Agents seized eleven batches of classified documentation during the raid
The former president of the United States Donald Trump on Monday accused the FBI of “stealing” his passports during a search by agents last week of his Mar-a-Lago mansion in Florida. “Wow! In the FBI raid at Mar-a-Lago, my three passports (one expired) were stolen, along with everything else,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. The former US leader added that “this is an assault on a political opponent on a level never seen before” in his country. In turn, he has described the behavior of the FBI as “third world”.
Trump on Sunday asked that the FBI return documents seized during the raid, alleging that the agents took material that was confidential and protected by attorney-client relationships. “I just learned that the FBI, now famous for the Mar-a-Lago search, took boxes of attorney-client privilege material and other executive material as well, which they realize they shouldn’t have taken,” Trump said.
The FBI took eleven batches of classified documents during the search of the mansion that Trump has in Florida a week ago, under a warrant that empowered agents to seize allegedly classified documents. The former president alleges that he himself declassified the suspicious documents.
The Prosecutor’s Office asks to keep the secret
The US Department of Justice asked the judge on Monday to keep secret the affidavit with which he justified the request for registration, alleging that its publication could affect the course of the investigation. In a 13-page document addressed to the Florida (southeastern US) judge handling the case, prosecutor Juan Antonio González requested that the document not be published because it could “alter the trajectory of the investigation, reveal present or future actions and undermine the ability of officers to obtain credible evidence or witnesses.
Several US media, including The Washington Post and CNN, had requested that the affidavit sent by the Government to the magistrate to justify the search at Trump’s house be published, a request that was approved by the Justice. The judge already allowed the search warrant to be published last Friday, as both parties agreed. However, the order was issued by the judge and what the media were now requesting was that the affidavit with which the Department of Justice had justified the FBI’s search of Trump’s mansion also be known.
“In addition to the implications for the investigation, the publication of this type of investigative material could have devastating consequences for the reputations and rights of the individuals whose actions and comments are described,” justified the Justice Department in its text before the judge.