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Donald Trump on Monday evening wryly joked about the FBI raid on his Mar-a-Lago estate, telling a rally: ‘Another day in paradise’.
The former president dialed in to a ‘tele-rally’ for Sarah Palin, as the former governor of Alaska and vice presidential candidate aims to claim the state’s only seat in the House at a special election on August 16.
Palin introduced Trump to her followers listening in, and said that they should all be grateful the 76-year-old was keeping his commitment to address them, despite the strains of the day.
‘Another day in paradise,’ Trump said. ‘This is a strange day.’
He then moved on to reminisce about a visit to Alaska.
Palin is hoping to claim the seat vacated by Rep. Don Young, who died in March after 49 years in the role.
Donald Trump was spotted leaving Trump Tower in New York on Monday night after announcing his Mar-a-Lago home had been raided by the FBI
Sarah Palin is pictured on Thursday at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Dallas. She is running for the House, representing Alaska
Trump and Palin are pictured together on July 9 in Anchorage at a ‘Save America’ rally
Hours before, Trump revealed that his Florida home had been raided.
He said Mar-a-Lago was ‘under siege, raided, and occupied by a large group of FBI agents.’
‘They even broke into my safe!’ he said.
‘The political persecution of President Donald J. Trump has been going on for years, with the now fully debunked Russia, Russia, Russia Scam, Impeachment Hoax #1, Impeachment Hoax #2, and so much more, it just never ends,’ he said in a statement.
‘It is political targeting at the highest level!
‘Hillary Clinton was allowed to delete and acid wash 33,000 E-mails AFTER they were subpoenaed by Congress.
‘Absolutely nothing has happened to hold her accountable. She even took antique furniture, and other items from the White House.
‘I stood up to America’s bureaucratic corruption, I restored power to the people, and truly delivered for our Country, like we have never seen before.
‘The establishment hated it.’
Donald Trump is pictured with Hillary Clinton during their first presidential debate, in September 2016. On Monday he accused the FBI of targeting him but giving her more lenient treatment
Hillary Clinton’s emails were stored on a private server, against government protocol, and in March 2015 the company that maintained the server deleted the archive mailbox.
In his lengthy statement, Trump said the raid was a sign of ‘dark times for our Nation’.
‘Nothing like this has ever happened to a President of the United States before,’ he said, noting that his lawyers had cooperated with those seeking return of presidential records removed from the White House when Trump moved out.
News of the transfer of the documents from the White House to Mar-a-Lago – which is against the law, stating that all presidential correspondence and documentation must be handed to the National Archives – first broke in February.
At the time, the National Archives said some had been returned.
On Monday, as news of the raid broke, CNN reported that investigators had visited Mar-a-Lago on June 8 and met with Trump’s lawyers to discuss the return of the documents.
It is unclear why they now decided to launch a raid to claim them, and Trump said he was angered by the turn of events.
‘After working and cooperating with the relevant Government agencies, this unannounced raid on my home was not necessary or appropriate,’ he said.
‘It is prosecutorial misconduct, the weaponization of the Justice System, and an attack by Radical Left Democrats who desperately don’t want me to run for President in 2024, especially based on recent polls, and who will likewise do anything to stop Republicans and Conservatives in the upcoming Midterm Elections.
‘Such an assault could only take place in broken, Third-World Countries.
‘Sadly, America has now become one of those Countries, corrupt at a level not seen before.’
He added: ‘What is the difference between this and Watergate, where operatives broke into the Democrat National Committee?’
His son Eric accused the current administration of wanting to ‘attack Biden’s greatest threat’.
Appearing on Sean Hannity’s Fox News show, he revealed he was the one who alerted his father to the raid, and said his father’s office was ransacked but that agents found ‘nothing in the safe.’
The raid was said to be court authorized and the FBI gave US Secret Service agents at Mar-a-Lago advance notice and they cooperated letting them into the property, NBC News reported.
Eric Trump, who was spotted at Trump Tower on Monday, said he was the one that got the call on the raid and told his father about it
While appearing on Hannity on Monday evening, Eric Trump raged against Democrats as he detailed his involvement in letting his father Donald know of the FBI raid
Eric Trump alleged that Monday’s raid of Mar-a-Lago was orchestrated by the Joe Biden-led White House, who he said see his father as their biggest threat
President Joe Biden’s White House had no heads up on the raid.
Senior White House officials found out about the FBI’s Mar a Lago raid on Twitter, the New York Times reported.
Eric Trump, who was spotted at Trump Tower on Monday, said he was the one that got the call on the raid and told his father about it.
‘I was the guy who got the call this morning and I called my father and let him know it happened, and I was involved all day,’ he told Hannity.
‘Welcome to politics in the 2020s.
‘To have 30 FBI agents – actually more than that – descend on Mar-a-Lago, give absolutely, you know, no notice, go through the gates, start ransacking an office, ransacking a closet – you know, they broke into a safe.
‘He didn’t even have anything in the safe. I mean, give me a break.’
He said the White House was behind the raid.
‘This didn’t come from a local FBI field office in Palm beach, Florida.
‘You know this came from? This came from one place and one building, and that is the White House in Washington, D.C. They want to attack a guy who they view as his greatest threat, Biden’s greatest threat.’
Donald Trump was also spotted leaving Trump Tower in New York on Monday night after announcing his home had been raided by the FBI, reportedly as part of an investigation into whether the former president took classified documents with him when he left the White House.
He waved and gave his signature thumbs’ up to the gathered, but didn’t comment on the investigation as he got into his SUV, surrounded by Secret Service agents.
Trump didn’t say specifically what the federal agents were looking for, just that his Florida home was ‘under siege, raided, and occupied by a large group of FBI agents’
He waved and gave his signature thumbs’ up to the gathered, but didn’t comment on the investigation as he got into his SUV, surrounded by Secret Service agents
But the investigation is focused on material that Trump brought with him to Mar-a-Lago after he left the White House, the New York Times reported, specifically if he has classified information in his private possession, which would be a violation of federal law.
Trump took 15 boxes of material with him in January 2021 after he left Washington D.C.
The boxes were returned to the National Archives a year later in January 2022 but agents on Monday were looking to see if Trump had additional presidential records or any classified documents at his South Florida estate, the AP reported.
The search focused on the area of the club where Trump’s offices and personal quarters are, CNN reported, noting Trump’s personal attorney Christinia Bobb was present during the search.
And, during a meeting at Mar-a-Lago earlier this year, Trump’s attorney showed federal investigators documents that were being kept on site, including some that were marked classified, the network noted.
Lara Trump told Fox News the former president liked keeping clippings and photos.
‘Look, my father-in-law, as anybody knows, who’s been around him a lot, loves to save things like newspaper clippings, magazine clippings, photographs, documents that he had every authority … to take from the White House.’
She called the raid an attempt to hurt him as ‘he’s going to announce any day that he’s running for president in 2024.’
The raid comes as Donald Trump is considering another bid for the presidency – and his actions after the 2020 election, where he tried to invalidate Biden’s victory, are under investigation by lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
It began Monday morning and took several hours.
It is highly unusual for a federal raid to take place at the residence of a former commander in chief.