FBI Agents Found Over 300 Top Secret Documents At Mar-a-Lago

Former President Donald Trump kept more than 300 classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago residence, according to a review conducted by the National Archives.

Earlier this month, the FBI executed a search warrant on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence as a part of the Justice Department’s investigation into missing classified documents. Some of the documents retrieved in the FBI’s search of the Palm Beach, Florida, estate were labeled “Special Access Program Materials,” which are some of the most secretive and highly protected government papers.

The Justice Department opened an investigation into Trump in February when the National Archives indicated Trump may have violated the Presidential Records Act, which requires Presidents to turn in documents and records at the end of their administration, after locating 15 boxes of classified White House documents at Mar-a-Lago earlier this year. After the boxes were recovered in January, Trump said that he no longer had possession of secret documents. His claim at the time is now under scrutiny as the possibility that he and those around him lied to keep top secret documents, some of which have been revealed to pertain to nuclear weapons, at Mar-a-Lago.

On Monday, Trump’s lawyers asked for the appointment of a special master to decide which materials from the FBI’s search can be used against him in the Justice Department’s criminal investigation. They also asked that a more detailed list of what was taken be released.

There is a possibility that executive privilege could be used to keep the documents from being used against him in a potential trial, even though it was illegal for him to retain the documents in the first place.