Former US President Donald Trump announced on Monday that his famous Florida residence, Mar-a-Lago, had been “searched” by the Federal Police (FBI). The Republican, directly or indirectly linked to several court cases, did not specify the reason. But, according to American media, the intervention is part of an investigation into the mismanagement of classified documents, which had been sent to Mar-a-Lago.
‘Our nation is living in dark days,’ Trump said
“Our nation is living in dark times, my beautiful home, Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, is under siege and has been raided and occupied by numerous FBI agents,” Donald Trump said in a statement, saying to himself. victim of “political persecution”.
“After working and cooperating with the relevant government agencies, this unannounced search of my home was neither necessary nor appropriate,” he said. “They even broke into my safe!” Indignant Donald Trump, who was not there, according to the New York Times.
Contacted by AFP, the FBI, which has not yet confirmed the search, declined to comment.
Donald Trump would have taken 15 boxes containing “secret defense” documents
In February, the National Archives said it had to recover in Florida fifteen boxes of documents that Donald Trump had taken with him when he left Washington in January 2021.
In these boxes, letters from Barack Obama and the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, a map of the United States which had been the subject of heated exchanges with the American weather service, but also, according to the washington postseveral documents marked “defense secret”.
The National Archives assure that the Republican had no right to leave with these boxes: under a 1978 law, any American president must transmit all of his e-mails, letters and other working documents. to this agency, responsible for keeping them.
This federal agency had asked the American justice to open an investigation into these facts, according to American media.
White House staff also regularly discovered sheaves of papers clogging toilets, and suspected the president of wanting to get rid of documents, according to a forthcoming book by a star journalist from the New York Times.
The announcement of the search did not fail to provoke indignation in the Republican ranks.
The leader of the Conservatives in the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, has denounced an “intolerable instrumentalization for political purposes” of the Ministry of Justice, promising an investigation into its functioning when the Republicans return to power.
What role should Donald Trump play in the assault on the Capitol?
A parliamentary committee is also seeking to shed light on the role the billionaire played in the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
That day, hundreds of his supporters had sown violence and chaos inside the headquarters of Congress, delaying certification of Joe Biden’s presidential victory.
The Justice Department is investigating the attack, but has not yet brought charges against the former president. At the end of July, the Minister of Justice Merrick Garland had not however ruled out this possibility.
“We intend to hold to account whoever is criminally responsible for (their role in) the events around January 6, in any attempt to interfere with the legal transfer of power from one administration to another. “, he said.
Finally, two investigations, one civil and the other criminal, are being conducted in New York on suspicion of financial fraud within the Trump Organization.
Donald Trump, still very popular among Republicans, is flirting more and more openly with the idea of running for president in 2024.