Warrant shows Trump suspected of violating Espionage Act, obstructing justice
Some of the U.S. government’s most sensitive documents were in Donald Trump’s possession at his Palm Beach estate before the FBI reclaimed them in a surprise search on Monday, according to a newly released warrant filed by the Justice Department.
The warrant, made public Friday by a magistrate judge in West Palm Beach, also revealed that Trump is under investigation for potentially violating a provision of the Espionage Act dealing with “national defense information,” among other possible crimes.
The release of the previously sealed documents marked the culmination of a momentous week for the country, in which the former president and the nation’s top law enforcement officials engaged in a dramatic, days-long showdown over the FBI’s unprecedented search of Trump’s residence and office at Mar-a-Lago.
As of Friday morning, it was still unclear if a federal magistrate judge in Florida would grant the Justice Department’s unusual request to reveal what agents sought and pulled from the former president’s home. But by Friday afternoon, the judge ordered the release of the warrant and receipts of seized items once it was clear that Trump’s attorneys did not object to the move.
The documents showed that the FBI believes Trump may have violated the Espionage Act by “gathering, transmitting or losing defense information.” The Justice Department is also investigating Trump on potential charges of obstruction of justice and removing government records, including destroying documents.
In granting the search warrant, Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart found probable cause, or sufficient evidence, that Trump had committed the listed crimes. He granted agents the ability to collect “all physical documents and records constituting evidence, contraband, fruits of crime, or other items illegally possessed,” and allowed them to search all three buildings of the estate of America’s 45th president.
“The locations to be searched include the ‘45 Office,’ all storage rooms, and all other rooms or areas within the premises used or available to be used by FPOTUS and his staff and in which boxes or documents could be stored, including all structures or buildings on the estate,” the warrant reads.
In all, 26 boxes were taken from Mar-a-Lago, along with binders of photos and other paperwork. Eleven sets of documents recovered by the FBI were marked as classified. One was labeled as “various classified/TS/SCI documents,” standing for “top secret” or “sensitive compartmented information” — the most sensitive levels of classification in the U.S. government.
Trump's quarters close to areas open to members
The FBI searched for classified documents and other records in bedrooms and other spaces used by former president Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago. Trump's private quarters are located in close proximity to indoor and outdoor dining areas open to members during the season, which staff said created a headache for secret service.
Information labeled TS/SCI is only meant to be handled by a small set of people currently in government service, working in highly secure settings.
The warrant also shows that some of the information was related to the president of France, Emmanuel Macron. And among the seized documents was an executive grant of clemency for Roger Stone, a longtime Republican political operative and ally of Trump’s who received a commuted sentence from the former president in 2020.
Main areas of Mar-a-Lago searched by FBI
Mar-a-Lago is a 17-acre members-only club and private residence of Donald Trump that stretches the entire width of Palm Beach Island, from the intracoastal waterway (left) to the Atlantic Ocean (right). The FBI searched for classified documents and other records in the former president's suite, as well as an office reportedly located in the Donald J. Trump Grand Ballroom.
The search — which took place three days after Reinhart signed the warrant and as Trump was in New York — followed months of back-and-forth between the federal government and Trump over documents that followed the former president to South Florida after he lost the 2020 election. In June, according to a source familiar with the issue, Justice Department officials met with Trump’s attorneys at Mar-a-Lago.
Trump, as he has done repeatedly since he first revealed the FBI’s search of his home Monday, criticized the FBI and top law enforcement officials on Friday, saying he was cooperating and would have given the information over if they had just asked.
“They could have had it anytime they wanted without playing politics and breaking into Mar-a-Lago,” the Republican leader said in a statement. “It was in secured storage, with an additional lock put on as per their request. They could have had it anytime they wanted — and that includes LONG ago.”
On Thursday, Attorney General Merrick Garland defended the FBI’s search, saying they were simply following the law.
“Upholding the rule of law means applying the law evenly without fear or favor,” Garland said. “Under my watch, that is precisely what the Justice Department is doing.”
Garland’s statement and motion to unseal the warrant came after an avalanche of public pressure to explain why the FBI had made the politically sensitive decision to search the home of a former president, particularly one who has publicly mulled making another presidential run in 2024. Republican leaders, rallying around Trump, have become increasingly critical of top law enforcement officials, promising to investigate both Garland and the FBI if they win control of the U.S. House during this year’s midterm elections.
But their criticism of the FBI’s search has quieted in recent days, after Garland requested to unseal the warrant and details of its contents began to emerge in media reports. And Democrats have seized a political opportunity of their own, arguing that the GOP believes their leader should be above the law while accusing Republican lawmakers of being insufficiently supportive of law enforcement.
White House officials have said that President Joe Biden had no prior knowledge of the FBI’s action, finding out instead through media reports. The president has been on vacation in South Carolina since Wednesday.
This story was originally published August 12, 2022 at 3:53 PM.
