FBI agents seized a total of 11 sets of documents, including some marked “classified/TS/SCI” — short for “top secret/sensitive apartment information,” according to a list of materials seized during the search. Information categorized in this manner is intended for viewing only at a secure government facility. It was the latest startling revelation in a series of investigations revolving around his efforts to retain power after his election loss, his business practices and, in this case, his handling of government hardware he took with him when he left the White House. The results of the investigation showed that material classified as closely guarded national secrets was being held at an unsecured resort, Mar-a-Lago, owned and occupied by a former president who has long shown disdain for careful handling. confidential information. The documents released on Friday also made clear for the first time the seriousness of possible crimes being investigated in a probe that has drawn accusations of the Justice Department and the FBI from prominent Republicans and angered Mr. Trump, a potential 2024 presidential contender. candidate. In all, agents collected five sets of top secret documents, three sets of secret documents and three sets of confidential documents, the inventory showed. FBI agents also took files related to the pardon of Roger J. Stone Jr., a longtime associate of Mr. Trump, and material on President Emmanuel Macron of France — along with more than a dozen boxes labeled only by number. The revelation of the search warrant and inventory made clear the stakes of the conflict between a Justice Department that says it intends to enforce federal law at the highest levels and a former president whose rule-breaking behavior includes showing a proprietary view of material that legally belongs to the government. It is not clear why Mr. Trump apparently chose to hang on to materials that would ignite another legal firestorm around him. But last year, he told close associates that he considered some presidential documents to be his personal property. Speaking about his friendly correspondence with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Mr Trump said: “They’re mine,” according to a person familiar with the exchange. Although the FBI’s list of materials seized from Mar-a-Lago showed that many files were marked as “top secret,” Mr. Trump said on Friday that he had declassified all the material. Presidents have sweeping power to declassify documents, although such markings are usually removed when they do so.
More coverage of the FBI investigation into Trump’s home
But even if Mr. Trump declassifies the information before leaving office, none of the three potential crimes cited by the department in seeking the warrant depend on whether a mishandled document has been deemed classified. The warrant said agents would seek material as they investigated possible violations of the Espionage Act, which prohibits the unauthorized retention of defense-related information that could harm the United States or help a foreign adversary — a standard written by Congress before the creation of the modern classification system. He also cited a federal law that makes it a crime to destroy or conceal a document to obstruct a government investigation and another law that prohibits the illegal taking or destruction of government records or documents. Having a search warrant does not mean that the Department of Justice has decided to pursue criminal charges against anyone. Mr Trump has repeatedly said he did nothing wrong. A federal court in Florida unsealed the search warrant and list on Friday after a Justice Department request a day earlier to make them public. Portions of the warrant and accompanying inventory were previously reported by The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times also obtained them before they were unsealed. The warrant appears to have given agents wide latitude to search materials believed to be improperly stored at Mar-a-Lago, allowing access to “45 Office” and “all storage rooms and all other rooms or areas” at the facility that may be used to store documents. The most telling and sensitive document — the Justice Department’s application for the warrant, which likely included an affidavit detailing the evidence that convinced a judge there was probable cause to believe the investigation would turn up evidence of crimes — was not among his documents. department requested to be unsealed. It’s unlikely to go public anytime soon, or ever.
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The documents did little to answer many fundamental questions about the all-day search, including its timing. It came after months of negotiations between the department and the former president’s lawyers. The investigation into possible violations of the Espionage Act represents a previously unknown and potentially important dimension to an investigation initiated by the National Archives. The act includes several provisions that could apply to Mr. Trump’s case, particularly if it is later found that he was grossly negligent in storing the materials or knew that the information he possessed could harm US interests and still refused to return them to the investigators. said Mary McCord, a former top official at the Justice Department’s National Security Division. “We’re talking about highly classified documents with the potential to seriously harm US national security, including by benefiting foreign agents,” said Ms. McCord, now executive director of the Georgetown Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Legal Protection. The unsealing of the search warrant helped clarify what is known about why Attorney General Merrick B. Garland, acting on the advice of the Department of Homeland Security, felt compelled to search the former president’s home. The investigation was conducted as part of the administration’s effort to produce evidence about documents that a person briefed on the matter said related to some of the most classified programs run by the United States. The person told The Times that investigators were concerned about material that included some of what the government calls “special access programs,” a designation usually reserved for highly sensitive operations conducted by the United States abroad or for technologies and capabilities located close. . The Washington Post reported that some of this material may relate to classified documents “relating to nuclear weapons,” which could have been part of the designation of special access programs. In January, Mr. Trump turned over 15 boxes of material he improperly took with him when he left office to the National Archives. The archives then found classified material in the boxes and referred the matter to the Justice Department, which later convened a grand jury. But as the results of Monday’s search appeared to show, other government material remained at Mar-a-Lago. Why Mr Trump did not return it along with the 15 boxes he gave to the archives in January is not clear. But at some point, the Justice Department found out and issued a subpoena this spring demanding the return of some materials. The subpoena’s existence suggests the department tried methods other than a search warrant to account for the material before taking the politically explosive step of sending FBI agents unannounced to Mar-a-Lago. Jay Bratt, the department’s top counterintelligence official, traveled with a small group of other federal officials to Mar-a-Lago in early June. There they met with Mr. Trump’s lawyer, Evan Corcoran, and examined a basement storage area where the former president had stockpiled material that had come with him from the White House. Mr Bratt then emailed Mr Corcoran and told him to further secure the documents in storage with a stronger padlock. Federal investigators then subpoenaed surveillance video from the club, which could give officials a glimpse of who was coming in and out of the storage area, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. During the same period, investigators were in contact with several aides to Mr. Trump who had some knowledge of how he stored and moved documents at the White House and who still worked for him, three people familiar with the matter said. At least one witness provided investigators with information that led them to want to further press Mr. Trump for material, according to a person familiar with the investigation. Federal officials believed this summer that Mr. Trump had not relinquished all the material left to him by the White House at the end of his tenure, according to three people familiar with the investigation. Last Friday, the Justice Department applied for a search warrant. Early Monday morning, FBI agents arrived at Mar-a-Lago. Katie Benner contributed reporting.
