FBI seizes a dozen boxes from former president's mansion after Mar-a-lago raid

Trump will be questioned in New York in a civil investigation into his business dealings

Former President Donald Trump will be questioned on Wednesday at the New York attorney general's office, in charge of the civil investigation into his business practices and the real estate business of his family, the Trump Organisation, as confirmed by the tycoon in the Truth Social network. In his message, Trump describes the New York Attorney General's Office investigation as "the biggest Witch Hunt in the history of the United States".

"My great company and I are under attack from all sides," the former Republican president stressed. Trump's testimony comes two days after FBI agents searched his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida as part of an unrelated federal investigation into whether he took classified documents when he left the White House.

The New York investigation is being led by the state's attorney general, Letitia James, whom Trump describes as a "racist" in his publication.

James' enquiries seek to determine whether Trump's company inflated the value of its assets in order to obtain bank loans and in parallel reduced that same value with the intention of paying less tax. The investigation is civil, so in any case he would not be able to bring criminal charges against the Trump family.

A dozen boxes seized from former president's mansion

The FBI took approximately twelve boxes from the residence of former President Donald Trump in Florida, according to one of the Republican politician's lawyers confirmed to the US media. Christina Bobb, one of the lawyers representing the former Republican leader, said in media interviews that she was present at Mar-a-Lago when the raid was carried out. 

According to the lawyer, who gave more details about the search that has provoked strong reactions among US politicians, the FBI agents gave her a copy of the court order that authorised them to enter Trump's Florida residence. 

"The affidavit with the documentation detailing what was the probable cause with which they obtained the (search) warrant was sealed. We don't know what the probable cause is," Bobb told the news website Real America's Voice. The lawyer, however, added that FBI agents told her they were looking for documents containing classified information that should not have been removed from the White House. 

Neither the FBI nor the Justice Department has yet released a statement explaining the reason for the raid. While awaiting any details or official explanation, numerous Republican leaders, including the party leadership, lashed out on Tuesday against the Democrats' "abuse of power". And Joe Biden's party, for its part, recalled that if there has been a search it is because there is an order signed by a judge.

Meanwhile, the White House assured that the president, Joe Biden, was not informed of the search and found out about it through the media, and stressed that this investigation is "independent". On Tuesday, a day after the search, an appeals court authorised a committee of the US House of Representatives to access the former president's tax returns.

The Justice Department's decision comes a year after the US Supreme Court ordered Trump to turn over his tax returns to a prosecutor investigating his finances in New York.

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