(CNN) — The FBI executed a search warrant Monday at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, the former president confirmed to CNN. It is an operation related to an investigation into the handling of presidential documents, including classified documents, that may have been taken there, three people familiar with the situation told CNN.
Trump declined to say why the FBI agents were at Mar-a-Lago, but the former president said the raid was unannounced and “they even broke into my safe.”
“My beautiful home, Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, is currently besieged, raided, and occupied by a large group of FBI agents,” he said in a statement.
The raid began early Monday morning and police personnel appeared to be concentrated in the area of the club where Trump’s offices and personal quarters are located, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The Justice Department declined to comment, as did the White House. A White House official said he was not notified of the search.
CNN has reached out to the FBI for comment.
The Justice Department has two known active investigations related to the former president, one into the attempt to overturn the 2020 and January 6, 2021 presidential elections, and the other into the handling of classified documents.
The National Archives, tasked with collecting and classifying presidential material, previously said at least 15 boxes of White House records were recovered from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago complex, including some that were classified.
Three sources familiar with the trip confirmed to CNN that investigators have visited Mar-a-Lago in recent months to speak with Trump’s attorneys about material taken from his time in the White House. Trump was present at Mar-a-Lago when the visit occurred, according to the sources.
In April and May, the FBI interviewed Trump aides at Mar-a-Lago as part of the investigation into the handling of presidential records, according to a source familiar with the matter.
The FBI had to verify Monday that nothing was left, according to the person familiar with the investigation.
“It’s a federal crime to remove misclassified documents. So if you’re filling out that affidavit and you have to list the crime, you can list that as the crime,” said Elie Honig, a former federal and state prosecutor and CNN senior legal analyst.
Honig told CNN’s Erin Burnett on “OutFront” that the timing of the search was in keeping with the department’s longstanding rule of not executing politically sensitive moves within 90 days of an election.
“Today it’s only exactly 90 days until the midterms, I think maybe 91 or 92 days. That policy, that may be one reason why they did it today because they want to stay away from that if they interpret it as a rule of 90 days,” he said.
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George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism