FBI recovered 11 sets of classified documents in Trump search: report

The FBI recovered 11 sets of classified documents while conducting the search of former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. 

The Journal reviewed a three-page list of items that FBI agents took from the Palm Beach, Fla., property on Monday, revealing that they took about 20 boxes of items, binders of photos, a handwritten note and Trump’s grant of clemency to his former adviser Roger Stone, who was convicted in 2019 of lying to Congress, witness tampering and obstruction of an official proceeding. 

The list refers to one set of documents as “Various classified/TS/SCI documents,” meaning top secret/sensitive compartmentalized information. It states that FBI agents acquired four sets of top-secret documents, three sets of secret documents and three sets of confidential documents. 

The FBI reportedly sought documents containing information about nuclear weapons in the search, but it is unclear if the agency recovered any. The Journal reported that the list did not contain any additional details about what information was in the classified documents. 

NewsNation separately reported that FBI agents had found dozens of classified documents during their search of Mar-a-Lago on Monday.

The list reported by the Journal was included in a seven-page document that also includes the search warrant the FBI executed mentions information about the “President of France.” 

The warrant shows agents planned to search “the 45 Office” and “all storage rooms and all other rooms or areas within the premises used or available to be used by [the former president] and his staff and in which boxes or documents could be stored, including all structures or buildings on the estate,” according to the Journal. 

The FBI did not appear to search private guest rooms. 

Trump allies have claimed that the former president declassified the documents that he brought to Mar-a-Lago while he was still in office. 

Trump and his allies have attacked the search as being politically motivated as Trump considers another run for the White House in 2024.

Republicans have called for answers from the Department of Justice (DOJ) over what led up to the search, and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) vowed to launch an investigation into the department if Republicans retake control of the House in the November midterm elections. 

Attorney General Merrick Garland said Thursday that the DOJ filed a motion to request that the search warrant be unsealed given Trump’s public notice of the search and the significant public interest in the situation.

Garland also defended the DOJ and FBI against attacks on its credibility, saying that their integrity has been “unfairly attacked.” He said he personally approved the search but did not do so lightly.

A group of news organizations also filed a motion on Thursday to support Garland’s effort to unseal the warrant and further request that all documents related to the warrant be made public.

The search was conducted over Trump’s potential violations of the Presidential Records Act, which requires presidents to turn over documents to government record-keepers after they leave office.