EXCLUSIVE: The FBI seized boxes containing files covered by attorney-client privilege and possibly executive privilege during its raid of former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home, sources familiar with the investigation told Fox News, adding that the Justice Department opposed Trump lawyers’ request to appoint an independent, special master to review the records.
Sources familiar with the investigation told Fox News on Saturday that the former president’s team was told that boxes labeled A-14, A-26, A-43, A-13, A-33 and a set of documents — all seen in final page of the FBI’s proof of ownership—contained information covered by the attorney-client privilege.
The FBI seized classified files from Trump’s Palm Beach home during its unprecedented raid on Monday morning, including some classified as top secret. But the former president disputes the classification, saying the files have been declassified.
The warrant and proof of ownership from Monday’s FBI investigation were officially unsealed Friday afternoon.
FBI Seizes Secret Files From MAR-A-LAGO DURING TRUMP HOUSE SEARCH
Attorney-client privilege refers to a legal privilege that keeps communications between a lawyer and his client confidential.
Sources told Fox News that some of the records could be covered by executive privilege, which gives the president of the United States and other executive branch officials the power to withhold certain sensitive forms of advice and consultations between the president and senior advisers.
Donald Trump leaves New York after FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago resort (Felipe Ramales: Fox News Digital)
It is unclear at this point whether the records include communications between the former president and his private lawyers, White House counsel during the Trump administration, or a combination.
Sources told Fox News that because of attorney-client privilege, Trump’s team asked the Justice Department for their position on whether to support a third, independent special master to review those records, but sources told Fox News that the Justice Department has notified Trump’s team that they will oppose that request.
The Justice Department and the FBI declined to comment.
A spokesman for Trump did not immediately respond to Fox News’ request for comment.
The search warrant and proof of ownership for Monday’s FBI raid at Mar-a-Lago were unsealed by Judge Bruce Rinehart Friday afternoon.
A guard stands outside Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida. (Alon Skuy/Fox News Digital)
Before the documents were released, Fox News reviewed the warrant and receipt, revealing that the FBI seized classified records from Trump’s home, including some classified as top secret. Trump disputes the classification, saying the records were declassified.
Rinehart signed the warrant on August 5 giving the FBI authority to conduct its investigation “on or before August 19, 2022” and “during the day from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. .m.”
“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 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.
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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 agencies 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.
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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.
A police officer speaks with a woman outside former US President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home after Trump said FBI agents raided it, in Palm Beach, Florida, US, August 8, 2022. ( REUTERS/Marco Bello)
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.
Attorney General Merrick Garland announced this week that he personally approved the request for a search warrant at the former president’s private residence.
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 related to the materials that National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) was trying to collect after claiming Trump improperly took those classified files with him from Washington to Mar-a-Lago.
A source close to Trump told Fox News that Trump has been cooperating with the NARA records investigation for a year.
Aerial footage of Mar-a-Lago after FBI raid (WFOR)
On June 3, the FBI visited Mar-a-Lago to retrieve documents requested in the subpoena, which Trump complied with, a source told Fox News.
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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 spoke with at least one person who relayed the possibility of more sensitive national security material in that storage area and elsewhere on the property.
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.
Attorney General Merrick Garland speaks at the Department of Justice on January 5, 2022, in Washington, DC (Carolyn Kaster-Pool/Getty Images)
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.
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Trump received that 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 for the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago on Monday was aware of Trump’s “prior compliance with the subpoena,” adding that if the FBI sought additional documents, another could that a subpoena had been issued, as Trump and his team were “cooperative” and turned over documents and records responsive to the subpoena issued in the spring.
Brooke Singman is a political reporter for Fox News Digital. She can be reached at [email protected] or @BrookeSingman on Twitter.
