WASHINGTON-
The US Justice Department said Tuesday that classified documents were “likely concealed and removed” from former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate as part of an effort to obstruct the federal investigation into the discovery of the records. of the government.
The FBI also seized 33 boxes containing more than 100 classified records during its Aug. 8 search of Mar-a-Lago and found classified documents hidden in Trump’s office, according to a file presenting the most detailed timeline to date of months of tense investigation. interactions between Justice Department officials and Trump representatives over the uncovering of government secrets.
The filing offers another indication of the large volume of classified records recovered from Mar-a-Lago. It shows how investigators conducting a criminal investigation have focused not only on why the records were improperly stored there, but also on the question of whether the Trump team intentionally misled them about the continued and illegal presence of the top-secret documents. .
The timeline set by the Department of Justice made it clear that the extraordinary search for Mar-a-Lago came only after other efforts to recover the records had failed, and that it was the result of law enforcement’s suspicion of that additional documents remained inside the property despite assurances from Trump representatives that a “diligent search” had turned up all the material.
It also included an image of some of the seized documents with clear classification marks, perhaps as a way to refute suggestions that whoever packaged or was handling them might have easily failed to appreciate their sensitive nature.
The photo shows the covers of a handful of clip-bound classified documents, some marked “TOP SECRET//SCI” with bright yellow borders, and one marked “SECRET//SCI” with a rust-colored border. along with whitewashed pages, spread out on a rug at Mar-a-Lago. Next to them is a cardboard box filled with gold-framed photographs, including a Time magazine cover.
Although it contains significant new details about the investigation, the Justice Department’s filing does not resolve a central question that has sparked public fascination with the investigation: why did Trump keep the documents after leaving the White House and why did he and your team resisted repeatedly? efforts to return them. Indeed, it suggests officials may not have received a response.
During a June 3 visit to Mar-a-Lago by FBI and Justice Department officials, the document states: “The former president’s attorney offered no explanation as to why boxes of government records, including 38 documents with classification marks, remained on the premises”. almost five months after the production of the Fifteen Boxes and almost a year and a half after the end of the Administration”.
That visit to Mar-a-Lago, which came weeks after the Justice Department issued a subpoena for records, receives substantial attention in the document and appears to be a key investigative focus.
Although Trump has said he had declassified all the documents at Mar-a-Lago, his attorneys did not suggest that during the visit and instead “handled them in a way that suggested the attorney believed the documents were classified,” according to The document. .
FBI agents who went there to receive additional materials received “a single Redweld envelope, double-taped, containing the documents,” the file says.
That envelope, according to the FBI, contained 38 unique documents with classification marks, including five documents marked confidential, 16 marked secret and 17 marked top secret.
During that visit, the document says, Trump’s lawyers told investigators that all the records that had come from the White House were stored in one place, a storage room at Mar-a-Lago, and that “there was no other records stored in any private office space or other location on the premises and that all available boxes were searched.”
However, after that, the Justice Department, which had requested video footage of the property, “developed evidence that government records were likely concealed and removed from the storage room and that steps were likely taken to obstruct the government investigation. The filing does not identify the people who may have relocated the boxes.
In their August search, agents found classified documents in both the storage room and the former president’s office, including three classified documents found not in boxes but on office desks.
“That the FBI, in a matter of hours, recovered twice as many documents with classification marks as the ‘diligent search’ that the former president’s attorney and other representatives had weeks to conduct calls into serious question the representations made in the March 3 certification. June and casts doubt on the extent of cooperation in this matter,” the document says.
It says, “In some cases, even FBI counterintelligence personnel and DOJ attorneys conducting the review required additional clearances before they were allowed to review certain documents.”
The investigation began with a referral from the National Archives and Records Administration, which recovered 15 boxes from Mar-a-Lago in January containing 184 documents with classified markings, including top-secret information.
The purpose of Tuesday night’s filing was to oppose a request by Trump’s legal team for a special master to review documents seized during this month’s search and set aside those protected by claims of legal privilege. US District Judge Aileen Cannon will hear arguments on the matter Thursday.
Cannon said Saturday that it was his “preliminary intention” to name that person, but he also gave the Justice Department a chance to respond.
On Monday, the department said it had already completed its review of potentially privileged documents and identified a “limited set of materials that potentially contain attorney-client privilege.” He said Tuesday that a special teacher was therefore “unnecessary.”
In a separate development, Trump’s legal team has grown with the addition of another attorney. Chris Kise, the former Florida attorney general, has joined the team of lawyers representing Trump, according to two people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to discuss the measure on his behalf and spoke on condition of anonymity. Kise did not return messages seeking comment.
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Colvin and Balsamo reported from New York