Trump’s affidavit offers hints about the scope of the FBI probe

• The inquiry into Donald Trump’s handling of secret documents and presidential records at Mar-a-Lago has seen a very modest lift in the veil of secrecy.
• The court documents that the US justice department used to get a search warrant for Mr. Trump’s Florida estate are now available to the public for the first time.
• Given that foreign nationals have previously entered Mar-a-Lago, the government may have been particularly concerned about this.

The inquiry into Donald Trump’s handling of secret documents and presidential records at Mar-a-Lago has seen a very modest lift in the veil of secrecy. The released image, despite all the redactions, ought to worry the former president.

The court documents that the US justice department used to get a search warrant for Mr. Trump’s Florida estate are now available to the public for the first time. Possibly a portion of it. not the juiciest sections.

As was to be expected, the justice department carefully redacted the document with the judge’s blessing, who had also authorized the historic search by FBI agents on August 8.

While describing its work as “a criminal investigation addressing the inappropriate removal and storage of classified material in unauthorized areas, as well as the unlawful hiding or removal of government records,” the affidavit did include a summary of the pertinent laws in the case.

This final nugget was touched upon later in the affidavit when the government stated that it had cause to suspect its search of Mar-a-Lago would turn up evidence of obstruction of justice.

The declaration also listed the records that Mr. Trump had already sent to the National Archives at the beginning of the year, though only after what the document described as numerous demands over a period of more than six months. These records were housed at the seaside golf club.

According to investigators, those boxes contained a haphazard collection of newspaper clippings, magazines, and photographs in addition to 184 classified documents, including 25 marked “Top Secret.”

According to the affidavit, there were grounds to think that further classified documents were there and were kept in an insecure place.

Given that foreign nationals have previously entered Mar-a-Lago, the government may have been particularly concerned about this. According to the most recent report, a Ukrainian entered the estate in May 2021, met with associates of the former president, and even posed for a photo on the golf course with President Trump and Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.

A significant criminal investigation is underway here. The security of tightly guarded US government secrets, including those involving human intelligence gathering, foreign monitoring, and possibly even court-authorized surveillance of US residents, is at stake. It’s not simply about who gets to keep some presidential mementos and keepsakes.

No explanation has been provided for why Mr. Trump took the supposedly classified documents from the White House or why he first refused to turn them over to investigators, either in the affidavit or elsewhere.

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