Trump brands Biden 'enemy of state', calls FBI raid 'travesty of justice'

Ex-US president Donald Trump has branded his successor Joe Biden an "enemy of the state" during a rally in Pennsylvania, as he slammed last month's FBI raid of his Florida home.

Trump said on Saturday the raid was a "travesty of justice" and warned it would produce "a backlash the likes of which nobody has ever seen."

"The danger to democracy comes from the radical left. Not from the right," he told cheering supporters.

Trump held the a rally in support of Doug Mastriano, the Republican nominee for governor, and Mehmet Oz, the nominee for US Senate.

In a prime-time speech on Thursday night in Philadelphia, President Biden lashed out with rare virulence against Trump and those who embrace his "Make America Great Again" ideology, labeling them a "threat to democracy."

"Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic," he thundered, warning that the former president's most ardent backers –– those behind last year's assault on the US Capitol –– "thrive on chaos."

"They live not in the light of truth but in the shadow of lies," he said.

FBI rid at Trump home

Meanwhile, the legal pressure on Trump has ratcheted up since the FBI's August 8 raid, with details emerging of documents labelled secret improperly stored at his Mar-a-Lago resort home in Florida, his team delaying authorities' access to the material, and then falsely claiming they had turned over all classified papers.

Government officials said in a filing they had evidence of efforts to hide classified documents despite a grand jury demand in May that Trump produce records removed from the White House.

The August 8 raid was triggered by a review of "highly classified" records that Trump finally surrendered to authorities in January this year –– after months of back and forth with the National Archives.

The former president has taken legal action to seek the appointment of an independent party, or "special master," to screen the seized files for materials protected by law from being investigated.