0 that's according to the man himself, donald trump, who issued a legacy statement just over an hour, ago condemning an unannounced fbi raid on his florida residence in mar-a-lago. it's coming on the heels of reporting the trump's lawyers are currently in negotiation with the department of justice, stemming from its investigation into trump's in attempted coup. tonight, it looks like federal agents were executing the next steps one of the investigations into the ex president. and whitey is now reporting that this rate is related to classified -- according to two people familiar with the investigation, appeared to be focused on material that trump had brought with him to mar-a-lago, his private club, and residents, after he left the white house. those boxes contain many pages of caused by, documents according to a person can familiar of contents. the ex president released a statement tonight. quote, these are dark times for our nation, as my beautiful home marlowe in palm beach, florida, is currently under siege, rated in occupied by a large group of fbi agents. nothing like this never happened to a president of the united states before. -- this unannounced raid on my's home was not necessary, or appropriate. this prosecutorial misconduct, the weaponization of the justice system, and an attack by radical left democrats who desperately don't want me to run for president in 2024, especially based on recent polls. and will likewise do nothing to stop will do anything to stop republicans and conservatives in the upcoming midterm elections. , such an assault could only take place in broken third world country. sadly america's now become one of those countries, corrupt at a level not seen before. they even broke into my safe! what is the difference between this and watergate, or operatives broke into the democratic national committee? here in reverse, democrats broke into the home of the 45th president of the united states. as you just heard, trump himself admitted that he is cooperating with the relevant government agencies in this investigation. the ex president, right about one thing. this is a truly unprecedented event. ken delaney justice and news correspondent. he joins me now. this is developing story. what more do we? no >> alicia, we have new reporting in from my colleague kelly odonnell who was told by a source familiar with the matter saying that the president is in new york city today. he was not present for the search. secondly, she has learned that the fbi notified the secret service a few hours before the search warrant was executed and that the secret service facilitated their access to the mar-a-lago facility. federal agents did not take part in the search. that is consistent with the protocol of how these things would go. the former president seeks secret service protection including security valise properties. they have custody of the place. federal former law enforcement officials the fbi would say we have a lawful warrant, we want to execute this war at such and such a time, and that's apparently what took place with this development today. and again, just stepping back, this is a big deal. what this shows obviously is that the fbi was able to convince a judge that there was probable cause to believe that there was evidence of a crime and that evidence existed at this location. and that they had to go and do the surge, a big fourth amendment intrusion into somebody's property. there has been some speculation by guests, contributors on air tonight that this relates to the missing records from the national archives. as you remember the reports trump took some records from the white house that he should've taken. that's conceivably possible, but this is just a huge step unprecedented in american history taken by the fbi. it's taken in context with this other set of investigations in the trump seeking to overturn the election. people close to him being called to the grand jury, lawyers close to him being targeted with their own warrants. there's a lot going on in terms of law enforcement activity directed at the former president. >> we have a sense of the scope of what they are looking for? >> no, we absolutely don't. it's a secret process. generally when there's a search warrant like this, an fbi agent will submit and have affidavit to the judge describing everything they are looking for but almost surely in this case that affidavit is sealed, because it's a secret investigation. i will also be a document file that shows what the fbi took. obviously we're combing court records trying to find stuff, but so far it doesn't appear to be on file. so no, we will not know for sometime exactly what was taken unless the president wants to tell us. it's possible because we learned when his lawyer jeffrey clark, his former lawyer was the target of an fbi and attorney general search warrant, clark and contested that war in court and as a result we learned that he seized his phone. at this moment we don't know what they took. >> speaking of statements from the president, i wonder what you make by this admission by the former president and he and his team are cooperating with investigators? >> i would take that with a complete grain of salt. there's been some reporting that his lawyers are in touch with the justice department. that makes perfect sense. he's got a lot of experience to lawyers who are gonna want to reach a modified it with the justice department once with his clients, what questions are asking, what actions are taking. weather is cooperating is another matter. as he spoken with any investigators we have no