Former US President Donald Trump announced on Monday August 8 that his famous Florida residence, Mar-a-Lago, had been “searched” by the Federal Police (FBI). “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”he said in a statement, claiming to be the victim of a “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!” », was indignant Donald Trump. The FBI has not yet confirmed this search. The Republican did not indicate the reasons for this police operation. It is linked, directly or indirectly, to several ongoing legal cases.
The way the billionaire managed his official documents when he was at the White House is at the heart of several investigations. The former president is accused of having deliberately neglected some of his files before their obligatory transmission to the American National Archives.
Presidency documents found at his home in February
This federal agency had asked the American justice to open an investigation into these facts, according to several American media. She had to recover, in the Mar-A-Lago residence 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 stormy exchanges with the American weather service, but also, according to the Washington Post, several marked documents ” top 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.
Another major case that could worry Donald Trump, a parliamentary committee is 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 the violence and chaos inside congressional headquarters, delaying certification of Joe Biden’s presidential victory. The Ministry of Justice 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 [son rôle dans] the events around January 6, in any attempt to interfere with the legal transfer of power from one administration to another”, he said. Donald Trump, still very popular among Republicans, is flirting more and more openly with the idea of running for president in 2024.
