The FBI raid on Donald Trump's home served to search for documents related to nuclear weapons, and therefore top secret and with implications for national security.

The Washington Post revelation shows the urgency of federal agents' intervention and widespread concern within the US government about the type of documents being stolen from Mar-a-Lago and the danger they could end up in the wrong hands.

US Attorney General Merrick Garland explained that he personally authorized the FBI raid on former US President Donald Trump's Florida resort after the failure of "less intrusive" attempts to retrieve documents stolen from the White House by Trump.

The intervention of the Chief Justice comes at a time of particular tension in the United States: Garland spoke on the same day that law enforcement officers shot and killed a man who had tried to enter the FBI office in Cincinnati. .

and in the midst of a flood of protests and threats from the more 'Trumpian' wing of the Republicans.  

James Devaney / GC Images

Trump August 10, 2022

The investigation centers on the fact that when Trump left the White House, he brought boxes containing documents with him.

The National Archives have been trying for months to recover the material, to acquire what by law should have been kept in the federal archives.

When archivists recovered 15 boxes this year, they uncovered several pages of classified material and reported the matter to the Justice Department.

Officials later became convinced that other classified material remained in Mar-a-Lago.

Months before the FBI entered Mar-a-Lago, Trump had received a subpoena that he would not follow up.

Minutes before Garland stepped onto the podium, a senior Justice Department official filed a motion to make public the search warrant and inventory of items recovered in the search.

The judge handling the case gave Trump 24 hours to oppose the motion.

Garland's public statement came at a time when a series of investigations into the former president are gaining momentum: Trump invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in a civilian investigation in New York on Wednesday, and this week Federal agents seized the phone from an ally of his in the House, in an investigation into Trump's efforts to stay in power despite his electoral defeat in 2020.

AP

Armed FBI agents outside the entrance to former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate

It is the first time in American history that the incumbent administration takes a court order against a former president.

Joe Biden, his entourage told him, was unaware of the Attorney General's initiative, but this did not appease the Republicans.

The sensational raid can lead to two possible developments: if the Washington Post rumors about nuclear-related documents prove to be true, Trump would be cornered and face heavy criminal consequences, as well as losing the support of a large part of Republicans who could not forgive him for putting national security at risk;

but if no particularly compromising papers were found, all the