idea. we should be very careful about any statement to that fact. >> a grain of salt, that is always a well reminded. ken delaney thank you as. always frank figliuzzi is a sick national security analyst. he joins us now. frank i want you to pull the curtain back for us and give us a sense of what was necessary on the part of the fbi in order to pull off this raid? >> -- first, as can alluded to this is done in secrecy. you want a very close team, it's not something you discuss at the water cooler with your squad. in fact, it's unclear right now as we are not sure with this is about, and it could be a multiple things, some people may have thought, you know what? we may just get one crack at this, so if we've got anything else we want to look for let's put it in there. if there's evidence of crimes for more than one case let's do that. we don't even know what is the office of origin. is it the washington field office for the fbi. it is a deep miami field office which would its more centered to florida activity. even that would be a clue. is it the new york field office? we don't know who the acting agents is. if we see with the agents name is if we have a look at this affidavit and when that agent is a sign that would be of interest to us. and then of course you have to go to a magistrate and bring him in and say, he want to bring that in with some secrecy and say to him or her, you can be around tomorrow morning? we need to talk to you. we need to spend an hour or two aside for you this tomorrow morning. that has to be locked in. of course the entire chain has to sign off on this not only fbi headquarters but all the way up the chain to the department of justice. and then evidence chains need to be put on standby, and they may have not been told where they are going until the last minute but hey, we're gonna stage in west palm beach, we're in a hotel or something, let's meet at this parking lot and we will proceed further forward to our targets site. agents don't like the word raid, they don't like it, it sounds like it's some sort of extrajudicial non legal thing. it's an execution of a search warrant. it's a court authorized search warrant. i'm sure we will be in four days of ranting raving. even at cpac over the weekend, was a congressman for arizona called for defunding of the fbi before this even happened. i'm sure we're in for more of that. they're hunkering down for the. the word raid they don't like it. they like to say they executed a search warrant. all of that going on, meticulous searching. i've seen situations where devices electronic devices, hard drives are being searched for and i actually had dogs. i'm not saying that dogs are being used, but if we see dogs as part of this raid, it would be a clue that they are possibly looking for drives and other electronics. >> want to make sure that you ask you won't use make of the new york times saying that spoke classified documents it'd be made taken within to mar-a-lago. >> that's the simplest explanation. it could've been a multitude of things, if they're planning ahead. do we want to tip our hand and put something else in this very scrutinized affidavit or did we just want to limit this and send a message that we're about getting our documents back. the u.s. government wants its documents back. it's likely to convince a magistrate that a crime occurred. if i were that judge i would say, tell me about the negotiations why do you have to do this? judges often ask, are we at that? point are you sure this is the best way you can do this to go to someone's home? you just have to respond with a history of all the negotiating that has been going on with the national archives if indeed this is what this is all about. he told us he has given us everything that we have sources tolleson telling us he hasn't. or he stopped talking to us, or we have reason to believe there is a national security issue going on. that would have to be discussed with the judge. >> there are a lot of 90 things by the presidents statement. there's one i want you to rip spawned on. this conflation with the fbi in the democratic party. how dangerous is that for the fbi in this country? >> oh boy, it's been a few years so they have just been beat up with the perceived politicizing of the agency. it is one of the worst things that could happen quite frankly. it started back with public perceptions, half of the country thinking joe jim comey did the right thing, have them thinking he did the wrong thing, saying that no prosecute reasonable prosecutor would prosecute hillary clinton in the email case. then hear both sides saying that's wrong, that debacle. now it's a no win situation. i'm just telling it based on my 25 years with the fbi, they keep their head down, they work with federal prosecutors, they are not politicians, they don't talk about who they voted for or law around the watercooler. they are just trying to do their job, and if there's evidence of crime and a judge signed off on an affidavit, and you got yourself a search warrant. >> frank, you and i talked about the work that leads up to this, we talked about the work, once the work that leads up and the days following ahead? >> we are engaged in conjecture, and i definitely appreciation ken delaney and his admonition that we don't know exactly with this is about it. but whatever case it is about, first and foremost before they leave the property tonight, if they're still there or, not they are going to leave, whoever is in charge, if it's not trump because he's not there, it'll be some caretaker appointed, maybe a lawyer. a local