The FBI raid on Donald Trump's estate came after a previous search uncovered boxes of classified documents including letters from nuke-mad despot Kim Jong-Un and a cocktail napkin.
Feds stormed the former president's manor at Mar-a-Lago in Florida on Monday night, taking out 12 boxes of unspecified documents with them.
In January, the National Archives - which is reponsible for retrieving classified papers after the end of a presidency - said they had recovered 15 boxes Trump should have handed over after leaving the White House.
The discovery sparked a months-long legal tussle and Justice Department probe which climaxed on Monday with the agency's raid.
A list of the the unclassified documents recovered at the start of the year was around 100 pages long and included a cocktail napkin, dinner menu, phone list and schedules, according to a Washington Post source.
The Wall Street Journal reported that among the papers were letters from the North Korean tyrant, as well as correspondence from Trump's predecessor, President Barack Obama.
In 2020, a bombshell book by Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward revealed Trump and Kim had exchanged a number of letters, in which Kim heaped praise on the president, calling him "Your Excellency" and lauding their "special friendship".
The content of the classified information has not yet been revealed, but an inventory of the items was around three pages long, according to reports.
The National Archives case lasted for months and looked to ascertain whether the former president had kept the classified information, which is illegal, at his Mar-a-Lago estate after his presidency had ended.
The FBI visited his private club a number of times after the National Archives trove, and met with his lawyers about handing over certain sensitive documents, CNN reports.
Monday's raid came after the feds felt Trump was no longer co-operating with the probe, and retrieved around 12 boxes from a locked basement while he was at his home in Manhattan, sources said.
Trump previously confirmed he had agreed to return records, calling it "an ordinary and routine process".
In a statement on Monday, he said he has been "working and co-operating with the relevant government agencies" and described the raid as "unannounced" and "not necessary or appropriate".
He also said the Palm Beach resort was "under siege, raided, and occupied by a large group of FBI agents" in a lengthy statement published on his social media platform Truth Social.
Trump accused the agents of breaking into his safe.
The unprecedented search of a former president's home would mark a significant escalation into the investigation of the records, but the US Justice Department declined to comment on the search.
