Former President Donald Trump did not know that the FBI had raided his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida on Monday morning, till his son Eric Trump called him up to tell him that Federal agents were searching the place. Eric Trump made the revelations to Fox News host Sean Hannity on the show hours after the raid.
Trump told Hannity that he was "the guy that got the call this morning." "I called my father and let him know that it happened," Trump said. "So I was involved in this all day." Donald Trump said on Monday that his Florida property was "under siege, raided, and occupied by a large group of FBI agents," which reportedly was raised as part of an inquiry into whether he took sensitive information with him when he left the White House.
First-Hand Report
News of the raid spread like wildfire on Monday morning, prompting thousands of Trump supporters to gather outside his Mar-a-Lago home within hours to show their support for the ex-Commander in Chief.
On Monday evening, Trump released a statement confirming the raid, which was apparently conducted as part of an inquiry into whether the former president took secret information with him when he departed the White House.
Speculation was rife if Donald Trump knew about the raid. However, hours later, Eric Trump cleared the air claiming that he was the first one who got to know about the FBI raid and called up his father to share the information.
Eric Trump, while speaking to Hannity, also said that his father's office was ransacked by the Federal agents but they found "nothing in the safe."
"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," Eric Trump added.
Eric Trump Furious
The Trumps are certainly shocked and fuming. Eric Trump tried to brand the raid as political vendetta from President Joe Biden's administration. He accused the Biden administration of orchestrating the raid. However, according to a Politico journalist, the White House denied having prior knowledge of the raid.
"Sean, this didn't come from the little local FBI field office in Palm Beach, Florida. You know who this came from. This came from one place and one building, and that is the White House in Washington, D.C.," Eric Trump said.
"They want to attack a guy who they view as his greatest threat, Biden's greatest threat," he added.
The National Archives alerted Congress in February that it was working with the Justice Department to determine whether former President Trump had transported secret materials to Florida after leaving office.
However, Eric Trump didn't appear concerned that the FBI would uncover anything relevant to the inquiry. When a skeptical Hannity asked what documents "could possibly rise to that level" of prompting an FBI raid of an ex-president's home, Eric Trump said the FBI might instead find personal correspondences between family members, "some nice headlines," and "maybe a nice note from you, Sean."
On the other White House was unaware of the raid. According to the New York Times, senior White House staff members learned about it via Twitter.
Meanwhile, rowdy groups showed up outside the Florida club which Trump now calls home after leaving the White House. The supporters were dressed in Trump-themed attire and waving flags bearing messages of support for the twice-impeached former president.
Many of the supporters were carrying pro-Trump placards, some for his alleged 2024 campaign and even one for his previous campaign with Mike Pence's name scratched out. One of them was openly declaring their membership in the far-right Proud Boys.
Signs had slogans like: "Make Votes Count Again" or "Keep America Great" and "In Trump I Trust."
