The FBI’s unprecedented search of former President Donald Trump’s Florida residence on Monday stunned America and ignited fury among conservative voters and activists.

On Wednesday, details finally began to emerge from the dramatic escalation that happened when 40 plain-clothed FBI agents and three Department of Justice lawyers entered the Mar-a-Lago estate.

According to The New York Post, the warrant was signed by a Florida federal magistrate, Judge Bruce Reinhart, and “focused solely on presidential records and evidence of classified information being stored there.”

The federal agents were from two branches: The Southern District of Florida and the Washington Field Office. They reportedly had total access to the Trump family’s private home, as well as Trump’s personal office and safe.

The FBI agents arrived at 9:00 a.m. Eastern and stayed over 9 hours, and left with boxes of “papers” and materials from a locked basement storage room. There are no details on what else was seized.

The agents gave the U.S. Secret Service prior notice. Once the warrant was verified, the federal agents would not let outsiders like Trump’s lawyer, observe their search of the 128-room estate. Mar-a-Lago is closed for the season, and only a skeleton maintenance crew and U.S. Secret Service detail remain on the grounds. Federal agents reportedly asked that the residence’s security cameras be turned off, but the request was rejected.

The exact motives for the search and what materials that was taken away by the FBI team remain unknown. As a matter of policy, government prosecutors don’t typically give out information on ongoing investigations until they charge someone with a crime. It is unlikely there will be clarity on the situation anytime soon.

But the raid was by far the most dramatic escalation but was not isolated. There is a series of legal actions against Trump and his political allies happening around the country.

On Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Scott Perry — a top ally of Trump and chairman of the House Freedom Caucus — said his cellphone was seized Tuesday morning by FBI agents carrying a search warrant.

The circumstances surrounding the phone seizure were not immediately known and it is unknown if it was related to the search at Trump’s residence. Perry has been a figure in the Democrat-controlled congressional investigation into President Donald Trump’s actions leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.

In a statement Tuesday, Perry said three agents visited him while he was traveling Tuesday with his family and “seized my cell phone.” He called the action “banana republic tactics.”

“They made no attempt to contact my lawyer, who would have made arrangements for them to have my phone if that was their wish,” Perry said. “I’m outraged – though not surprised – that the FBI under the direction of Merrick Garland’s DOJ, would seize the phone of a sitting Member of Congress.”

Both Trump and Perry have so far declined to share their copies of the FBI warrants, which would outline the reasoning behind the federal searches.

The potential legal peril from multiple quarters comes as Trump lays the groundwork for another presidential run in 2024. He has denied any wrongdoing and called Monday’s search a weaponization of the criminal justice system, “prosecutorial misconduct”, and a political ploy to keep from another term in office.

The Justice Department has been investigating for months the potential mishandling of classified information. It started after the National Archives and Records Administration said it had received 15 boxes of White House records from Mar-a-Lago, including documents containing classified information.

There are multiple federal laws dictating how classified records and sensitive government documents must be handled, including statutes that could make it a crime to remove such material.

A search doesn’t necessarily mean criminal charges are imminent, but to get a warrant, federal agents would have to convince a judge they have probable cause to think a crime occurred.

Doing so against a former president and current national politician, though, is completely unprecedented.

Trump has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

“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.

Meanwhile, the former president was being questioned under oath Wednesday in the New York attorney general’s long-running civil investigation into his business dealings.

And in Georgia, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has said she may also subpoena Trump for his testimony, a move that would seek to force him to cooperate with a criminal probe into a Jan. 2 phone call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger after the 2020 election.

Willis’ office has also advised Georgia Republicans who served as “alternative electors” from the state that they are at risk of being indicted. They signed a certificate asserting Trump had won the election and declaring themselves the state’s electors, even though a slate of Democratic electors had already been certified for Biden in the Republican-controlled state.

Trump has repeatedly described his call to Raffensperger as “perfect.”

 

READ MORE: The real reason FBI targeted Donald Trump?

 

The Horn editorial team and the Associated Press contributed to this article