Since Donald Trump left the presidency, more than 300 classified documents that were still in the ex-president’s possession have been seized. This is the result of research by the New York Times.
In January, the National Archives received 150 sensitive documents from Donald Trump’s possession. This raised serious concerns in the Justice Department and led to the criminal investigation into the former president, which has now included a FBI search of his Mar-a-Lago home.
According to this, former US President Donald Trump wants to use a lawsuit to have a neutral auditor appointed. He should see the documents secured during the operation two weeks ago in Mar-a-Lago in Florida – at the same time, the examination by state investigators should be stopped by then, according to a complaint filed by Trump’s lawyers in Florida on Monday.
Trump’s defense attorneys argue that the seized documents may be protected by the US President’s executive privilege: “This matter has drawn the attention of the American public. Merely “appropriate” safeguards are unacceptable when the matter at hand involves not only President Trump’s constitutional rights but also the preservation of the enforcement of privileges,” the document reads.
Executive privilege is the President’s prerogative to keep certain information secret. During a search of Trump’s property, the FBI found and confiscated, among other things, sets of documents classified as top secret.
The “breaking into” of his Mar-a-Lago, Florida home, the search and the seizure of records was “illegal and unconstitutional,” Trump said. “And we are taking all necessary steps to get the documents back.”
Trump had argued that he released the documents at the time. Incumbent presidents do have far-reaching powers to lift secrecy. But for the release of documents there is a formal procedure with several highly official steps.
According to the New York Times, according to journalist Maggie Haberman, Trump himself is said to have gone through the boxes at the end of 2021 – after archive officials had tried to recover the material for almost a year.
“Some of the documents seized in January involved the NSA, CIA and FBI and covered a range of national security matters,” Haberman wrote in a Twitter thread. The documents are said to have been found in a storage room and in a closet in his office.
On August 8, FBI agents searched Trump’s Florida home in an unprecedented raid. The search had caused a stir in the United States. Trump supporters have accused the Justice Department of attacking Trump for political reasons.
The investigation is about documents that Trump took from the White House to Mar-a-Lago after the end of his term in January 2021. US Presidents are required to hand over all official documents, including e-mails and letters, to the National Archives upon leaving office.
