Federal agents searched former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate after evidence was accumulated regarding government records that were removed from their concealed even though a grand jury had subpoenaed the former president for them. This all came to light following a document filed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) court documents on Tuesday evening.
The filing shows the chronology of the attempts to recover the presidential records and classified documents that were found in Trump’s Florida estate. This led to many concerns regarding the former president’s team’s claims that a “diligent search” led to all of the requested documents being handed in because of the May subpoena.
The details from the filing also show that some of the documents were found on Trump’s desk. In total there were 33 boxes recovered containing over 100 classified records from the Mar-a-Lago search on Aug. 8.
Trump has maintained that the search warrant was an overstep as he had previously been cooperating with the National Archives and federal officials. However, this new document from the DOJ is casting a shadow on Trump’s cooperation claims.
In the document the DOJ also disclosed that it became evident that government records were concealed or removed from the storage room, as there were attempts to mess with the investigation.
The filing also contains information about the communication with Trump’s team, this includes the letters from Trump’s legal team where the DOJ was reassured that all of the classified material requested by the subpoena had been returned.
However, from the filing, it is clear that Trump’s personnel stopped government agents from looking inside the boxes that were left in the storage room.
The June materials handed in included 38 documents. However, the search in August by the GBI led to over 100 classified records being retrieved from the Mar-a-Lago estate.
