The former president of the United States Donald Trump accumulated more than 300 classified documents in his residence in Mar-a-Lago (Florida), multiple sources with knowledge of the matter told The New York Times.
As published on Monday by the newspaper, the US government has been gradually recovering those 300 documents in the last year and a half, that is, since Trump left the White House in January 2021.
Total, the 300 documents were returned to the Government in three deliveries. First, in January of this year, the US National Archives, in charge of guarding historical material, managed to recover 150 classified documents from the former president’s residence.
The second batch of documents was delivered to the Department of Justice by Trump advisers in June and, thirdly, the FBI seized more classified files in the notorious search that it carried out this month in the former president’s mansion in Florida.
Until now, the exact volume of material that US security forces had found in Trump’s home was unknown. The contents of the documents that Trump took from the White House.
The Department of Justice has only made public some fragments of the search warrant with which the FBI inspected the former president’s mansion.
That order indicates that Trump and the people around him might be committing crimes of obstruction of justice, destruction of documents and violation of the espionage law.
Trump asks to review the “illegal” registry
Trump has filed a lawsuit asking a Florida court for oversight over the “illegal and unconstitutional” search approved on August 8 at his home in Mar-a-Lagowhich includes the designation of a “special party” in charge, a more detailed check of what was seized and the return of what was not included in the court order.
In announcing the measure, Trump called it “necessary, unjustified and un-American irruption” the search conducted by FBI agents at his home in Palm Beach, in southeastern Florida.
He also assured that “all” the documents that were taken from the White House to his residence had previously been declassified.
The search warrant released showed that Trump took classified material from the White House to his residence. Said order also pointed out the crimes in which he may be incurring: Violation of the Law on Espionage, Obstruction of Justice and destruction of documents.
Former President Trump (2017-2021) complained that the agents “demanded that the security cameras be turned off, a request that they legitimately” denied, and that they prevented their lawyers from observing what they were taking.
The Republican denounced that he took documents that are protected by the attorney-client privilege, passports and that they also opened his safe.
He explained that the motion presented seeks that the Department of Justice “immediately stop the review of the documents illegally seized from my house” and that a “special teacher” supervise the handling of the seized material.
Meanwhile, the federal judge deciding whether to disclose the reasons why the FBI increased Mar-a-Lago reiterated Monday that he is interested in publishing them but has not yet decided to do so.
In a document published this Monday, Judge Bruce Reinhart explained that he will wait for the text that will surely be delivered to the Prosecutor’s Office before next Thursday, hiding the most sensitive data that may affect the investigation.
Reinhart, who at last Thursday’s hearing in West Palm Beach, was inclined to publish the affidavit with sensitive parts hidden, said Monday that he will analyze the fact because it might result in the text being “meaningless” for the media that have requested disclosure.