lawyer mid come over trump's request. that person will be handed a receipt. it'll say, here are the things that we took. and maybe trump will waive it around tomorrow. look at this, they took this and that. but it's a receipt. nothing will be a secret. even a statement, he said this is an unannounced search for. yeah, that's right, because we don't call, the fbi's not gonna call and say, hey we're gonna be stopping by later. >> frank floozy as always, thank you. george vance is a joyce vance is a law professor at the university of alabama. she's in nbc legal analyst and she joins me now. joyce, legally speaking what does it tell you that the fbi was able to execute a warrant at the home of a former president? >> so, with the caveats that some of your earlier gas and had that we don't know the precise crimes that are being investigated, process wise with the search warrant means is that a federal judge or magistrate judge in the southern district of florida was convinced that the government has probable cause that crimes had been committed and that evidence linked to those crimes would be found at mar-a-lago. i can't underline how significant and serious this is. judges aren't in the habit of making these decisions flying by the seat of their pants. they evaluate the evidence very carefully. i suspect in this case much more so. and before the search warrant was ever taken to a judge for sign off on a warrant, it would've been evaluated both along the doj and the fbi lines of authority to ensure that everything had been carefully put together and there was probable cause. i guess the last thing that we should say is what is probable cause mean? it means that there is evidence that suggests, not proof beyond a reasonable doubt of what we would see in a criminal trial, but there are reasons that will be specific evidence that the warrant identifies that crime found in a place to be searched. understanding that there is still a lot we do not know. the story is still developing. what does it tell you about the future of investigations into the former president? >> where did they go next? >> yeah, there are a number of different reasons you might execute a search warrant. sometimes you do it early on when you're looking for evidence. it may even be evidence does not relate to the former president, as a subject or target of an investigation. sometimes, though, alicia, executing a search warrant like this is the very last thing you do, before you file charges. and then, because there is some suggestion here that this is about documents, you know, the national archives are very vigilant about getting their documents back. both because there is criminal investigation, but also because on the national security side of the house, you have to make sure that nothing sensitive has leaked out that is damaged a national security. those investigations are conducted as vigorously as the ones on the criminal side. >> i have to ask you, as i was reading the statement for the former president, joyce, if you were his attorney, what is the danger or value of releasing a statement like that, in the midst of this? >> so, if trump is going to be trump, right? he often has difficulty not making a statement. now he can't hear it on twitter, when he would be far better served by silence. if you're's lawyer, what you're doing is saying don't say anything. if you don't say anything, it can't come back and bite you down the road in investigation, or when you're in front of a jury sometimes with trump he's so self reveler tory in these statements, that often this fodder that permits these investigators to understand what he's thinking in doing. if he's listening to these lawyers we might not hear anything else from him tonight. >> i have to ask you, because i asked frank about the conflation of the fbi with the democratic party. one of the bid for that statement that jumped out to me, is trump calling this a weaponization of the justice system. seems rich, coming from him! >> trump appointed the current director of the fbi. chris wray, well respected former basketball player from the atlanta, ever since trump put in place after had a problem with the prior directors. nothing on their behalf, more interest to have. like the fbi is not a creature of a political party. in fact, they hold themselves above the political fray. everyone at the agency knows that they're dependability depends on their objectivity. but this is exactly what we'd expect to see trump doing. infamously, early in his presidency he took steps to undercut the confidence that americans had already had in both international intelligence services, and also in law enforcement, including the fbi. at one point going as far as calling agents out by name. every time we see him pull in the sort of a card, and pretending that the fbi's political agency, and this is just a witch hunt. we should remember this is the sort of tactics used by typically -- defendants when they're desperate, when they don't have a real response to charges. something this for certain is that the search warrant that would've been served in this case would've at least light trump appreciate what sort of documents and items would have been removed from mar-a-lago, you probably have any of us has the best sense of what the fbi was looking at today, the fact that he's just pulling out the old canard about the fbi being part of the democratic party -- knowing what the agents have against him. >> joyce nance, as always, thank you so much for being with us. coming, up more on the fbi raid of donald trump's former home, that's next.