The US Justice Department has been preparing to launch an investigation into former president Donald Trump’s improper transfer of presidential records to Mar-a-Lago, the Washington Post reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.
Some of the records in question were labelled "top secret", the paper added.
According to the Washington Post, it is unclear whether DoJ officials have already started reviewing the materials in the boxes or planning to interview those who might have been involved in collecting and moving them.
Trump has been trying to keep his presidential files out of the hands of a Democrat-led congressional probe into the events of 6 January 2021, when a mob of his supporters stormed the Capitol building to try to prevent Congress from officially confirming Joe Biden's victory in the presidential election. The riot followed a rally hosted by Trump outside the White House where he called on his supporters to "stop the steal" of the elections which he described as fraud.
House investigators have been looking to see if Trump violated the Presidential Records Act of 1978, during his presidency or after, which says that presidential records are the property of the US government and do not belong to the president himself.