The number of alleged classified documents at Mar-a-Lago
Federal government officials have recovered hundreds of classified documents from former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida since he left office, according to a new report.
The initial trove of documents the National Archives and Records Administration collected in January included over 150 documents with classified markings, and seizures in June and in August brought the total up to more than 300, sources told the New York Times.
In January, following weeks of communication with Trump's team, the National Archives retrieved 15 boxes of presidential documents before discovering classified material and referring the matter to the Justice Department, which opened an investigation.
DOJ officials visited Trump's lavish Palm Beach resort in June and collected another batch of documents possessing sensitive national security information holed up in the basement of Mar-a-Lago. The DOJ then subpoenaed the Trump Organization on June 22 for security footage of the area where the documents were stored. Investigators sought the footage to shed light on who had access to areas where the documents were stored, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Trump lawyer Christina Bobb signed a document in June asserting that all the classified material had been returned to the government, the New York Times reported.
Convinced that there were even more classified materials holed up at the resort, the Justice Department received the green light from Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart to conduct the Aug. 5 search and seizure at Mar-a-Lago. Attorney General Merrick Garland revealed last week that he "personally approved the decision to seek a search warrant."
During the raid, officials collected 26 boxes, which had 11 sets of material with classified markings, the New York Times reported. At least one of those sets of documents was designated with the highest level of classification, per the report.
Trump unveiled a lawsuit Monday, which aims to block the DOJ from reviewing evidence collected in the August raid at Mar-a-Lago.
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Trump is disputing the classification of some of the documents that may still have classified markings. It is also clear from this story that Trump was working with the National Archives on what documents needed to be given to them. If Trump's lawyer believed that all the classified documents had been returned it is possible that Trump relied on that statement too.
See, also:
The purpose of the grand jury investigation and raid on Mar-a-Lago was to get Donald Trump, not documents.
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