FBI Collected Multiple Sets Of Classified Documents From Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Home!
NPR.org, By Deepa Shivaram and Ryan Lucas, Posted August 16th 2022
A federal judge in Florida has unsealed the documents related to an FBI search of former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home that took place earlier this week.
The documents include both the search warrant and the property receipt, which outlines what was taken by authorities. They outline that agents recovered top secret and classified documents in Monday’s search.
Read the full warrant and property receipt below, or click here.
The search warrant also reveals that FBI agents were looking for evidence relating to three statutes. The first, Section 793, applies to gathering, losing or sharing with an unauthorized person information that relates to national defense. Sections 2071 and 1519 address concealing, destroying or removing documents.
The warrant allows for the seizure of “all physical documents and records constituting evidence, contraband, fruits of crime, or other items illegally possessed in violation of” various aspects of the Espionage Act.
The documents show that Judge Bruce Reinhart approved the search warrant on August 5 at 12:12 p.m., three days before the search took place. The search had to be completed by August 19, between the hours of 6 a.m. and 10 p.m.
It also says that within the Mar-a-Lago estate, the places that could be searched included “45 Office,” and “all storage rooms, and all other rooms or areas within the premises used or available to be used by FPOTUS and his staff and in which boxes or documents could be stored, including all structures or buildings on the estate.“
The search did not include areas used by third parties, such as members of Mar-a-Lago, which also serves as a club.
Trump hasn’t yet released a statement in response to the documents being unsealed, but the former president has been repeatedly posting on his social media platform Truth Social throughout the day, claiming the documents that were seized were all declassified.
He also said authorities could have had the documents anytime they wanted to if they had asked, and that he had put the documents in secured storage with a lock, which he claims authorities had requested.
Some of the documents seized by the FBI were listed with specific titles, including an Executive Grant of Clemency re: Roger Jason Stone, Jr. and one titled “Info re: President of France.”
Other items are listed as top secret or classified documents. The list includes binder of photos and one item labeled “potential presidential record.” There are also items simply listed as boxes.
Attachment B of the document shows what was to be seized and says agents were to gather evidence that include physical documents with classification markings, and the containers or boxes those documents were located in, as well as other containers that were stored or found together with those documents.
They also were to seize “information, including communications in any form, regarding the retrieval, storage, or transmission of national defense information or classified material.”
The document also called for seizure of any presidential or government records and any evidence of alteration or destruction of those records or other classified documents.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said in remarks Thursday he had filed the motion for the documents to be unsealed. Trump had the option to oppose the motion, but late Thursday night, the former president said he encouraged the “immediate release” of the documents.
Garland said Trump’s attorney was given a copy of the search warrant and the property receipt so the former president could also have released the documents on his own accord.
