The federal government has recovered over 300 classified documents from the Florida estate of former President Donald Trump since he left office, with at least half of the documents recovered during the National Archives’ initial search of Trump’s Palm Beach compound in January of this year.
According to The New York Times, the discovery of the initial batch of classified materials by the agency tasked with documenting and preserving historical records prompted Trump officials to relinquish an additional unknown number of materials to the government in June, and precipitated the federal raid on Mar-a-Largo earlier this month, during which additional documents were seized by the FBI. At least one box of retrieved materials were designated with the federal government’s highest level of classification.
News of the extent of Trump’s stash of state secrets comes just hours after the former president filed a lawsuit seeking to prevent the Department of Justice from “further review of seized materials” claiming “the integrity of these documents is important not only to [Trump] but also to the institution of the Presidency.” In the filing, Trump also requests that a federal watchdog — a so-called “special master” — be appointed to further oversee the Mar-a-Lago investigation.
“The Government has refused to provide President Trump with any reason for the unprecedented, general search of his home. To date, the Government has failed to legitimize its historic decision to raid the home of a President who had been fully cooperative,” the lawsuit states. “The documents seized at Mar-a-Lago on August 8, 2022, were seized from President Trump and were created during his term ms President. Accordingly, the documents are ‘presumptively privileged’ until proven otherwise… Only an evaluation by a neutral reviewer, a Special Master, can secure the sanctity of these privileged materials.”
In February, the National Archives confirmed its January search uncovered a 15 boxes containing material allegedly removed from the White House in violation of the Presidential Records Act — among which included Trump’s self-described “love letters” to North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un. A source close to the matter told the Times that this initial batch of documents also contained documents from the CIA, FBI and the National Security Agency “spanning a variety of topics of national security interest.” Sources also previously revealed to the media Trump kept sensitive materials relating to nuclear weapons at Mar-a-Lago — an assertion that Trump quickly dismissed as a “hoax,” doubling down on claims that the ongoing investigation into his possession of classified materials is merely a partisan witch-hunt orchestrated by “Radical Left Democrats who desperately don’t want me to run for President in 2024.”
The Justice Department’s suspicions that additional classified material remained at Mar-a-Lago following the National Archives search led federal authorities to issue a subpoena in May seeking the return of additional documents. After meeting with government officials to hand over said materials, two of Trump’s lawyers — including Christina Bobb, a former anchor for the militantly right-wing, pro-Trump One America News Network — signed a statement on June 3 stating all unauthorized documents at Mar-a-Lago had been returned to federal authorities, the Times reported.
However, subsequent review of Mar-a-Lago security footage by the Justice Department following the June 3 statement showed individuals clearly shuttling previously seized boxes of classified material throughout club grounds, prompting additional witness interviews which ultimately led to the August 8 FBI raid of the estate. The unsealed federal search warrant related to that latest search revealed the Justice Department is investigating the embattled former president for possible violations of the Espionage Act.
Since the August 8 raid on Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s paranoia against both the federal government and his dwindling circle of sycophants has ramped up dramatically. A Rolling Stone report from early August revealed the ex-president recently became increasingly concerned that someone in his inner circle could be “wearing a wire” or that his personal communications were under surveillance “by Biden.” The investigation also led several right-wing politicians to demand the “defunding” of the FBI and the Department of Justice for “weaponizing” federal agencies.
“When I worked for him, it was an everyday obsession [about] who was leaking, who was cooperating with what. He’d regularly ask me and others, ‘Do you think I can trust this person?’ or ‘Do you trust this person?’ or tell me to ‘go find the leaker,’ Stephanie Grisham, a former senior Trump aide, told Rolling Stone. “Trump demands total loyalty, and yet he turns on people at a moment’s notice. And he’s now in this situation where he and his people are wondering who among them could be giving some of his most closely held information to the FBI.”