FBI seized 11 sets of classified documents in Trump Mar-a-Lago raid
The FBI recovered 11 sets of classified documents — including some marked top secret and only meant to be available in special government facilities — from former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate following its raid earlier this week, according to an inventory obtained by The Post of what was taken from the Palm Beach resort.
The list, known as a “property receipt,” and a search warrant for the 45th president’s residence was ordered unsealed Friday by US Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart after the Justice Department confirmed that Trump did not object. Details of the warrant and receipt were first reported by the Wall Street Journal and Fox News.
The items removed from Mar-a-Lago include 27 boxes, 11 of which contained classified documents. Four sets were marked “Top Secret,” the highest level of classification the government can give information; three were marked “Secret,” the second-highest level, while another three were marked “Confidential,” the lowest classification level.
The remaining set was marked “Various classified/TS/SCI documents,” which is the abbreviation for “top secret/sensitive compartmented information,” a special category meant to protect the nation’s most important secrets — which if revealed publicly would harm US interests.
Other items that were taken by FBI agents included two binders of photos, a handwritten note, and Trump’s clemency grant to his longtime adviser Roger Stone. Another item, listed as related to the Stone clemency grant, was described only as “Info re: President of France.”
The search warrant authorized the FBI to seize “all physical documents and records constituting evidence, contraband, fruits of crime, or other items illegally possessed” in violation of three federal laws.
One of the statutes, known as the Espionage Act, makes it a crime to improperly transmit national defense information or remove it from government custody. A second prohibits destroying, altering, or falsifying records in a federal investigation, while the third outlaws concealing, damaging, or removing government documents.
While Friday’s release of the search warrant and property receipt was a rare step in a federal investigation, a supporting affidavit — which would explain why investigators believe Trump to be in violation of federal law by keeping the documents at Mar-a-Lago — remained under seal.
The warrant also gave agents the go-ahead to collect any presidential records they found that were created while Trump was in office.
“The locations to be searched include the ‘45 Office,’ all storage rooms, and all other rooms or areas within the premises used or available to be used by FPOTUS [Trump] and his staff and in which boxes or documents could be stored, including all structures or buildings on the estate,” the warrant stated.
Agents were not permitted to search areas occupied by Mar-a-Lago members or locations not used by Trump and his staff, according to the warrant.
Trump had written on his Truth Social platform early Friday that he was “ENCOURAGING the immediate release” of the documents.
The former president’s lawyers have argued he used his power to declassify the now-seized material before he left the White House, an insistence Trump echoed shortly before the warrant was unsealed.
“Number one, it was all declassified,” he wrote on Truth Social. “Number two, they didn’t need to ‘seize’ anything. They could have had it anytime they wanted without playing politics and breaking into Mar-a-Lago. It was in secured storage, with an additional lock put on as per their request. They could have had it anytime they wanted—and that includes LONG ago. ALL THEY HAD TO DO WAS ASK. The bigger problem is, what are they going to do with the 33 million pages of documents, many of which are classified, that President Obama took to Chicago?”
Legal experts agree that the president has the authority to classify and declassify information at will through executive order. However, other interpretations of the declassification power — such as that the president can declassify information by speaking about it or that he can declassify information without a public announcement — are disputed. A president’s declassification powers also expire with his term of office.
In addition, none of the statutes mentioned in the search warrant refer to mishandling of classified information as a requirement for prosecution.
The Washington Post reported late Thursday that the feds were looking for “classified documents relating to nuclear weapons” during the raid, though neither the warrant nor inventory list specifically referenced nuclear weapons or programs.
Trump had lashed out early Friday, claiming the report about the nuclear weapons papers was a “Hoax.”
“Nuclear weapons issue is a Hoax, just like Russia, Russia, Russia was a Hoax, two Impeachments were a Hoax, the Mueller investigation was a Hoax, and much more,” Trump raged on his Truth Social platform.
“Same sleazy people involved. Why wouldn’t the FBI allow the inspection of areas at Mar-a-Lago with our lawyer’s [sic], or others, present. Made them wait outside in the heat, wouldn’t let them get even close – said ‘ABSOLUTELY NOT’.”
Trump then suggested federal agents might have planted information while executing the search warrant.
“Planting information anyone? Reminds me of a Christofer [sic] Steele Dossier!” the former president said.
The DOJ had filed the motion to unseal the documents Thursday, as Attorney General Merrick Garland confirmed to reporters that he “personally approved” the search warrant.
“The Department does not take such a decision lightly,” Garland said at the time. “Where possible, it is standard practice to seek less intrusive means as an alternative to a search, and to narrowly scope any search that is undertaken.”
