FBI investigation into Donald Trump's handling of presidential documents

On August 26, 2022, the FBI released a redacted affidavit into its search of the Mar-a-Lago.

The FBI investigation into Donald Trump's handling of presidential documents is an ongoing criminal investigation by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation into former President Donald Trump's handling of classified and national defense-related government documents, which could have violated the Espionage Act and obstruction of justice. The investigation is being conducted under the direction of Christopher A. Wray, whom Trump appointed in 2017 to replace James Comey.

Origin and presidential transition

Following Trump's loss in the 2020 United States presidential election, talks began between the Trump administration and the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) regarding transferring documents related to the Trump administration. Under the Presidential Records Act (44 U.S.C. §§ 22012209), any presidential documents under the current administration must be transferred to the Archivist of the United States by the end of their term. White House chief of staff Mark Meadows informed the National Archives during this period that he would take care of the documents. On January 18, 2021, at least two moving trucks were spotted outside the Mar-a-Lago, Trump's private residence in Palm Beach, Florida. Pictures were taken on the day of his departure showing boxes of materials that he had taken with him.

In May 2021, the National Archives would become aware of missing documents. Among the missing material were correspondence letters with Kim Jong-un and a congratulatory letter from former President Barack Obama. On May 6, Gary Stern—the general counsel for the National Archives—emailed Trump's representatives, including Patrick F. Philbin, to inform them that such material was missing. In the email, Stern named Pat Cipollone as a witness to the documents, identifying two dozen boxes that were in the White House but had not been transferred to the National Archives. Scott Gast, a representative for Trump, responded to Stern by giving him a note informing him that Trump would return his correspondence letters with Jong-un, although Trump was unclear on how to proceed. An archive official recommended FedEx as a method of transferring the documents; Trump aides objected to this idea, and the letters were not returned. Trump would display these letters to people in his office, leading to Meddows contacting Philbin in an effort to figure out how to facilitate the return of these documents.

Trump's lawyers would inform the National Archives in December that they had found 12 boxes of documents at the Mar-a-Lago.

NARA retrieval of documents

In January 2022, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) had begun a process to retrieve 15 boxes taken from the White House at the end of Trump's term to his private estate, the Mar-a-Lago, and successfully negotiated with Trump's lawyers in retrieving the documents. Among what was contained in the documents was classified information.

Following the discovery, the National Archives flagged the incident to the Justice Department and the House Committee on Oversight and Reform began an investigation into the documents. The Justice Department would instruct the National Archives not to share any more details about the documents to the committee, implying that the FBI was beginning a separate investigation. In May 2022, the Justice Department subpoenaed the National Archives in an attempt to obtain the documents, and had interviewed several White House officials who were present in the days leading up to Trump's departure from the White House, seemingly confirming that the Justice Department was beginning a grand jury investigation into the documents. Of the documents retrieved by NARA from Mar-a-Lago, archivists and federal agents determined that 184 unique documents had classification markings, of which 25 were marked "top secret", 92 "secret" and 67 "confidential". Some materials were governed by special access programs (SAP), a type of protocol reserved for extremely sensitive U.S. operations conducted abroad, intended to significantly limit access to the information.

Investigation

Mar-a-Lago security footage subpoena

On June 22, 2022, the Justice Department subpoenaed surveillance footage from Mar-a-Lago of the basement where records had been stored. According to the New York Times, sources familiar with the tapes revealed that "the video showed boxes being moved out of the storage room sometime around the contact from the Justice Department. And it also showed boxes being slipped into different containers, which alarmed investigators."

FBI search of Mar-a-Lago

In response to a lawsuit by Donald J. Trump, the Department of Justice National Security Division and U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida submitted a filing containing this image, which they described as "[A] redacted FBI photograph of certain documents and classified cover sheets recovered from a container in the '45 office')"

On August 8, 2022, the FBI executed a search warrant on Mar-a-Lago, seizing many documents and beginning their investigation into them.

That day, FBI agents seized 26 boxes from Mar-a-Lago, including 11 sets of classified government materials, of which one set was top secret/sensitive compartmented information (TS/SCI), four sets were classified as top secret, three sets were classified as secret, and three sets of papers were classified as confidential. TS/SCI is the highest possible classification and is supposed to be read exclusively in secure government facilities. On August 26, 2022, the FBI released a partly-redacted affidavit used to obtain the search warrant. The affidavit revealed that "a significant number of civilian witnesses" had provided information that led the FBI to suspect violations of the Espionage Act and obstruction of justice.

Response

Trump has claimed that he made a "standing order" to declassify all material brought to Mar-a-lago, though there is no known documentation of the order and none of the laws cited in the investigation require the documents to contain classified information. Trump's legal team has also sued to request a "Special Master", which would ensure that the Justice department return any of his private belongings taken during the search. Trump has also suggested, without evidence, that the FBI planted classified documents taken during the search, and that the search itself was unnecessary, saying "the government could have had whatever they wanted, if we had it.".



This page was last updated at 2022-09-04 21:06 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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