Former US President Donald Trump's Florida home has been raided by FBI agents.
Trump, who is the subject of several ongoing investigations by multiple law enforcement agencies, condemned the raid.
"These are dark times for our nation, as my beautiful home, Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, is currently under siege, raided and occupied by a large group of FBI agents," Trump said in a statement.
"Nothing like this has ever happened to a President of the United States before."
He didn't reveal why the agents were at his home but claimed the raid was "not necessary or appropriate".
Despite the raid being carried out by law officers executing a search warrant, Trump claimed it was somehow an attack by "Radical Left Democrats" who "desperately don't want me to run for President in 2024".
"Such an assault could only take place in broken, third world countries," he continued. "Sadly, America has now become one of those Countries, corrupt at a level not seen before.
"They even broke into my safe."
Trump went on to compare the raid to Watergate and claim he was being "persecuted".
The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal involving then US President Richard Nixon and eventually led to his resignation.
It stemmed from the Nixon administration's attempts to cover up its involvement in a break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Washington DC Watergate Office Building.
CNN reported that Trump was not at the estate at the time of the raid, and that the FBI had executed a search warrant to enter the premises.
Trump, who has made his club in Palm Beach his home since leaving the White House in January 2021, has generally spent summers at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, because Mar-a-Lago typically closes in May for the summer.
The US Justice Department has launched an early-stage investigation into Trump's removal of official presidential records to his Florida estate, a source familiar with the matter said in April.
The investigation comes after the US National Archives and Records Administration in February notified Congress that it had recovered about 15 boxes of White House documents from Trump's Florida home, some of which contained classified materials.
The US House of Representatives Oversight Committee at that time announced it was expanding an investigation into Trump's actions and asked the Archives to turn over additional information.
Trump previously confirmed that he had agreed to return certain records to the Archives, calling it "an ordinary and routine process."
Reuters / Newshub.
