‘Hoax’: Trump denies FBI searched Mar-a-Lago for top secret documents related to nuclear weapons

Former US President Donald Trump has declared the “nuclear weapons issue is a hoax”, rejecting reports the FBI was searching for classified material at his home.

Donald Trump. Picture: Mandel Ngan/AFP

Former US President Donald Trump has declared the “nuclear weapons issue is a hoax”, rejecting reports the FBI was searching for classified material at his home.

Mr Trump, who has backed calls for the release of the warrant used to search his Mar-a-Lago home, made the claim in the wake of a report in The Washington Post that suggested he had top secret documents hidden at his mansion.

“Nuclear weapons issue is a Hoax, just like Russia, Russia, Russia was a Hoax, two Impeachments were a Hoax, the Mueller investigation was a Hoax, and much more,” he said in a new statement.

“Same sleazy people involved. Why wouldn’t the FBI allow the inspection of areas at Mar-a-Lago with our lawyer’s, or others, present. Made them wait outside in the heat, wouldn’t let them get even close - said “ABSOLUTELY NOT.”

He also suggested the FBI law enforcement officers may have “planted” documents.

“Planting information anyone? Reminds me of a Christofer (sic) Steele Dossier!”

Mr Trump will have been provided with the warrant, so it is unclear why he has not released it himself.

He earlier urged the FBI to “release the documents now!”

Donald Trump. Picture: Mandel Ngan/AFP

US Attorney-General Merrick Garland asked a court to unseal the search warrant due to the “substantial public interest in this matter”.

In a statement released several hours later, Mr Trump said he would not stand in the way.

“Not only will I not oppose the release of documents related to the un-American, unwarranted, and unnecessary raid and break-in of my home in Palm Beach, Florida, Mar-a-Lago, I am going a step further by ENCOURAGING the immediate release of those documents,’’ said the former US president.

“This unprecedented political weaponization of law enforcement is inappropriate and highly unethical. The world is watching as our Country is being brought to a new low, not only on our border, crime, economy, energy, national security, and so much more but also with respect to our sacred elections!

“Release the documents now!”

The Washington Post reported today that the dramatic search reflected “deep concern among government officials about the types of information they thought could be located at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club”.

There was no confirmation that such documents were found or located in the FBI raid this week which is believed to have seized 10 to 15 boxes of material, in addition to the 15 boxes previously returned to the government by Mr Trump in January.

The law enforcement sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation, did not say whether it the classified documents in question involved information about nuclear weapons belonging to the United States or some other nation.

Speaking to reporters, Mr Garland revealed that he personally authorised the decision to seek court permission for a search warrant.

“The Justice Department does not take such a decision lightly. Where possible, it is standard practice to seek less intrusive means as an alternative to a search and to narrowly scope any search that is undertaken,” he said.

He now wants elements of the search warrant unsealed so the public can understand the reasons for the raid. Mr Garland noted that agents had tried to conduct the search without drawing significant public attention, but Mr Trump himself had made it public.

“The public’s clear and powerful interest in understanding what occurred under these circumstances weighs heavily in favour of unsealing,” the Justice Deparment’s motion to unseal the warrant says.

“That said, the former president should have an opportunity to respond to this motion and lodge objections, including with regards to any ‘legitimate privacy interests’ or the potential for other ‘injury’ if these materials are made public.”

Attorney-General Merrick Garland. Picture: Drew Angerer/Getty Images/AFP

The bombshell claim that the FBI was looking for documents relating to nuclear weapons comes as former Australian prime minister John Howard described Mr Trump’s behaviour in the wake of his 2020 election defeat, refusing to accept the outcome, as “appalling” and “atrocious”.

Writing in a new book A Sense of Balance, Mr Howard said Mr Trump was unfit for office.

“Trump’s atrocious behaviour after losing the 2020 election … has surely made him unfit to return to the White House,” Mr Howard writes.

“It was dumbfounding to me, and I am sure to many others, that the party should have chosen him as its candidate in 2016.”

Two dozen FBI agents and technicians arrived at Donald Trump’s Florida home to execute a search warrant on Monday in an investigation believed to involve provisions of the 1978 Presidential Records Act.

But one Justice Department official told The Washington Post that the type of top-secret information described by the people familiar with the probe could trigger grave harm to U.S. security.

“If that is true, it would suggest that material residing unlawfully at Mar-a-Lago may have been classified at the highest classification level,” said David Laufman, the former chief of the Justice Department’s counterintelligence section, which investigates leaks of classified information.

“If the FBI and the Department of Justice believed there were top secret materials still at Mar-a-Lago, that would lend itself to greater ‘hair-on-fire’ motivation to recover that material as quickly as possible.”

“This unannounced raid on my home was not necessary or appropriate,” former president Trump said in a statement.

“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.”

Local law enforcement officers outside Mar-a-Lago. Picture: Giorgio Viera/AFP

Earlier this week, Newsweek reported that the FBI search of Mr Trump’s residence was sparked by an “FBI confidential human source” in the Trump camp who knew which documents to look for and where they were located.

According to the Newsweek report, and a separate one in The Wall Street Journal, the search was “deliberately timed to occur when the former president was away”.

Mr Trump voluntarily handed over more than a dozen boxes of material earlier this year.

Those records reportedly included letters from North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un — correspondence Mr Trump had referred to as “love letters” — and other classified material, prompting the National Archives to consult with the Justice Department.

“I was really tough and so was he, and we went back and forth,” Mr Trump told a rally in 2018 of his relationship with the North Korean dictator.

“And then we fell in love, Okay? No, really, he wrote me beautiful letters, and they’re great letters. We fell in love.

“The ones I did best with were the tyrants. For whatever reason, I got along great with them.”

Supporters, including former Trump administration official Kash Patel, insist Mr Trump declassified the material he took to Mar-a-Lago.

“Trump declassified whole sets of materials in anticipation of leaving the government that he thought the American public should have the right to read themselves,” he said.

“The White House counsel failed to generate the paperwork to change the classification markings, but that doesn’t mean the information wasn’t declassified.”