FBI Claims It Found Classified Documents at Trump’s Residence, Inventory Shows

Local law enforcement officers in front of the home of former President Donald Trump at Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., on Aug. 9, 2022. (Giorgio Viera/AFP via Getty Images)

The FBI said it seized multiple sets of classified documents from the Florida residence of former President Donald Trump, according to an inventory made public on Aug. 12.

Agents removed approximately 20 boxes, including materials marked classified, documents labeled top secret, and others designated secret, according to a property receipt obtained by The Epoch Times.

Four sets of documents were marked top secret. Three were marked confidential. Three were marked secret. And another entry was for “various classified/TS/SCI documents.”

Top secret, secret, and confidential are classification levels.

No other details were provided about the documents in the filing.

Agents also took binders of photographs, a handwritten note, the grant of clemency signed by Trump for Roger Stone, information concerning the “President of France,” and a “potential presidential record.”

They were executing a warrant that said law enforcement could take “all physical documents and records constituting evidence, contraband, fruits of crime, or other items illegally possessed” in violation of three federal laws, including any government and/or presidential record created between Jan. 20, 2017, and Jan. 20, 2021.

The warrant was also made public for the first time on Friday.

Trump wrote on Truth Social that all the documents were declassified.

The three laws that may have been broken, according to the newly disclosed documents: one that prohibits mishandling of defense information; one that bars concealing, removing, destroying, or attempting to conceal, remove, or destroy U.S. records; and one that makes illegal destruction, alteration, or falsification of records in federal investigations and bankruptcy.

The laws carry potential jail sentences of 10, three, and 20 years, respectively.

The warrant materials did not mention the Presidential Records Act, which had been the focus of some speculation about the raid.

Under the act, presidential records are supposed to automatically transfer to the custody of the U.S. archivist as soon as a president leaves office.

The affidavit underpinning the warrant, or a form from a law enforcement officer explaining to the judge why a search warrant was necessary, remains shielded.

Records Found in January

Trump was previously found to have possessed classified records, according to former Archivist David Ferriero.

After the National Archives and Records Administration arranged the transfer of 15 boxes of presidential records from Mar-a-Lago in mid-January, an inventory of some of the items revealed items “marked as classified national security information,” Ferriero told Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) in a letter about a month later.

Ferriero also said that torn-up records were included in the boxes.

Administration staffers were in touch with the Department of Justice because of the discovery.

FBI agents in June visited Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach, Florida, to look for classified materials, Trump lawyer Christina Bobb told The Epoch Times after the raid. They were allowed to inspect whatever they wanted.

“Nothing had been hidden and nothing had been kept secret from them, which makes this all the more ridiculous,” she said.

Trump said Friday that the FBI “didn’t need to ’seize' anything,” adding, “They could have had it anytime they wanted without playing politics and breaking into Mar-a-Lago.”