WASHINGTON: A person familiar with the situation said on Wednesday that at least two classified records were discovered at the former president’s Florida residence by a team hired by Donald Trump to look for White House documents.
A federal judge instructed Trump’s lawyers to search for any remaining classified documents. According to the person, they searched four properties before they discovered the documents in a storage room at his Palm Beach, Florida, residence.
After Trump leaves office in January 2021, the Justice Department is looking into whether he broke the law by keeping records from the United States government, some of which were marked as top secret.
Trump, who started his 2024 presidential campaign a month ago, has said that the investigation is a partisan attack without providing any evidence.
CNN and the Washington Post reported the searches earlier.
During a search of his Palm Beach, Florida, Mar-a-Lago estate that was authorized by the court on August 8, FBI agents seized thousands of documents, about 100 of which were marked as classified.
When the FBI sent agents to search Trump’s home, the prosecution is also looking into whether Trump or his team obstructed justice. More classified documents may still be missing, according to officials.
Jack Smith, a war crimes prosecutor, was appointed special counsel by US Attorney General Merrick Garland last month to oversee both the documents investigation and a separate investigation into his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Steven Cheung, a spokesperson for Trump, made the following statement: “President Trump and his counsel continue to be cooperative and transparent, despite the unprecedented, illegal, and unwarranted attack against President Trump and his family by the weaponized Department of Justice.”
Smith was appointed special counsel by Garland to ensure that the investigation was independent of US President Joe Biden, who might face Trump again in the election in 2024.
Over the course of the past week, Trump has been dealt a number of legal setbacks, one of which was a Tuesday verdict that found his company guilty of tax fraud.
