Via/ABC
Details of the FBI’s search of Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home for classified documents have emerged in the latest court filings from the former president. Trump’s legal team filed a motion on Monday to dismiss the federal charges against him, alleging that the FBI carried out “destruction of important exculpatory evidence” while retrieving sensitive materials from his Florida residence in August 2022.
The motion argues that Trump was unaware he had retained classified materials when he left the White House in January 2021, as they were mixed with personal items like newspaper clippings and letters at Mar-a-Lago. Trump has pleaded not guilty to 40 charges related to the illegal retention of classified materials and obstruction of the federal effort to retrieve them, reported Newsweek.
In the filing, Trump’s legal team noted that Special Counsel Jack Smith’s office acknowledged that some boxes of evidence were not in their “original, intact” form and may have been reordered from when they were digitally scanned.
Included in the filings is an exhibit detailing the FBI’s search of Mar-a-Lago. Agents temporarily stored potentially sensitive materials on a coffee table, covering them with a sheet to prevent unauthorized viewing.
This motion to dismiss follows Judge Aileen Cannon’s recent rejection of Trump’s request to throw out some classified document charges over perceived bias in the indictment’s language. The trial, initially set for May 2024, is on hold as Cannon rules on several legal arguments and hearings, making it almost certain that Trump will not face a jury before the November election.
The court documents reveal specifics about the FBI’s “filter team,” a group of investigators tasked with reviewing seized documents to determine if any are protected by privilege. The search began at around 10 a.m. in a storage area near a kitchen, containing a back-right room with a “gold-painted door” and padlock.
While waiting for a key to the storage room, the filter team searched visible furniture and items for classified materials. They also examined a second-floor office known as the “45 Office,” which includes the Ante Room, accessible only from the stairwell, and the Primary Office, containing a single desk, an additional smaller room, and a bathroom.
The filter team found “potentially privileged” materials in the Primary Office desk’s top right drawer. An agent taped the drawer and placed a sign indicating its contents. Another agent discovered a document with classification markings in another drawer of the same desk.
The search of a closet uncovered a box with many classified documents but no privileged ones. No classified documents were found in the Ante Room, although potentially privileged documents, including a handwritten note and an affidavit, were found near a desk and set aside out of caution.
These documents were covered with sheets indicating privileged information and later returned to their original locations. During the search, the FBI found letters between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un and Trump’s passports. The search concluded with the Mar-a-Lago storage room, where numerous boxes containing classified materials were discovered.
