Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida. Inset: Donald Trump.Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty. Inset: Zach Gibson - Pool/Getty
One week after the FBI’s recent search of the former president’s Mar-a-Lago home,Donald Trumpis accusing the agency of “stealing” his passports.
The FBI acknowledged it had taken the passports — two of which were reportedly expired and a third that was a diplomatic passport, similar to those all presidents receive — though a Justice Department official told outlets includingNBC Newson Monday that the passports had been returned to the former president.
An inventory of the items taken in the search shows 11 sets of classified documents. Some were marked as top secret, which theWall Street Journalnotes should only be available in special government facilities.
Among the many boxes of items taken were binders of photos, an unspecified handwritten note and the executive grant of clemency forformer Trump aide Roger Stone. The three-page list of items also showed that information about the president of France was collected.
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Politicoreports that the warrant reveals the FBI is investigating Trump for “removal or destruction of records, obstruction of an investigation, and violating the Espionage Act.” Conviction of those statutes, notes the outlet, “can result in imprisonment or fines.”
Later on Monday, Trump said there was “no way to justify” the search, which he called a “RAID,” calling on the FBI to release the entire affidavit and adding: “the Judge on this case should recuse!”
The Justice Departmentopposes unsealing the affidavit, saying in a filing it contains sensitive information regarding witness testimony.
Trump and his allies have used a number of defenses to justify why top-secret documents could have been at Mar-a-Lago, at times claiming the FBI “planted” evidence, and at other times claiming the former president had issued a standing order todeclassify documentswhile he was in office.
While presidents can declassify documents when in office, they must go through a formal process in order to do so (and it remains unclear if Trump undertook that process to declassify the documents in question).
source: people.com
