Tuesday 9 August 2022 09:49 PM Palm Beach police expecting armed pro-Trump protesters to descend on Mar-a-Lago ... trends now

Palm Beach police have notified surrounding police departments, including the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office, that it received intelligence today informing them that armed pro-Trump protesters are expected near Mar-a-Lago following last night's FBI raid, a Florida law enforcement source has told DailyMail.com.

The Palm Beach police has notified surrounding departments in the county, requesting that all departments be on the lookout for armed motorists parking near Donald Trump's home in the coming hours.

Protesters often park in the parking lot of a Publix supermarket on Southern Boulevard in West Palm Beach and walk to the area of the property, where street parking is not allowed.

Dozens of furious Trump supporters began to descend on Mar-a-Lago last night shortly after he revealed the FBI had raided his  house as part of an investigation into whether he took classified records from the White House to the Florida residence. 

Trump, disclosing the search in a lengthy statement, claimed that agents had opened up a safe at his home and described their work as an 'unannounced raid' that he called 'prosecutorial misconduct.'

He accused the FBI of a double standard, claiming the bureau 'allowed' Hillary Clinton to 'acid wash' 33,000 emails from her time as secretary of state. 

Those in his camp said the raid was a clear attempt to thwart a potential 2024 presidential run. 

Trump has not formally announced any campaign, but speculation that he will run again is rife. It was compounded by his appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference Texas this weekend in Dallas.   

Last night, his supporters held pro-Trump signs, including ones for a presumptive 2024 campaign and even one for Trump's previous campaign, with former Vice President Mike Pence's name crossed out. One was publicly identifying as a member of the far-right Proud Boys.

The rowdy group arrived in a series of cars, donning Trump-themed clothing while waving Trump flags, amid a large police presence.  

The raid on Trump's home intensifies the months-long probe into how classified documents ended up in more than a dozen boxes located at Mar-a-Lago earlier this year. 

It occurs amid a separate grand jury investigation into efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and adds to the potential legal peril for Trump as he lays the groundwork for another run.

Familiar battle lines, forged during a four-year presidency shadowed by FBI and congressional investigations, quickly took shape again Monday night. 

Trump and his allies sought to cast the search as a weaponization of the criminal justice system and a Democratic-driven effort to keep him from winning another term in 2024 - even though the Biden White House said it had no prior knowledge of it, and the current FBI director, Christopher Wray, was appointed by Trump five years ago and served as a high-ranking official in a Republican-led Justice Department.

'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 wrote. 'Nothing like this has ever happened to a President of the United States before.'

'After working and cooperating with the relevant Government agencies, this unannounced raid on my home was not necessary or appropriate,' Trump said in his statement.

A group of Trump supporters descended on the former President's home shortly after the announcement. 

Many held pro-Trump signs, including ones for a presumptive 2024 campaign and even one for Trump's previous campaign, with former Vice President Mike Pence 's name crossed out. One was publicly identifying as a member of the far right Proud Boys.

Signs had slogans like: 'Make Votes Count Again' or 'Keep America Great' and 'In Trump I Trust.'

Some also held invectives against Joe Biden, with one wearing a t-shirt of the president's face saying 'Not my Dictator.'

One even stood by a reporter outside the estate with a sign that said 'Fake News is CNN'. At least one anti-Trump protester was spotted on the grounds with signs calling Trump names like 'punk' and 'p***y.'

Justice Department spokesperson Dena Iverson declined to comment on the search, including about whether Attorney General Merrick Garland had personally authorized it.

Trump did not elaborate on the basis for the search, but the Justice Department has been investigating the potential mishandling of classified information after the National Archives and Records Administration said it had retrieved from Mar-a-Lago 15 boxes of records containing classified information earlier this year. 

The National Archives said Trump should have turned over that material upon leaving office, and it asked the Justice Department to investigate.

There are multiple federal laws governing the handling of classified records and sensitive government documents, including statutes that make it a crime to remove such material and retain it at an unauthorized location. 

Though a search warrant does not suggest that criminal charges are near or even expected, federal officials looking to obtain one must first demonstrate to a judge that they have probable cause that a crime occurred.

Two people familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation, said the search happened earlier Monday and was related to the records probe. Agents were also looking to see if Trump had additional presidential records or any classified documents at the estate.

Trump has previously maintained that presidential records were turned over 'in an ordinary and routine process.'  

His son Eric Trump, who was also 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 Fox News host Sean 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.'

Asked how the documents ended up at Mar-a-Lago, Eric Trump said the boxes were among items that got moved out of the White House during 'six hours' on Inauguration Day, as the Bidens prepared to move into the building.

'My father always kept press clippings,' Eric Trump said. 

'He had boxes, when he moved out of the White House.'

He charged President Joe Biden's White House as the force 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,' Eric Trump said.

Biden's White House had no heads up on the matter. Senior White House officials found out about it via Twitter, The New York Times reported.