crime was committed. so, this is a very big deal. make no mistake about it. former president trump has already blasted the move, claiming, as he often does, political persecution and a witch hunt. in a statement released tonight, he says, quote, 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. nothing like this has ever happened to a president of the united states before. after working and cooperating with the government agencies, this unannounced raid on my home was not necessary or appropriate. such an assault would only take place in broken third world countries. they even broke into my safe. cnn has learned donald trump was not in florida when the fbi closed in on his home. he was at trump tower here in new york city. i am joined now by cnn political analyst matt haberman, a cnn political correspondent for the new york times, and author of the up
group of agents saying it was, quote, unannounced. which is what normally happens with search warrants, by the way. and that they broke into a safe. now he wasn t there and they carried out the search. but i want to turn right away to cnn correspondent, randi kaye, who is actually in palm beach county. i ll stay with us tonight cnn s chief white house correspondent, kaitlan collins. caitlin i want to begin with you here. because, look, a search on the former president s home is absolutely extraordinary. and now we know it is about the handling of classified documents. what is happening right now? what is it all about? it certainly is remarkable. if these events are unfolding in the way that the former president is saying that they are and the statement it does seem to be a pretty huge escalation of what we already know. that there was an investigation underway and to whether or not he mishandled potentially classified information when he left the white house. now, when it c