The United States Justice Department said that it was forced to search former United States President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate after the latter's legal team had "obstructive conduct" by trying to conceal or remove certain records from investigators.
The allegations were made after Trump's request for a federal judge to appoint a third party to sift through the records seized at his Florida residence. Federal prosecutors said in the filing that Trump's request for a special master to review the records in the search "fails for multiple, independent reasons."
Justice Department Report
They also accused the former president of leveling "wide-ranging meritless accusations against the American government in the motion he filed last week. The agency said that the appointment of a special master is "unnecessary and would significantly harm important government interests, including national security interests."
Among the Justice Department's filings to the court is a redacted FBI photo that was taken during the Aug. 8 search of Trump's Mar-a-Lago. They were of records from a container in the former president's office that include cover sheets for classified information with the markings "SECRET//SCI" and "TOP SECRET//SCI," as per CBS News.
Federal prosecutors said that in some instances, "even the FBI counterintelligence personnel and the DOJ attorneys conducting the review" of the records seized in this month's search required additional clearances before they could review certain documents, which suggests that documents discovered were extremely sensitive.
Trump later posted to his social media platform, Truth Social, where he claimed he declassified the records visible in the photo from the FBI. However, the Justice Department said that the former president's representatives never "asserted that the former president had declassified the documents or asserted any claim of executive privilege.
According to the New York Times, a former U.S. attorney in Manhattan and a longtime critic of Trump, Preet Bharara, said that the former president's legal team got more than they bargained for. They said that the DOJ was given the opportunity to be expansive due to a response to a thin and tardy special master motion.
Trump's Mar-a-Lago Controversy
Trump previously escaped the Russia investigation led by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III without facing obstruction charges, covered at the time by a Justice Department legal memo that guides against indicting a sitting president.
However, bringing a new case focused on the documents found at the former president's Mar-a-Lago estate would also be politically fraught. This is given that Trump seems to be planning another run for the White House in the 2024 presidential elections.
The final page of the Justice Department's report was an image of five yellow folders marked "Top Secret" and a red one that was labeled "Secret" lying on the ground beside a box of magazine covers.
Another document seen in the photograph was one marked "Confidential" which is the lowest level of classification. However, this type of information can still cause damage to the country's national security if it is inappropriately disclosed to other parties, according to the American government's definition, CNN reported.
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