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Saturday 13 auguSt 2022
FBI seized ‘top secret’ documents from Trump home

Continued from Front information about it now
would not harm the court’s
functions.
The seized records include The Justice Department un-
some that were marked der Garland has been leery
classified as top secret of public statements about
and also “sensitive com- politically charged inves-
partmented information,” tigations, or of confirming
a special category meant to what extent it might be
to protect the nation’s investigating Trump as part
most important secrets of a broader probe into the
and those that if revealed Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capi-
publicly would harm U.S. tol and efforts to overturn
interests. The court records the results of the 2020 elec-
did not provide specific de- tion.
tails about the documents The department has tried
or what information they to avoid being seen as in-
might contain. jecting itself into presiden-
The warrant details that tial politics, as happened in
federal agents were inves- 2016 when then-FBI Direc-
tigating potential violations tor James Comey made
of three different federal an unusual public state-
laws, including one that ment announcing that the
governs gathering, trans- The receipt for property that was seized during the execution of a search warrant by the FBI at FBI would not be recom-
mitting or losing defense former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., is photographed Friday, mending criminal charges
information under the Espi- Aug. 12, 2022. Associated Press against Clinton regard-
onage Act. The other stat- ing her handling of email
utes address the conceal- been declassified. Trump ally remain sealed during a a person familiar with the — and when he spoke up
ment, mutilation or removal also kept possession of the pending investigation. But matter, there was sub- again just over a week be-
of records and the destruc- documents despite mul- the department appeared stantial engagement with fore the election to notify
tion, alteration, or falsifica- tiple requests from agen- to recognize that its silence Trump and his representa- Congress that the probe
tion of records in federal cies, including the National since the search had creat- tives prior to the search war- was being effectively re-
investigations. Archives, to turn over presi- ed a vacuum for bitter ver- rant, including a subpoena opened because of the
The property receipt also dential records in accor- bal attacks by Trump and for records and a visit to discovery of new emails.
showed federal agents col- dance with federal law. his allies, and that the pub- Mar-a-Lago a couple of The Mar-a-Lago search
lected other potential pres- U.S. Magistrate Judge lic was entitled to the FBI’s months ago by FBI and Jus- warrant served Monday
idential records, including Bruce Reinhart, the same side about what prompted tice Department officials to was part of an ongoing
the order pardoning Trump judge who signed off on Monday’s action at the for- assess how the documents Justice Department inves-
ally Roger Stone, a “leather- the search warrant, un- mer president’s home. were stored. The person tigation into the discovery
bound box of documents,” sealed the warrant and “The public’s clear and was not authorized to dis- of classified White House
and information about the property receipt Friday at powerful interest in under- cuss the matter by name records recovered from
“President of France.” A the request of the Justice standing what occurred and spoke on condition of Trump’s home in Palm
binder of photos, a hand- Department after Attor- under these circumstances anonymity. Beach, Florida, earlier this
written note, “miscella- ney General Merrick Gar- weighs heavily in favor of Neither Trump nor the FBI year. The National Archives
neous secret documents” land declared there was unsealing,” said a motion has said anything about had asked the department
and “miscellaneous confi- “substantial public interest filed in federal court in Flori- what documents the FBI to investigate after saying
dential documents” were in this matter,” and Trump da on Thursday. might have recovered, or 15 boxes of records it re-
also seized in the search. backed the warrant’s “im- The information was re- what precisely agents were trieved from the estate in-
Trump’s attorney, Chris- mediate” release. The Jus- leased as( Trump prepares looking for. cluded classified records.
tina Bobb, who was pres- tice Department told the for another run for the White FBI and Justice Department Multiple federal laws gov-
ent at Mar-a-Lago when judge Friday afternoon that House. During his 2016 policy cautions against dis- ern the handling of classi-
the agents conducted the Trump’s lawyers did not campaign, he pointed fre- cussing ongoing investiga- fied information.
search, signed both prop- object to the proposal to quently to an FBI investi- tions, both to protect the The attorney general also
erty receipts — one that make it public. gation into his Democratic integrity of the inquiries and condemned verbal attacks
was two pages long and In messages posted on his opponent, Hillary Clinton, to avoid unfairly maligning on FBI and Justice Depart-
another that is a single Truth Social platform, Trump over whether she mishan- someone who is being scru- ment personnel over the
page. wrote, “Not only will I not dled classified information. tinized but winds up ulti- search. Some Republican
In a statement earlier Fri- oppose the release of doc- To obtain a search warrant, mately not being charged. allies of Trump have called
day, Trump claimed that uments ... I am going a step federal authorities must That’s especially true in the for the FBI to be defunded.
the documents seized by further by ENCOURAGING prove to a judge that prob- case of search warrants, Large numbers of Trump
agents were “all declassi- the immediate release of able cause exists to believe where supporting court supporters have called for
fied,” and argued that he those documents.” that a crime was commit- papers are routinely kept the warrant to be released
would have turned over Trump himself had been ted. Garland said he per- secret as the investigation hoping they it will show that
the documents to the Jus- given at least some of the sonally approved the war- proceeds. Trump was unfairly target-
tice Department if asked. records the government rant, a decision he said the In this case, though, Gar- ed.
While incumbent presi- was seeking to unseal, but department did not take land cited the fact that “I will not stand by silently
dents have the power to he and his lawyers have lightly given that standard Trump himself had pro- when their integrity is un-
declassify information, that declined, so far, to make practice where possible is vided the first public con- fairly attacked,” Garland
authority lapses as soon as them public. to select less intrusive tac- firmation of the FBI search, said of federal law enforce-
they leave office and it was The Justice Department’s tics than a search of one’s “as is his right.” The Justice ment agents, calling them
not clear if the documents request is striking because home. Department, in its new fil- “dedicated, patriotic pub-
in question have ever such documents tradition- In this case, according to ing, also said that disclosing lic servants.”q