According to a recently released court document, the FBI found 48 empty folders marked as containing classified information during its search of former President Donald J. Trump's Florida club and home last month. This raises the question of whether the government has fully recovered the documents or if any are still missing.
The document, which includes a thorough inventory of the things found during the search, was made public on Friday as part of the legal battle over whether to choose an impartial arbiter to examine the papers federal investigators took when they entered Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago home on August 8.
List Details What FBI Recovered at Trump's Mar-a-Lago Estate
The inventory revealed that the FBI also located 40 more empty files with indications implying that they contained sensitive papers that the user should "deliver to staff secretary/military aide." Agents discovered 11 more documents in a storage area in addition to seven labelled "top secret" documents discovered in Trump's office.
The inventory also reveals how haphazardly and intermingled with common objects were stored papers labelled as classified, NY Times reported. One box contained 30 news clippings from 2008 to 2019, three clothing items or "gift items," one book, 11 classified papers identified as confidential, 21 classified as secret, and 255 classified documents or images without any markings.
The highest classification, top secret, is designated for the most closely-guarded secrets in the nation, according to NY Post. Nuclear codes or information given by a sensitive human source, sometimes known as a spy, are examples of information that might be categorized in that way.
Information that may possibly result in "serious" harm to national security if it were made public is what is referred to as secret information. The Justice Department had disclosed that 15 boxes that the National Archives had acquired from Mar-a-Lago earlier this year included 184 classified papers in a redacted affidavit that was made public last week.
The thorough inventory, which was made public on Friday, does not reveal what the documents included, but it does demonstrate the degree to which they were mingled with personal belongings like clothing, magazines, and newspapers.
Inside the storage containers and Trump's office, more than 1,600 items from publications including newspapers, periodicals, and other channels were discovered. According to the list, 33 books and 19 things labeled "articles of clothing/gift goods" were also confiscated.
The court decided to make the more thorough inventory list public during a hearing on whether to approve Trump's request to appoint a special master to examine the vast collection of papers seized by the FBI.
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McCarthy Urges Witnesses To Testify Against FBI's Mar-a-Lago Raid
The judge then unsealed it the following day. In addition to the inventory, the DOJ also unveiled a succinct three-page filing on Friday that provided the court with an update on the progress of its investigative team's examination of the confiscated papers.
Experts believe that Trump, as well as other members of his administration, may be charged with obstructing justice for allegedly hiding the sensitive information. The extensively redacted affidavit and the FBI search warrant also make reference to Section 1519, an obstruction provision that carries a maximum 20-year jail sentence for violation.
The FBI's warrant was approved due to suspicions of document hiding and breaches of the Espionage Act in addition to obstruction. The Espionage Act has a maximum 10-year jail sentence, whereas document concealing carries a maximum three-year sentence.
Who the DOJ thinks is accountable for any crimes, if any, has not yet been made known to the public. Legal experts disagree on whether Trump's aspirations to run for president again may be affected by any prospective indictments or convictions.
Meanwhile, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy requested witnesses to testify before the House Judiciary Committee on the raid on former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate: Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray.
Per Fox News, McCarthy reportedly requested Garland to provide Republicans with information about the Mar-a-Lago raid. McCarthy wrote to Garland, "Under these extraordinary circumstances, the DOJ is acting in a way that is undermining public trust and confidence."
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