FBI seize documents from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home

Federal investigators have seized documents from Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, according to two sources, the latest indication of a sharply intensifying criminal investigation by the US justice department into his affairs.

The FBI executed a search warrant at around 9am on Monday morning at Trump’s residence as part of an ongoing investigation examining the former president’s potentially unlawful removal and destruction of White House records after he left office last year.

The move by the justice department to search Mar-aLago over the removal of 15 boxes of presidential records from the White House, including classified documents, as well as the destruction of other materials, marks a dramatic escalation in the inquiry.

Trump has come under scrutiny for his flagrant violations of the Presidential Records Act of 1978 – mandating the preservation of White House documents – but the search for the first time indicates potential legal jeopardy for Trump over his records practices.