 |
| Photo Credit: CNN. |
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) interviewed former White House lawyers Cipollone and Philbin earlier this year in investigation relating to the federal records that were removed from the White House and taken to former President Donald Trump’s Palm Beach home, two people briefed on the matter told the CNN.
FBI agents
seized several “top secret” and more sensitive documents during its Monday raid
at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, home after his
White House exit.
The
documents were revealed in court papers released Friday after a federal judge
unsealed the warrant that gave authorization for FBI agents to enter the former
president’s property.
What did FBI recover from Trump's Mar-a-Lago?
A property
receipt unsealed by the court shows FBI agents recovered 11 sets of classified
records from Trump’s residence during its search last Monday, The Associated
Press reports.
Some of the
seized documents include some marked top secret as well as “sensitive
compartmented information,” according to The Associated Press. Sensitive
compartmented information is a special category meant to protect the nation’s
most important secrets that could cause “exceptionally grave” damage to U.S.
interests if made available publicly, according to The Associated Press. No
specific details were made about documents by the court records.
The warrant
says federal agents were investigating potential violations of three different
federal laws, governing gathering, transmitting or losing defense information
under the Espionage Act and another statute that addresses concealment,
mutilation or removal of records, according to The Associated Press. The third
statute addresses the destruction, alteration or falsification of records in
federal investigations.
The
Associated Press reported that the property receipt shows federal agents
collected other presidential records such as the pardoning of Trump ally Roger
Stone, a “leatherboard box of documents,” and information about the “President
of France.”
Other items
recovered include a binder of photos, a handwritten note, “miscellaneous secret
documents” and “miscellaneous confidential documents.”
Did Trump declassify Mar-a-Lago documents?
On Friday Trump
issued a statement saying the documents seized by FBI agents were “all
declassified,” arguing that he would have turned them over if the Justice
Department demanded for them.
Federal
agencies and the National Archives make multiple requests for Trump to hand
over the documents in accordance with federal law but he refused to cooperate.
The Justice
Department has been investigating the potential mishandling of classified
information after the National Archives and Records Administration said it had
received from Mar-a-Lago 15 boxes of White House records, including documents
containing classified information, earlier this year. The National Archives
said Trump should have turned over that material upon leaving office and then
asked the Justice Department to investigate.
U.S.
Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart unsealed the warrant and property receipt
Friday following a request by the Department of Justice. Reinhart earlier
issued the search warrant that gave FBI agents access to the Mar-a-Lago estate.
Trump received
a subpoena in the spring in search of documents but authorities believe he had
failed to hand over earlier in the year.
Officials
were made to believe that more classified material were at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago,
following notification by the National Archives.
FBI agents
found several classified documents during their search of Mar-a-Lago.
Investigators
discovered “boxes everywhere” in at least two areas of Trump’s home, including
his personal office and in a storage room near the pool, FBI agents told
NewsNation, Washington Examiner reported. Some of the boxes contained sensitive
material that may be so secret it’s not clear if they will be made public.
Attorney
General Merrick Garland cited the “substantial public interest in this matter,”
as reason for his application for the unsealing of the documents.
Garland
admitted he personally approved the warrant after less intrusive methods of
obtaining the classified documents failed.