Documents ‘possibly hidden’ in Trump to slow investigation

A Department of Justice document released Tuesday night to Wednesday said top-secret documents seized from former US President Donald Trump’s Florida residence are “likely to be withheld” to impede a federal police investigation against him.

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This procedural document explains in the most detailed way to date the reasons why the US Federal Police (FBI) made a spectacular search on August 8 of the former Republican president’s residence to retrieve top-secret documents. Leaving the White House despite multiple requests.

The investigation specifically seeks to determine whether Donald Trump or his relatives have engaged in criminally reprehensible conduct by seeking to prevent the FBI from recovering these documents, the Justice Department details.

Prior to the operation, the FBI exposed “multiple sources of evidence” showing that “secret documents” remain at Mr Trump’s sprawling Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, she said.

“The police also had evidence that it was possible that government documents were hidden and taken… and that actions likely to obstruct the investigation,” the court document added.

The Department of Justice in particular describes how FBI agents first went to Mar-a-Lago in June to retrieve several files, with a member of Trump’s team giving them an “affidavit” that they were the last remaining in the residence.

But during a search in August, the FBI found about 30 boxes containing highly sensitive documents, ranging from “secret to top-secret”, that FBI and Justice Department lawyers had to request “passes.” Additional” before you can consult them, select.

The actions, which the Department of Justice described as showing “deliberate deception” and “extremely irresponsible” behavior from Donald Trump’s inner circle, criticized Democrat-elect Adam Schiff, chair of the House Intelligence Committee.

On the last page of the report, a surprising photograph shows documents seized by the Federal Police, stamped “Top Secret,” scattered on a floral carpet.

“It’s shocking how, during the Mar-a-Lago raid, the FBI randomly dumped documents on the ground (perhaps to make it look like they did!”)” Donald Trump replied on the Truth Social platform on Wednesday, previously declassified.

The Republican, who is flirting with the idea of ​​running for the presidential election of 2024, has for months been condemning the “witch hunt” that his successor’s administration has led against him, and believes that justice “never would have been served.” to allow this forced entry” into his home.

For its part, the Department of Justice indicated that it had clarified the process that led to the research in order to “correct the incomplete and inaccurate account presented in the statements” by Mr. Trump.

The department’s statement comes in response to a request made last week by the former president that an independent expert examine documents seized by the FBI from his home.

But naming this third party could prevent investigators from accessing the documents, and justice should not do so “because these (seized) documents do not belong to Mr. Trump,” the Justice Department asserts.

Such a measure “is not necessary and would seriously harm the interests of the state, including with regard to national security,” it wrote.

The investigation and research into Mar-a-Lago was launched with the delivery of 15 boxes of documents that Donald Trump transferred to the Oval Office in January to the National Archives, which is responsible for recording presidential activities for history.

Some of these documents bore the “HCS” label, which in US intelligence language denotes information provided by “human sources”, informants and other covert agents. Examination of these boxes convinced the FBI that the former president still had to keep the others.

Thus, investigators suspect that Donald Trump has violated the US Espionage Act, which strictly regulates the possession of classified documents.

The billionaire is also the target of investigations into his efforts to nullify the results of the 2020 presidential election and his role in the attack by his supporters on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

He is currently not prosecuted in any way.