The US National Archives discovered more than 700 pages of classified documents at former President Donald Trump’s Florida home in addition to material seized this month by FBI agents, Reuters reported on Tuesday, citing a newly disclosed May letter the records agency sent to Trump’s attorney.
The large quantity of classified material in 15 boxes recovered in January by the National Archives and Records Administration, some marked as “top secret,” provides more insight into what led to the FBI’s court-authorized Aug. 8 search of Trump’s residence at the Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach.
The agency is responsible for preserving government records.
- The May 10 letter was sent by Acting US Archivist Debra Steidel Wall to Trump attorney Evan Corcoran, according to Reuters. It was released late on Monday by John Solomon, a conservative journalist who Trump authorized in June to access his presidential records. The National Archives posted a copy on its website on Tuesday.
“Among the materials in the boxes are over 100 documents with classification markings, comprising more than 700 pages. Some include the highest levels of classification, including Special Access Program (SAP) materials,” Wall’s letter said, referring to security protocols reserved for some of the country’s most closely held secrets.
- The letter shows that Trump’s legal team repeatedly tried to stall the Archives from letting the FBI and intelligence officials review the materials, saying he needed more time to determine if any of the records were covered by a doctrine called executive privilege that enables a president to shield some records.
President Joe Biden’s administration – specifically the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel – has determined that the materials were not covered by executive privilege.
It found “there is no precedent” for a former president to shield records from a sitting president using executive privilege when the materials in question legally belong to the federal government, according to the letter.
Even after Trump returned the 15 boxes to the Archives, the Justice Department still suspected he had more classified material. The Aug. 8 search was part of a federal investigation into whether.
Trump illegally removed documents from the White House when he left office in January 2021.
- On Monday, Trump asked a federal court to temporarily block the FBI from reviewing the materials it seized two weeks ago from his Florida home, until a special master can be appointed to oversee the review.
- Trump’s court motion, filed in a federal court in West Palm Beach, Florida, also demanded that the US Justice Department provide him with a more detailed property receipt outlining the items the FBI seized from his Mar-a-Lago home during the recent search, and asked investigators to return any items outside the scope of the search warrant.
A New York Times report on Monday indicated that the US government recovered more than 300 documents with classified markings from Mar-a-Lago.
According to the report, the classified documents included material from the CIA, the National Security Agency and the FBI.
- Several days after the FBI raid, a judge in Florida unsealed the search warrant for Trump’s home of Mar-a-Lago and related documents.
The warrant says that the FBI is investigating former US President Donald Trump for a potential violation of the Espionage Act.
- Earlier reports said FBI agents who searched Mar-a-Lago removed no fewer than 11 sets of classified documents, including some marked as top secret and meant to be only available in special government facilities.
Source: Arutz Sheva