Items with classified markings found in Trump storage unit: reports
Former President Trump’s legal team has found at least two documents with classified markings at a storage unit in West Palm Beach, Fla., in the wake of the FBI's August search of Mar-a-Lago, several outlets reported on Wednesday.
The documents were immediately turned over to the FBI, according to The Washington Post.
The storage unit, which is maintained by the General Services Administration, was one of several locations searched by an outside group hired by Trump's lawyers to look for any remaining classified materials.
The move comes after a federal judge asked the former president’s legal team to ensure they fully complied with a subpoena from earlier this year that asked Trump to turn over any remaining classified documents.
The National Archives has said it believes Trump retains possession of at least some White House records that should have been turned over at the end of his presidency.
The Post reported earlier in the day that the group had also in recent weeks searched Trump Tower in New York and the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J., but had not found any classified materials.
The group also searched a storage closet at Mar-a-Lago, according to The New York Times.
The West Palm Beach storage unit where the classified documents were found reportedly stored items from a northern Virginia office used by Trump staffers after the president left office, according to the Post.
An attorney for Trump did not respond to request for comment, and spokespeople for the Trump campaign did not immediately respond to request for comment.
The latest discovery of misplaced classified documents comes nearly a year after the National Archives and Records Administration first discovered classified materials among several boxes of records recovered from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence.
Trump’s lawyers returned several more classified documents in June in response to the subpoena issued to the former president.
However, investigators found evidence that suggested more classified materials remained at Mar-a-Lago and recovered more than twice as many documents as turned over in June during the FBI’s August search of the resort.
Though unclear what information may have been contained in the two additional classified records, their withholding alone could bolster a potential Justice Department case against Trump.
The initial affidavit seeking the warrant to search Mar-a-Lago listed an obstruction of justice charge among the crimes that may be implicated by the potential mishandling of records.
The additional classified records would be another example of rebuffing authorities after both the initial request and the June subpoena.
The investigation into Trump is now being led by special counsel Jack Smith, who was appointed to oversee the Mar-a-Lago case and the Jan. 6 investigation after Trump launched a 2024 bid for president.
—Updated at 3:20 p.m.