Tuesday 9 August 2022 06:13 AM 'Hillary was allowed to delete and acid wash 33,000 emails': Trump tears into ... trends now
Donald Trump has accused the FBI of double standards after they raided his Mar-a-Lago estate to obtain presidential records - but 'allowed Hillary Clinton to delete and acid wash 33,000 E-mails'.
The former president reacted with fury to news that his Mar-a-Lago estate was searched by the FBI, while he was in New York City.
Trump, 76, said his Florida home was 'under siege, raided, and occupied by a large group of FBI agents.'
'They even broke into my safe!' he said.
'The political persecution of President Donald J. Trump has been going on for years, with the now fully debunked Russia, Russia, Russia Scam, Impeachment Hoax #1, Impeachment Hoax #2, and so much more, it just never ends,' he said in a statement.
'It is political targeting at the highest level!
'Hillary Clinton was allowed to delete and acid wash 33,000 E-mails AFTER they were subpoenaed by Congress.
'Absolutely nothing has happened to hold her accountable. She even took antique furniture, and other items from the White House.
'I stood up to America's bureaucratic corruption, I restored power to the people, and truly delivered for our Country, like we have never seen before.
'The establishment hated it.'
Donald Trump was spotted leaving Trump Tower in New York on Monday night after announcing his Mar-a-Lago home had been raided by the FBI
Donald Trump is pictured with Hillary Clinton during their first presidential debate, in September 2016. On Monday he accused the FBI of targeting him but giving her more lenient treatment
Hillary Clinton's emails were stored on a private server, against government protocol, and in March 2015 the company that maintained the server deleted the archive mailbox.
In his lengthy statement, Trump said the raid was a sign of 'dark times for our Nation'.
'Nothing like this has ever happened to a President of the United States before,' he said, noting that his lawyers had cooperated with those seeking return of presidential records removed from the White House when Trump moved out.
News of the transfer of the documents from the White House to Mar-a-Lago - which is against the law, stating that all presidential correspondence and documentation must be handed to the National Archives - first broke in February.
At the time, the National Archives said some had been returned.
On Monday, as news of the raid broke, CNN reported that investigators had visited Mar-a-Lago on June 8 and met with Trump's lawyers to discuss the return of the documents.
It is unclear why they now decided to launch a raid to claim them, and Trump said he was angered by the turn of events.
'After working and cooperating with the relevant Government agencies, this unannounced raid on my home was not necessary or appropriate,' he said.
'It is prosecutorial misconduct, the weaponization of the Justice System, and an attack by Radical Left Democrats who desperately don’t want me to run for President in 2024, especially based on recent polls, and who will likewise do anything to stop Republicans and Conservatives in the upcoming Midterm Elections.
'Such an assault could only take place in broken, Third-World Countries.
'Sadly, America has now become one of those Countries, corrupt at a level not seen before.'
He added: 'What is the difference between this and Watergate, where operatives broke into the Democrat National Committee?'
His son Eric accused the current administration of wanting to 'attack Biden's greatest threat'.
Appearing on Sean Hannity's Fox News show, he revealed he was the one who alerted his father to the raid, and said his father's office was ransacked but that agents found 'nothing in the safe.'
The raid was said to be court authorized and the FBI gave US Secret Service agents at Mar-a-Lago advance notice and they cooperated letting them into the property, NBC News reported.
Eric Trump, who was spotted at Trump Tower on Monday, said he was the one that got the call on the raid and told his father about it
While appearing on Hannity on Monday evening, Eric Trump raged against Democrats as he detailed his involvement in letting his father Donald know of the FBI raid
Eric Trump alleged that Monday's raid of Mar-a-Lago was orchestrated by the Joe Biden-led White House, who he said see his father as their biggest threat
President Joe Biden's White House had no heads up on the raid.
Senior White House officials found out about the FBI's Mar a Lago raid on Twitter, the New York Times reported.
Eric Trump, who was spotted at Trump Tower on Monday, said he was the one that got the call on the raid and told his father about it.
'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.'
He said the White House was behind the raid.
'This didn't come from a local FBI field office in Palm beach, Florida.
'You know this came from? This came from one place and one building, and that is the White House in Washington, D.C. They want to attack a guy who they view as his greatest threat, Biden's greatest threat.'
Donald Trump was also spotted leaving Trump Tower in New York on Monday night after announcing his home had been raided by the FBI, reportedly as part of an investigation into whether the former president took classified documents with him when he left the White House.
He waved and gave his signature thumbs' up to the gathered, but didn't comment on the investigation as he got into his SUV, surrounded by Secret Service agents.
Trump didn't say specifically what the federal agents were looking for, just that his Florida home was 'under siege, raided, and occupied by a large group of FBI agents'