After the raid on his property, Donald Trump tries to make political capital out of the matter. The ex-president claims that his successor in office, Biden, was informed about the FBI operation. The White House, on the other hand, emphasizes that the investigation is the sole responsibility of the Justice Department.
Former US President Donald Trump accuses his successor Joe Biden of knowing in advance about the search of his property in the US state of Florida. "Biden knew all about it, just like he knew about Hunter's 'deals'," Trump wrote Tuesday night (local time) on Truth Social, a network he co-founded.
Trump is again alluding to allegations against Joe Biden's son Hunter, with which he repeatedly stirred up the mood in the 2020 presidential election campaign. Trump had tried to link Biden to his son Hunter's alleged dubious dealings in Ukraine. In 2019, he also urged the Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelenskyj in a telephone call to start investigations against Biden and his son for corruption. A CIA whistleblower learned of the conversation, setting the ball rolling that led to the first impeachment trial against the then president.
The White House has already made it clear that it was not informed in advance about the search of Trump's property. "The President was not briefed and knew nothing about it. (...) No one in the White House was forewarned," said White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre. You have learned about the search and the public from reports. The Justice Department is independent and is conducting investigations accordingly. "It would not be appropriate for us to comment on ongoing investigations," Jean-Pierre said.
Trump, on the other hand, ranted: "A terrible thing that happened yesterday in Mar-a-Lago. We are no better than a third world country, a banana republic." He wrote of a "coordinated attack" against him. Supporters gathered in front of his property on Tuesday. Many of them carried placards and flags claiming, among other things, that Trump won the 2020 election.
The FBI searched Trump's Mar-a-Lago home on Monday. According to initial findings, the background to the action was the search for government documents. At the beginning of the year it became known that the national archives responsible for storing presidential correspondence suspected 15 boxes with confidential material, among other things, in Trump's private club. Trump then handed over several documents to the authority.
