Trump repeats unproven claim that FBI ‘planted’ files in Mar-a-Lago raid during interview on Indian TV

‘It’s a set-up. It’s weaponisation. And it’s inappropriate to do’

Former US president Donald Trump has reiterated his claim that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) planted the documents that were found at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida.

In an interview with Indian news television channel NDTV on Thursday, Mr Trump said: “That (the documents) they (the FBI) put there. It’s a set-up. It’s weaponisation. And it’s inappropriate to do. It’s a bad thing for our country.

“Our country is going to hell,” he later said during the interview.

The former president was referring to an image released last week by the US justice department of the documents seized by FBI agents during the 8 August raid at Mr Trump’s Florida estate.

The documents in the photo showed “secret” and “top secret” labels clearly affixed to them.

The FBI search at Mr Trump’s estate saw federal agents remove 20 boxes that contained 11 sets of classified material.

Mr Trump had denounced the pictures released by the DoJ in a statement on Truth Social on 31 August.

“They took them out of cartons and spread them around on the carpet, making it look like a big ‘find’ for them.

“They dropped them, not me - Very deceiving… And remember, we could have NO representative, including lawyers, present during the Raid. They were told to wait outside,” he had said.

On Thursday, Mr Trump said to NDTV that the raid has had a negative impact for the Democrats.

“It was a terrible thing. And frankly, that’s had a big impact on the population,” he said.

“I think it’s boomeranged, and very negatively, on them.”

As speculation continues on when the former president will announce his bid for the 2024 presidential elections, Mr Trump said he was “leading in polls”.

“Everyone wants me to run, I am leading in the polls...I’ll make a decision in the very near future, I suspect,” he said.