An unsealed search warrant shows that the Feds are investigating Donald Trump for removal or destruction of records, obstruction of justice, and violating the Espionage Act for refusing to return national security documents upon request. Earlier this week, the FBI removed classified documents from the former president’s Florida estate.
POLITICO obtained a receipt accompanying the search warrant that suggests took documents, including a “handwritten note; documents marked with ‘TS/SCI,’ which indicates one of the highest levels of government classification; and another item labeled ‘Info re: President of France.'” An item confiscated during the Mar-a-Lago raid included files labeled “Executive grant of clemency re: Roger Jason Stone, Jr.,” one of Trump’s closest confidants who received a pardon in late 2020. The retrieved items were vaguely described using terms like “leatherbound box of documents,” “binder of photos” and “handwritten note.” Other seized items were listed as “miscellaneous top secret documents” and “miscellaneous confidential documents.”
The Justice Department unsealed the warrant after Trump and his GOP allies requested that the documents be made available to the public. This revelation comes days after Trump confirmed the FBI got the green light from Attorney General Merrick Garland to search his Mar-a-Lago home. The unprecedented search was critiqued fiercely by the former president’s political allies. Trump called the unannounced search an unnecessary escalation because he claims he has been cooperating with investigators from the National Archives and FBI for months.
Stone’s attorney Grant Smith said his client “has no knowledge as to the facts surrounding his clemency documents appearing on the inventory of items seized from former President Trump’s home at Mar-a-Lago.” Scott MacFarlane of CBS News reported that a group of House Republicans who were planning on taking the Justice Department to task today (Aug. 12) have canceled the news conference. Rep. Michael Turner held a separate conference with another group of Trump allies and was pressed about the findings. He argued that “Donald Trump has more classified information in his head than he does in his desk.”