WASHINGTON, Aug 8 (Reuters) - Former President Donald Trump said FBI agents raided his Mar-a-Lago estate on Monday and broke into his safe, possibly connected to a U.S. Justice Department investigation of Trump's removal of official presidential records to the Florida resort.

The unprecedented search of a former president's home would mark a significant escalation into the records investigation, which is one of several probes Trumpis facing from his time in office and in private business.

The Justice Department declined to comment on the raid, which Trump in a statement said involved a "large group of FBI agents." The FBI's headquarters in Washington and its field office in Miami both declined comment.

The search appeared to concern boxes of documents that Trump brought with him from the White House to the Florida club, the New York Times reported, citing two unnamed people familiar with the investigation.

Trump said the estate "is currently under siege, raided, and occupied." He did not say why the raid took place.

"After working and cooperating with the relevant Government agencies, this unannounced raid on my home was not necessary or appropriate," Trump said, adding: "They even broke into my safe!"

Later on Monday, Trump did not mention the raid during a brief tele-rally for Leora Levy, whom he has endorsed for the Republican nomination for U.S. senator from Connecticut.

CNN reported that Trump was not at the estate at the time of the raid and that the FBI had executed a search warrant to enter the premises. CNN also said the search was tied to classified documents, citing unnamed sources.

Trump, who has made his club in Palm Beach his home since leaving the White House in January 2021, has generally spent summers at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, because Mar-a-Lago typically closes in May for the summer.

The Justice Department launched an early-stage investigation into Trump's removal of records to the Florida estate, a source familiar with the matter said in April.

The investigation comes after the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration in February notified Congress that it had recovered about 15 boxes of White House documents from Trump's Florida home, some of which contained classified materials.

The U.S. House of Representatives Oversight Committee at that time announced it was expanding an investigation into Trump's actions and asked the Archives to turn over additional information.

Trump previously confirmed that he had agreed to return certain records to the Archives, calling it "an ordinary and routine process."