
Authorities monitoring these posts spotted a significant increase in death threats aimed toward Attorney General Merrick Garland, Wray and FBI agents, sources told Fox News.
Both Garland and Wray travel with armed security.
A post on Gab said, "All it takes is one call. And millions will arm up and take back this country. It will be over in less than 2 weeks."
Another said, "Lets get this started! This unelected, illegitimate regime crossed the line with their GESTAPO raid! It is long past time the lib socialist filth were cleansed from American society!"
Trump and several top Republicans have demanded an answer from the FBI and the Justice Department on why the search was conducted and what property was seized.
"These are dark times for our Nation, as my beautiful home, Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, was raided, and occupied by a large group of FBI agents," Trump said Tuesday in an email sent by Trump’s Save America political action committee.
"The country deserves a thorough and immediate explanation of what led to the events of Monday," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Tuesday. "Attorney General Garland and the Department of Justice should already have provided answers to the American people and must do so immediately."
Republican Sen. Rand Paul said the "raid" could lead to Garland’s impeachment, should an investigation find he misused his office.
"Without question, I think the order to allow the raid on Mar-a-Lago on Trump's house has to be revealed. It's going to have to wait until November till there's a full investigation," Paul said on "Fox & Friends." "And I've never been a fan of overusing impeachment, but I think there has to be an investigation. And if it warrants it, there's going to have to be a look at whether or not the attorney general has misused his office for political purposes. Have they gone after a political opponent? I mean, this is beyond the pale."
"No one would have ever imagined before that we would be using or one political party would be using the FBI to attack their political opponents. Now, this is really something that's going to require an investigation. And I wouldn't be surprised if the investigation leads to abuse of power that this could even lead to an impeachment of the attorney general," he added.
The raid was part of an investigation into whether Trump took classified documents to Mar-a-lago, according to people familiar with the matter.
Fox News’ David Spunt and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Biden AG Merrick Garland Admits He Personally Approved Trump Search Warrant
By Ryan Saavedra - The Daily Wire
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President Joe Biden’s Attorney General, Merrick Garland, announced Thursday afternoon that he personally approved the FBI search warrant on the home of former President Donald Trump this week and that the Department has moved to unseal the search warrant.
Showing up more than 30 minutes late, Garland did not answer any questions and gave very little information.
The announcement comes after federal law enforcement officials raided Trump’s Florida residence at Mar-a-Lago Monday morning to retrieve documents related to the National Archives.
Newsweek reported that the FBI specifically targeted three rooms at the residence — a bedroom, an office, and a storage room — and that the information used to obtain the warrant “was based largely on information from an FBI confidential human source.”
The report said that the confidential informant told the bureau what documents were taken and where the documents were located.
The report said that federal officials waited until Trump was out of state to execute the search warrant at the property because they wanted to be as low-key as possible. Agents were reportedly at the property the entire day and were dressed in plain clothes, leading staff to believe that they were U.S. Secret Service agents, which is why news of the executed search warrant did not leak.
“What a spectacular backfire,” a DOJ official told the publication. “I know that there is much speculation out there that this is political persecution, but it is really the best and the worst of the bureaucracy in action. They wanted to punctuate the fact that this was a routine law enforcement action, stripped of any political overtones, and yet [they] got exactly the opposite.”
Another senior U.S. official told the publication that the FBI “created the very firestorm they sought to avoid” by “ignoring the fallout.”
