FBI recovered ELEVEN sets of classified documents from Mar-a-Lago

Donald Trump is under investigation for obstruction of justice and violating the Espionage Act, according to the newly unsealed search warrant showing the FBI retrieved 11 sets of classified documents from Mar-a-Lago. 

Meanwhile the former president insisted Friday that everything was ‘declassified’ and agents ‘didn’t need to seize anything.’

Some of the documents were marked ‘top secret’ and are meant to be kept in specialized government facilities, according to a copy of the warrant. 

The FBI would have needed to prove reasonable suspicion that Trump committed a crime in holding on to the documents – criminal statutes cited in the warrant include espionage, removal of records and obstruction of justice. 

Violations of the Espionage Act could include: harboring or concealing persons, gathering, transmitting or losing defense information, gathering or delivering defense information to aid a foreign government, or disclosure of classified information. 

The 11 sensitive items included miscellaneous documents labeled ‘secret,’ ‘top secret’ and ‘confidential.’  

Agents recovered 20 boxes in total from the Florida estate, with the rest including handwritten notes, photo binders, the grant of clemency of Roger Stone and a file with information on the President of France. 

DailyMail.com obtained a copy of the warrant and receipts before it was unsealed by a Florida magistrate judge Friday afternoon. 

The warrant gave FBI agents permission to search in Trump’s office and all storage areas on the premises, and states four sets of top secret documents, three sets of secret documents, and three sets of confidential documents were retrieved. 

Trump’s attorneys now also claim former President Trump declassified the documents before he left office. A president has the power to declassify any document, but there is a strict federal procedure for doing so. 

In breaching the former president’s residency Monday, the FBI was looking for Top Secret and ‘compartmented’ documents dealing with intelligence ‘sources and methods,’ government sources told Newsweek on Friday. 

‘Compartmented’ documents would pertain to ‘classified information concerning or derived from intelligence sources, methods, or analytical processes, which is required to be handled within formal access control systems established by the Director of National Intelligence.’ 

Only a very small circle of people would be allowed to know what was on such documents, which could mean that a warrant or a receipt would not reveal much information about what was taken. 

Intelligence sources say that Trump would not have the capability to declassify such documents. 

Trump declared Friday afternoon that everything in his possession was declassified. He claimed agents could have had the documents ‘LONG ago’ if they had just asked.  

‘Number one, it was all declassified. Number two, they didn’t need to ‘seize’ anything. They could have had it anytime they wanted without playing politics and breaking into Mar-a-Lago. It was in secured storage, with an additional lock put on as per their request,’ he wrote on Truth Social.

‘They could have had it anytime they wanted—and that includes LONG ago. ALL THEY HAD TO DO WAS ASK,’ he added. 

The former president took to Truth Social earlier to compare the latest allegations to ‘Russia, Russia, Russia’, impeachment and the Steele Dossier, and again suggested that law enforcement could have ‘planted’ evidence.

The search and seizure warrant, signed by Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart, allowed for a search of ‘the 45 office’ and ‘all storage rooms and all other rooms or areas within the premises used or available to be used by [the former president] and his staff and in which boxes or documents could be stored, including all structures or buildings on the estate.’ 

The warrant was signed on Aug. 5, the raid conducted three days later on Aug. 8.

The warrant further reads that ‘property to be seized’ includes ‘All physical documents and records constituting evidence, contraband, fruits of crime or other items illegally possessed in violation.’

‘Any physical documents with classification markings, along with any containers/boxes (including any other contents) in which such documents are locations, as well as any other containers/boxes that are collectively stored or found together with the aforementioned documents and containers/boxes.’ 

The warrant then broadly allows for the seizure of any official record from Trump’s presidency.  

It continues: ‘Information, including communications in any form, regarding the retrieval, storage, or transmission of national defense information or classified material; Any government and/or Presidential Records created between January 20, 2017,’ the day Trump took office, and the end of his term.

The warrant is expected to be released later today, but the government does not yet have plans to release the affidavit to the warrant, which could reveal much more information. 

Trump and his team say they do not have a copy of the affidavit and his lawyers have asked for a more detailed account of what was taken from Mar-a-Lago. 

A report from News Nation then claimed that agents discovered ‘boxes everywhere’, including some papers labeled top secrets, from two areas including a ‘storage room near a pool’ and his ‘personal office above a ballroom’. 

The report did not specify the ballroom or pool where the documents were found, but did state that some of the papers had Top Secret Sensitive Compartmented Information – the highest level of classification.

Trump’s post criticizing agents for banning his lawyers from watching the search came just hours after he said he backed a Florida judge unsealing the search warrant that led to the search on his estate on Monday.

His lawyers have until 3pm on Friday to object to the release, but they are unlikely to object.

‘Nuclear weapons issue is a Hoax, just like Russia, Russia, Russia was a Hoax, two Impeachments were a Hoax, the Mueller investigation was a Hoax, and much more,’ Trump wrote Friday morning. 

He added: ‘Same sleazy people involved. Why wouldn’t the FBI allow the inspection of areas at Mar-a-Lago with our lawyer’s, or others, present. Made them wait outside in the heat, wouldn’t let them get even close – said ‘ABSOLUTELY NOT.’ Planting information anyone? Reminds me of a Christofer (sic) Steele Dossier!

Trump also posted about the House vote on the Inflation Reduction Act – calling it ‘the biggest green new fake deal bill in history – and tore into Republican ‘impeachers’ and ‘Crazy’ Liz Cheney ahead of her Wyoming primary on Tuesday night.

