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                                                                                                 U.S. NEWS Wednesday 24 august 2022
            More than 100 classified Trump docs recovered back in Jan.



            By ERIC TUCKER                                                                                                      identified  items  marked  as
            Associated Press                                                                                                    classified at the top secret
            WASHINGTON  (AP)  —  The                                                                                            level as well as information
            National  Archives  and  Re-                                                                                        about  special  access  pro-
            cords  Administration  re-                                                                                          grams.
            covered  more  than  100                                                                                            It  says  the  records  includ-
            documents  bearing  clas-                                                                                           ed  over  100  documents
            sified  markings,  totaling                                                                                         with  classified  markings,
            more than 700 pages, from                                                                                           “comprising   more    than
            an initial batch of 15 boxes                                                                                        700  pages”  and  cites  an
            retrieved  from  Mar-a-Lago                                                                                         excerpt from separate cor-
            earlier this year, according                                                                                        respondence from the Jus-
            to  newly  public  govern-                                                                                          tice Department’s National
            ment correspondence with                                                                                            Security Division saying that
            the Trump legal team.                                                                                               “access  to  the  materials
            The  numbers  make  clear                                                                                           is  not  only  necessary  for
            the large volume of secret                                                                                          purposes  of  our  ongoing
            government      documents                                                                                           criminal  investigation”  but
            recovered  months  ago                                                                                              also  for  an  “assessment  of
            from former President Don-                                                                                          the potential damage” re-
            ald  Trump’s  Florida  estate,                                                                                      sulting  from  the  manner  in
            well  before  FBI  officials  re-                                                                                   which the documents were
            turned there with a search                                                                                          transported and stored.
            warrant on Aug. 8 and re-    A letter from acting archivist of the United States Debra Steidel Wall to former President Donald   Corcoran  did  not  imme-
            moved  an  additional  11    Trump’s legal team is photographed Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2022.            Associated Press   diately  return  messages
            sets  of  classified  records.                                                                                      seeking  comment  on  the
            The  warrant  reveals  an  FBI                                                                                      letter.q
            investigation  into  the  po-  The  letter  was  made  pub-
            tential  unlawful  possession  lic Tuesday on the website
            of  the  records  as  well  as  of the National Archives. It
            obstruction of justice.      was released Monday night
            The  figures  on  documents  on a website launched by
            were included in a May 10  John  Solomon,  who  was
            letter  in  which  acting  ar-  appointed  by  Trump  in
            chivist  Debra  Steidel  Wall  June to be one of his des-
            told  a  lawyer  for  Trump,  ignated  representatives  to
            Evan  Corcoran,  that  the  the  National  Archives  and
            Biden administration would  who  is  a  Trump  ally  and
            not  be  honoring  the  for-  conservative journalist.
            mer  president’s  protective  The archivist’s letter says the
            claims  of  executive  privi-  Justice  Department  had
            lege over the documents.     found  “no  precedent  for
            Corcoran  had  weeks  ear-   an  assertion  of  executive
            lier  requested  additional  privilege by a former Presi-
            time to review the materials  dent against an incumbent
            in the boxes before the Na-  President  to  prevent  the
            tional  Archives  produced  latter” from obtaining from
            them to the FBI so that he  the National Archives presi-
            could  determine  whether  dential records that belong
            any  specific  document  to the federal government
            was  subject  to  executive  and  that  are  needed  for
            privilege and therefore ex-  current  government  busi-
            empt  from  disclosure,  ac-  ness.
            cording to the letter.       As  a  result,  the  letter  said,
                                         claims  of  executive  privi-
             ARUBA                       lege would not be honored
                                         and the FBI would be given

                     CLEAN               access  to  the  documents
                                         in a matter of days.
                                         The  National  Archives  had
                                         asked  the  Justice  Depart-
                                         ment  to  investigate  after
                                         saying  that  it  had  located
                                         classified  material  among
                                         the  15  boxes  of  records  it
                                         retrieved  from  Mar-a-Lago
                                         that  it  said  should  have
                                         been turned over by Trump
                                         at  the  end  of  his  White
                    IS MORE              House tenure.
                  DUSHI                  writes  that  in  those  boxes,
                                         In  the  letter,  archivist  Wall
                                         the  National  Archives  had
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