Donald Trumpis being investigated for potentially obstructing justice and violating the Espionage Act, according to the now-public search warrant executed at the former president’s Mar-a-Lago home earlier this week.
An inventory of the items taken in the search shows 11 sets of classified documents. Some were marked as top secret, which theWall Street Journalnotes should only be available in special government facilities.
Among the many boxes of items taken were binders of photos, an unspecified handwritten note and the executive grant of clemency forformer Trump aide Roger Stone. The three-page list of items also showed that information about the President of France was collected.
POLITICOreports that the warrant reveals that the FBI is investigating Trump for “removal or destruction of records, obstruction of an investigation, and violating the Espionage Act.” Conviction of those statutes, notes the outlet, “can result in imprisonment or fines.”
Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida. Inset: Donald Trump.Joe Raedle/Getty. Inset: Zach Gibson - Pool/Getty
After the former president, 76, announced that theFBI searched his residenceat the Palm Beach, Florida, resort on Monday, a source toldThe Washington Postthat the investigation was in regard to sensitive materials, including those pertaining to nuclear weapons.
Trump has said on his social media platform Truth Social that any documents in his possession had been declassified.
“Number one, it was all declassified. Number two, they didn’t need to ‘seize’ anything,” Trump wrote on Friday afternoon.
“They could have had it anytime they wanted,” the former president said, before accusing law enforcement authorities — who work for the Federal Bureau of Investigation and entered the property with a warrant that required probable cause and sign-off from a judge — of “breaking into Mar-a-Lago.”
In a press conference Thursday, Attorney GeneralMerrick Garlandsaid the Department of Justice hadfiled a motion in a Florida courtto unseal the search warrant and property receipt, making those details available to the public.
“The public’s clear and powerful interest in understanding what occurred under these circumstances weighs heavily in favor of unsealing,” the motion reads, according toThe Post. “That said, the former President should have an opportunity to respond to this Motion and lodge objections, including with regards to any ‘legitimate privacy interests’ or the potential for other ‘injury’ if these materials are made public.”
Seth Wenig/AP
Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free weekly newsletterto get the biggest news of the week delivered to your inbox every Friday.
The search of Mar-a-Lago comes after FBI agents and a senior Justice Department national security supervisor reportedly visited the resort in early June in regards to boxes of classified documents sitting in the property’s basement, officials followed up with Trump’s lawyer, with instructions to install a stronger lock on the storage room door.
Trump reportedly assured officials that he had no more classified materials, but weeks later, “someone familiar with the stored papers told investigators there may be still more classified documents at the private club,” perThe Wall Street Journal.
Two months after their first visit to the private Palm Beach club, agents were back with the warrant.
While the FBI conducted itssearch of the propertyMonday — which reportedly focused on Trump’s office and personal quarters —the former president was in New York Cityinside Trump Tower.
source: people.com
