FBI agents seized classified records from former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home during the agency’s unprecedented raid Monday, including some classified as top secret, according to a warrant and proof of ownership unsealed Friday. The documents were previously reviewed and reported by Fox News Digital.
Former President Trump disputes the classification, saying the records have been declassified.
According to the warrant, reviewed by Fox News early Friday, U.S. District Judge Bruce Rinehart signed the warrant on Aug. 5, giving the FBI the authority to conduct its investigation “on or before Aug. 19, 2022″ and ” on the day of the 6th: 00 am to 10:00 pm.’
The warrant and proof of ownership were officially unsealed Friday afternoon by Reinhart.
“Locations to be searched include the ’45 Office’, all storage areas and all other areas or spaces within the premises used or made available for use by the FPOTUS and his staff in which boxes or documents, including all structures or buildings on the property,” the warrant states, but did not authorize agents to search areas occupied by Mar-a-Lago members or not used by Trump and staff.
The former CIA director and MSNBC contributor is recommending the execution of former President Donald Trump after the Washington Post claims that the FBI raid sought “nuclear” documents.
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The warrant gave agents the authority to seize “all physical documents and records constituting evidence, contraband, proceeds of crime, or other items illegally possessed” in violation of the U.S. Code, including classified documents and presidential records created between 20 January 2017 and 20 January 2021.
According to the proof of ownership, reviewed before its release by Fox News, FBI agents took about 20 boxes of items from the facility, including a set of documents labeled “Miscellaneous Secret/TS/SCI Documents,” the which refer to top secret/sensitive compartmentalized information.
Records covered by this level of government classification could include human intelligence and information that, if disclosed, could jeopardize relations between the United States and other nations, as well as the lives of intelligence officials abroad. However, the classification also includes national security information related to the day-to-day activities of the president of the United States.
The proof of ownership also shows that FBI agents collected four sets of top secret documents, three sets of secret documents and three sets of confidential documents.
Proof of ownership does not reveal details about any of these files.
The list also includes a “leather bound document box”, photo bindings, handwritten notes, miscellaneous documents, various top secret documents, various confidential documents and other files.
The government conducted the investigation in response to what it believes is a violation of federal law: 18 USC 793 — Collection, transmission, or loss of defense information. 18 USC 2071 — Concealment, removal or mutilation. and 18 USC 1519 — Destruction, alteration, or falsification of records in federal investigations.
The allegation of “collection, transmission or loss of defense information” falls under the Espionage Act.
The former president and his team, however, dispute the classification and believe the information and records have been declassified.
Former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida. (Charles Trainor Jr./Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
Trump posted on his TRUTH Social account Friday that the documents were “all declassified.”
“Number one, everything was declassified. Number two, they didn’t have to ‘figure out’ anything,” Trump wrote. “They could have it whenever they wanted without playing politics and walking into Mar-a-Lago.”
Trump added: “It was in secure storage, with an additional lock installed at their request.”
“The Biden administration is clearly in damage control after its botched raid in which they seized the President’s picture books, a ‘handwritten note’ and declassified documents,” Trump spokesman Taylor Budowitz told Fox News. “This raid on President Trump’s home was not just unprecedented, it was unnecessary — and lies and innuendo are being poured out to try to explain the administration’s weaponization of their dominant political opponent. This is outrageous.”
Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday, in a rare public statement, said the Justice Department filed a motion to unseal the warrant and proof of ownership to search the residence of a former president of the United States, “in light of the former president’s public confirmation of the investigation, the circumstances and the substantial public interest in this matter”.
“The public’s clear and strong interest in understanding what occurred under these circumstances weighs heavily in favor of unsealing,” the DOJ motion states, noting that Trump should have an opportunity to respond to the motion and “submit objections, including in relation to legitimate private interests’ or the possibility of other ‘injury’ if these materials are made public’.
Trump, in a statement late Thursday night, called for the “immediate” release of the warrant and proof of ownership.
“Not only will I not object to the release of documents related to the un-American, unwarranted and unnecessary raid and burglary of my home in Palm Beach, Florida, Mar-a-Lago, but I am going one step further in ENCOURAGING the immediate release of these documents, even though drafted by radical left-wing Democrats and potential future political opponents, who have a strong and powerful interest in attacking me, as they have for the past 6 years,” Trump said.
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The former president supported the current poll numbers, saying they “are the strongest they’ve ever been, GOP fundraising is breaking all records, and the midterms are fast approaching.”
“This unprecedented political weaponization of law enforcement is inappropriate and highly immoral,” Trump said. “The world is watching as our country is brought to new lows, not only in our borders, crime, economy, energy, national security and so much more, but also with respect to our sacred elections!
He added: “Release the documents now!”
Trump’s legal team formally filed a motion in support of unsealing the warrant and proof of assets, saying the former president has “no objection” to the release.
The warrant and proof of ownership were officially unsealed by Reinhart on Friday afternoon, shortly after Trump proposed the release.
Former President Donald Trump in New York after the FBI raided his Mar-a-Lago home. (Felipe Ramales/Fox News Digital)
Garland, in his public remarks Thursday, said he “personally” signed off on the decision to obtain a search warrant at Trump’s private residence.
“The department does not make a decision like this lightly,” Garland said. “Where possible, it is standard practice to seek less intrusive means as an alternative to search and to closely cover any search that is conducted.”
Garland also defended DOJ officials and FBI agents against “recent baseless attacks” on their professionalism.
“I will not remain silent when their integrity is unfairly attacked,” he said.
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Trump’s office received a grand jury subpoena this spring over classified documents he allegedly took from the White House when he left office in 2021. A source close to Trump told Fox News that the former president cooperated with the subpoena by turning over documents to the FBI .
According to the source, a subpoena was issued to a “guardian of the president” and was related to material that the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) was trying to collect after it alleged that Trump improperly took those classified files with him from Washington. DC to Mar-a-Lago.
The source close to Trump told Fox News that Trump has been cooperating with the NARA records investigation for a year.
On June 3, the FBI visited Mar-a-Lago to retrieve documents requested in the subpoena, which Trump complied with, the source told Fox News.
Attorney General Merrick Garland walks away from the podium after speaking at a news conference at the Department of Justice in Washington, Monday, Nov. 8, 2021. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Those investigators toured the Florida resort area where some documents were stored, then briefly viewed and seized a small amount of potentially sensitive material. Separate sources told Fox News that federal investigators have spoken with at least one person who moved the possibility of more sensitive national security material to that storage area and other areas of the property.
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FBI officials, that day, asked to see a storage facility where the files were located. The FBI asked the staff to put a lock on the warehouse, which they later did.
That source said Trump and his staff were, and are, committed to complying with the Presidential Records Act, which requires presidential administrations to preserve certain documents.
Trump received this subpoena two months before the FBI’s unprecedented raid on a former president of the United States’ private home—which took place early Monday morning.
The source questioned whether the federal judge who signed the warrant…
