Former President Donald Trump on Monday accused the FBI of “ransacking” his home and complained that federal agents did not take off their shoes while searching his room during their August search for classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago residence.
Trump announced on Sunday that he would fly back to Mar-a-Lago for the first time since the Justice Department recovered hundreds of classified documents and found dozens of empty folders marked classified last month. Trump has repeatedly claimed that the search was unwarranted even though a federal judge signed off on the search after being presented with evidence that a crime had occurred.
“I’ll soon be heading to the scene of the unwarranted, unjust, and illegal Raid and Break-In of my home in Florida, Mar-a-Lago,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “I’ll be able to see for myself the results of the unnecessary ransacking of rooms and other areas of the house. It has already been proven that so much has been wrongfully taken, it is not a ‘pretty thing.’ So sad! The 4th Amendment, and much more, has been totally violated, a grave invasion of privacy,” he added.
Trump returned to his Palm Beach resort on Sunday after spending most of the last five weeks at his properties in New Jersey, New York and Virginia.
“Arrived in Florida last night and had a long and detailed chance to check out the scene of yet another government ‘crime,’ the FBI’s Raid and Break-In of my home, Mar-a-Lago,” he wrote. “I guess they don’t think there is a Fourth Amendment anymore, and to them, there isn’t. In any event, after what they have done, the place will never be the same. It was ‘ransacked,’ and in far different condition than the way I left it. Many Agents – And they didn’t even take off their shoes in my bedroom. Nice!!!”
The search at Mar-a-Lago was executed after the DOJ learned that Trump’s team falsely certified that they had returned all classified documents taken to Mar-a-Lago earlier this year, including from inside sources. The Fourth Amendment protects Americans against unlawful search and seizure, not against searches executed in response to a lawful federal warrant.
