Lara Trump says Mar-a-Lago search was still ‘outrageous’ even if father-in-law was hiding nuclear secrets

Asked if there could have been secret nuclear documents at Trump’s Florida residence, Lara Trump says: ‘Who knows?’

Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump has expressed anger at the FBI raid on the former president’s Mar-a-Lago residence and said even if there were “classified nuclear documents”, the searches were still “outrageous”.

Speaking to Fox News host Brian Kilmeade, Ms Trump – who is married to the former president’s second-born son Eric Trump – was responding to reports that the FBI searches on Monday at Mr Trump’s Palm Beach, Florida residence were in connection with classified documents relating to nuclear weapons.

On Thursday, The Washington Post reported that classified nuclear documents were among items the FBI was looking for during their search, people familiar with the investigation told the outlet.

“Experts in classified information said the unusual search underscores deep concern among government officials about the types of information they thought could be located at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club and potentially in danger of falling into the wrong hands,” the newspaper reported.

When asked by Mr Kilmeade about whether she knew of any such documents lying around the private mansion, Ms Trump said the claim was “outrageous.”

“[The Washington Post] believe the reason why the raid took place was because they were worried your father-in-law had documents related to nuclear weapons that the FBI wanted back,” Mr Kilmeade said, citing the report.

“Did you see any nuclear reports at the Mar-a-Lago club? Maybe around the pool by the lifeguard stand?”

“No, those were not disseminated freely at the Mar-a-Lago resort — of course not,” Ms Trump responded.

“But who knows? I think it’s a question for a lot of people: What could possibly rise to the level of not taking a bit of a different approach and instead raiding the former president’s home? It’s just absolutely outrageous.”

“This is not the country that we have come to know and love.”

Also on Thursday, Christina Bobb, an attorney for the former president, denied the presence of such documents.

“I have not specifically spoken to the president about what nuclear materials may or may not have been in there. I do not believe there were any in there,” she said to Fox News’ Laura Ingraham.

Mr Trump earlier claimed the raid at Mar-a-Lago was a “weaponisation” of government institutions and called it an “attack” on him by the Biden administration for potentially running for the 2024 presidential race.