FBI Reportedly Recovered Eleven Sets of Classified Documents in Mar-a-Lago Search
17:33 GMT 12.08.2022 (Updated: 18:42 GMT 12.08.2022)
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Former US President Donald Trump may have violated provisions of the Espionage Act related to the mishandling of documents by bringing home classified documents after he left office, some experts have said. However, others have noted that the World War I-era law is only used to prosecute offenders of low rank, or whistleblowers.
The FBI removed about 20 boxes of documents from Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in its Monday raid of the property, including 11 sets of classified documents, according to the Wall Street Journal, which viewed a list of the items.
According to the paper, the FBI took roughly 20 boxes of items, including binders of photos; a handwritten note, the topic of which is not known; the executive grant of clemency for Roger Stone; information about French President Emmanuel Macron; three sets of secret documents; three sets of confidential documents; and four sets of top secret documents.
On Thursday, the Washington Post reported, citing "people familiar with the investigation," that some of the classified documents the FBI was looking for were related to nuclear weapons. Trump has denied the reports, calling them a "hoax."
Trump publicly verified on Monday night that the FBI raid had taken place, and Attorney General Merrick Garland confirmed on Thursday that he had authorized the search warrant for it. However, he gave no other details aside from noting that the Department of Justice had filed in a Florida federal court for the search warrant to be unsealed.
Former US President Donald Trump's residence in Mar-A-Lago, Palm Beach, Florida on August 9, 2022.
© AFP 2023 / GIORGIO VIERA
The dossier viewed by the WSJ on Friday also included the search and seizure warrant. The paper noted it had been signed by US Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart and that the FBI was to search "the 45 office," as well as “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 raid was reportedly motivated by Trump taking documents from the White House back to Mar-a-Lago when he left office in January 2021, instead of surrendering the to the US National Archives and Records Administration, as required by law. His son, Eric Trump, has claimed that the boxes of documents were news clippings his father is notorious for saving, and the former president's lawyers have claimed that Trump declassified the documents before leaving office.
Trump reiterated that statement on Friday, claiming all the documents he had at Mar-a-Lago had been declassified.
However, earlier this year, the Archives retrieved 15 boxes of documents from Mar-a-Lago and a federal grand jury subpoenaed the remaining documents in May.
It's unclear what charges might be brought against Trump for holding onto the documents, but some have noted that it could violate provisions of the 1917 Espionage Act - the same law Trump's DOJ used to prosecute WikiLeaks co-founder and journalist Julian Assange. Others have demurred from that perspective.
"[t]he Espionage Act is part of the two-tiered US justice system," Shadowproof journalist Kevin Gosztola wrote on Thursday. "Only lower-level federal government employees or contractors are punished with Espionage Act charges. High-ranking officials are able to use their status to avoid charges that would turn them into convicted felons."
