The FBI has searched Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate as part of an investigation into whether he took classified records from the White House to his Florida residence, sources have said. Disclosing the search in a lengthy statement, the former US president said that agents opened up a safe at his home and described their work as an "unannounced raid" that he likened to "prosecutorial misconduct".
The search intensifies the months-long probe into how classified documents ended up in more than a dozen boxes located at Mar-a-Lago earlier this year. A separate grand jury investigation is also taking place into efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and adds to the potential legal peril for Mr Trump as he lays the groundwork for another run.
Mr Trump and his allies sought to cast the search as a weaponisation of the criminal justice system and a Democratic-driven effort to keep him from winning another term in 2024 - even though the Biden White House said it had no prior knowledge of it. The current FBI director, Christopher Wray, was also appointed by Mr Trump five years ago and served as a high-ranking official in a Republican-led Justice Department.
