Former US President Donald Trump says his home in Palm Beach, Florida, has been raided by FBI agents.
Donald Trump speaking to a rally in Wisconsin last week. Photo: AFP / Getty Images / Scott Olson
"After working and cooperating with the relevant government agencies, this unannounced raid on my home was not necessary or appropriate," Trump said in a statement.
Trump did not say why the raid on his Mar-A-Lago estate took place.
The estate "is currently under siege, raided, and occupied by a large group of FBI agents," he said. "They even broke into my safe," Trump said.
CNN reported that Trump was not at the estate at the time of the raid, and that the FBI had executed a search warrant to enter the premises.
Trump, who has made his club in Palm Beach his home since leaving the White House in January 2021, has generally spent summers at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, because Mar-a-Lago typically closes in May for the summer.
The US Justice Department has launched an early-stage investigation into Trump's removal of official presidential records to his Florida estate, a source familiar with the matter said in April.
The investigation comes after the US National Archives and Records Administration in February notified Congress that it had recovered about 15 boxes of White House documents from Trump's Florida home, some of which contained classified materials.
The US House of Representatives Oversight Committee at that time announced it was expanding an investigation into Trump's actions and asked the Archives to turn over additional information.
Trump previously confirmed that he had agreed to return certain records to the Archives, calling it "an ordinary and routine process."
The Justice Department declined to comment on the raid, which Trump in a statement said involved a "large group of FBI agents".
The FBI's field office in Miami did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
File image showing the back entrance to the Mar-a-Lago estate of former US President Donald Trump in Palm Beach, Florida. Photo: AFP
What legal woes does Trump face?
Here is a look at some of the probes and lawsuits that Trump faces.
Missing national records
The US National Archives and Records Administration in February notified Congress that it had recovered about 15 boxes of White House documents from Trump's Florida home, some of which contained classified materials.
The US House of Representatives Oversight Committee at that time said it was expanding an investigation into Trump's actions and asked the Archives to turn over additional information. Trump previously confirmed that he had agreed to return certain records to the Archives, calling it "an ordinary and routine process."
6 January attack on US Capitol
A congressional panel probing the 6 January, 2021, assault by Trump supporters on the US Capitol is working to build a case that he broke the law in trying to overturn his 2020 election defeat.
Vice chair Liz Cheney has said the committee could make multiple referrals to the Justice Department seeking criminal charges against Trump, who accuses the panel of conducting a sham investigation.
In a 2 March court filing, the committee detailed Trump's efforts to persuade then-Vice President Mike Pence to either reject slates of electors for Democrat Joe Biden, who won the election, or delay a congressional count of those votes. .
Trump's efforts likely violated a federal law making it illegal to "corruptly" obstruct any official proceeding, or attempt to do so, said David Carter, the California federal judge overseeing the case.
In the 2 March filing, the committee said it was likely that Trump and others conspired to defraud the United States. That law criminalizes any effort by two or more people to interfere with governmental functions "by deceit, craft or trickery."
In addition to Trump's efforts to pressure Pence, the committee cited his attempts to convince state election officials, the public and members of Congress that the 2020 election was stolen, even though several allies told him there was no evidence of fraud.
The committee cannot charge Trump with federal crimes. That decision must be made by the Justice Department, led by Attorney General Merrick Garland.
If the Justice Department brings charges, prosecutors' main challenge will be proving that Trump acted with corrupt intent, experts said.
Trump could defend himself by arguing he sincerely believed that he won the election and that his well-documented efforts to pressure Pence and state election officials were not meant to obstruct Congress or defraud the United States, but to protect the election's integrity.
Trump also could be charged with "seditious conspiracy," a rarely used statute that makes it illegal to overthrow the US government by force. To prove this, prosecutors would need to show Trump conspired with others to use force, said Barbara McQuade, a law professor at the University of Michigan and a former federal prosecutor.
Multiple participants in the 6 January assault on the Capitol have been charged with seditious conspiracy.
Wire fraud
Democrats said in a June hearing of the 6 January committee that Trump, a Republican, raised some $250 million from supporters to advance fraudulent claims in court that he won the election, but steered much of the money elsewhere.
This raises the possibility that he could be charged with wire fraud, which prohibits obtaining money on "false or fraudulent pretenses," legal experts said.
Georgia election tampering probe
A special grand jury was selected in May to consider evidence in a Georgia prosecutor's inquiry into Trump's alleged efforts to influence the state's 2020 election results.
The investigation focuses in part on a phone call Trump made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, on 2 January, 2021.
Trump asked Raffensperger to "find" the votes needed to overturn Trump's election loss, according to an audio recording obtained by the Washington Post.
Legal experts said Trump may have violated at least three Georgia criminal election laws: conspiracy to commit election fraud, criminal solicitation to commit election fraud, and intentional interference with performance of election duties.
Trump could argue he was engaging in free speech and did not intend to influence the election.
New York criminal probe
Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, has been investigating whether Trump's family real estate company misrepresented the values of its properties to get favorable bank loans and lower tax bills.
Two top lawyers who had been leading the investigation resigned in February, throwing the probe's future into question, but Bragg's office has said it is ongoing.
Trump has denied wrongdoing and said the probe is politically motivated. Bragg is a Democrat.
New York Attorney General civil probe
New York State Attorney General Letitia James is conducting a civil investigation examining whether the Trump Organization inflated real estate values. Trump and two of his adult children, Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump, agreed to testify in the probe starting on 15 July.
Trump has denied wrongdoing and called the investigation politically motivated. James is a Democrat.
E. Jean Carroll's defamation case
E. Jean Carroll, a former Elle magazine writer, sued Trump for defamation in 2019 after the then-president denied her allegation that he raped her in the 1990s in a New York City department store. He accused her of lying to drum up sales for a book.
The 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan is poised to rule on whether Carroll's lawsuit should be dismissed.
A lawyer for Trump has argued that he is protected by a federal law that makes government employees immune from defamation claims.
- Reuters