The Friday morning statement on the raids was prompted by a Washington Post story published Thursday night that the search at his property was based on documents related to nuclear weapons.

Late on Thursday, Trump said he would not challenge the release of the warrant, after Attorney General Merrick Garland said he would petition for the document to be unsealed.

According to Garland, Trump’s attorneys do have their own copies of both the warrant and the receipt for items seized in Monday’s raid — documents that are routinely provided to the target of a court-approved search. 

Trump announced his stance in a post on his Truth Social network. ‘Not only will I not oppose the release of documents related to the un American, unwarranted, and unnecessary raid and break-in of my home in Palm Beach, Florida, Mar-a-Lago, I am going a step further by ENCOURAGING the immediate release of those documents,’ he wrote.  

Trump added that he encouraged the warrant’s release even though it was ‘drawn up by radical left Democrats and possible future political opponents, who have a strong and vested interest in attacking me.’

The statement came well ahead of the 3pm Friday deadline that Trump’s legal team faced if they decided to oppose the DOJ motion to unseal the warrant, and a ruling on the motion could come before the weekend.

Earlier Thursday, Garland appeared before cameras to defend the search and reveal that he had approved the operation at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach.

Fall-out from the unprecedented search of a former president’s residence has dominated the political world ever since Monday and the Justice Department is under increasing pressure to explain its decision.

Garland said he could not reveal further details of what prompted the hunt, but sources told the Washington Post it was to do with nuclear weapons.

But they did not say whether it was to do with the U.S. nuclear program or that of another nation. 

Moments before Garland’s brief remarks the Justice Department petitioned a judge to unseal the search warrant. 

He said the DOJ moved to make the search warrant public ‘in light of the former president’s public confirmation of the search, the surrounding circumstances, and the substantial public interest in this matter.’

Garland took no questions but went out of his way to criticize the recent verbal attacks and threats against law enforcement in the wake of the ‘raid.’ 

‘Let me address recent unfounded attacks on the professionalism of the FBI and Justice Department agents and prosecutors. I will not stand by silently when their integrity is unfairly attacked,’ the Biden official said.

‘Men and women of the FBI and the Justice Department are dedicated, patriotic public servants. Every day, they protect the American people from violent crime, terrorism and other threats to their safety while safeguarding our civil rights. They do so at great personal sacrifice and risk to themselves.’

His last-minute appearance comes after the former president claimed his home was ‘raided’ by federal agents who apparently broke a padlocked door and seized documents sought by the National Archives.

‘The department does not take such a decision lightly,’ Garland explained in an apparent bid to counter accusations of political persecution from Trump’s allies. 

‘Where possible, it is standard practice to seek less intrusive means as an alternative to a search, and to narrowly scope any search that is undertaken.’

Trump was ordered to respond by 3pm on Friday to the DOJ’s motion to unseal the warrant. 

In his own Thursday statement after Garland’s appearance, Trump claimed his lawyers ‘were cooperating fully’ with the investigation and accused agents of ‘getting way ahead of themselves’ – but notably made no comment on what he’ll do about the warrant.

‘My attorneys and representatives were cooperating fully, and very good relationships had been established. The government could have had whatever they wanted, if we had it,’ Trump posted on his app Truth Social.

‘They asked us to put an additional lock on a certain area – DONE! Everything was fine, better than that of most previous Presidents, and then, out of nowhere and with no warning, Mar-a-Lago was raided, at 6:30 in the morning, by VERY large numbers of agents, and even ‘safecracker.’ They got way ahead of themselves. Crazy!’

Trump has been fuming since revealing news of the search on Monday night, when he said it meant ‘dark times for our nation.’ 

Garland said Thursday, ‘The department did not make any public statements on the day of the search. The former president publicly confirmed the search that evening, as is his right.’

A day after the Mar-a-Lago ‘raid,’ FBI agents seized the cellphone of Pennsylvania Rep. Scott Perry, one of Trump’s top allies in Congress who allegedly aided his efforts to try to steal the 2020 election.

But that seizure was related to another Justice Department investigation of the former president, regarding a ‘fake-electors scheme’ that he and his allies are accused of promoting to stay in power, according to the Washington Post.

The raid on Trump’s home comes months after the National Archives asked the Justice Department to open an investigation into the Republican’s handling of classified records.

Officials from the Archives flew to Mar-a-Lago in January to retrieve 15 boxes of files that were meant to be handed over when Trump left office. Some have since been confirmed to have been labeled ‘classified.’

Garland’s Thursday appearance happened on the heels of a bombshell new CNN report that reveals federal authorities took documents from Mar-a-Lago in June and served a grand jury subpoena while on the grounds. 

But his days-long silence on the explosive raid has spurred fury among Republicans, some of whom are even calling for him to be impeached.

‘No one would have ever imagined before that we would be using or one political party would be using the FBI to attack their political opponents,’ Kentucky Senator Rand Paul told Fox News on Wednesday.

‘Now, this is really something that’s going to require an investigation. And I wouldn’t be surprised if the investigation leads to abuse of power that this could even lead to an impeachment of the attorney general.’

Missouri Senator Josh Hawley tweeted that ‘Garland must resign or be impeached’ at the very least, and that FBI Director Chris Wray should be removed altogether. 

Monday’s raid was reportedly based on ‘witness claims’ of classified documents within Mar-a-Lago even despite the January collection and June DOJ visit, CNN reported on Thursday.