Did Trump's latest wild theory come from Twitter user called Cat Turd?

Former President Donald Trump is embracing the wild theory that the FBI planted damning evidence against him when they raided his home at Mar-a-Lago.

On Wednesday (10 August), Trump took to Truth Social to complain that his lawyers were not allowed near the areas "that were rummaged and otherwise looked at during the raid" by FBI agents who searched his residence.

Although this is general practice, Trump suggested that the absence of his lawyers and others during the search could indicate that the federal agents planted evidence.

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"Everyone was asked to leave the premises. They wanted to be left alone, without any witnesses to see what they were doing, taking or, hopefully not, 'planting,'" Trump wrote.

He continued: "Why did they STRONGLY insist on having nobody watching them, everybody out? Obama and Clinton were never 'raided,' despite big disputes!"

Trump's lawyers have also joined in on the conversation, making baseless claims that FBI agents planted evidence.

"I am concerned that they may have planted something," Alina Habba, a Trump attorney, told Fox News' Jesse Watters.

Eric Trump also spoke with Watters and said he believed the White House "approved" of the FBI's search.

"I know the system; this did not happen without Joe Biden's explicit approval. The White House approved of this."

He also said that the Trump camp was unaware of the raid.

"We had no knowledge of this at all; give me a break," he said.

Many of Trump's allies embraced the "planting" conspiracy theory following Monday's raid, particularly on Fox News.

Despite the difficulty in pinpointing the origins of the theory, the earliest instance of the claim might possibly be from the MAGA social media personality "Catturd."

Not too long after the raid, Catturd took to its official Twitter account and wrote the following: "Does anyone have any doubt that corrupt Christopher Wray's rotten FBI would plant evidence on Trump at the drop of a hat?"

The raid is believed to be in connection with an investigation into Trump's handling of official classified documents during and after his presidency - which is just one of his several investigations.

"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 wrote in a statement.

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