FBI agents found dozens of blank files marked classified during a search last month of former US President Donald Trump’s Florida home, according to an investigative document cited by the BBC.

A document released by a Florida court lists the contents of 33 boxes seized from the former president’s Mar-a-Lago estate. He also reveals that top secret files were seized from his personal office.

Documents previously filed in court confirmed that the former president kept classified files in vaults at Mar-a-Lago, but a document declassified on Friday shows that dozens of files were found in Trump’s office.

Among the files allegedly seized from that room in the unprecedented search on August 8 are:

• 3 documents marked confidential
• 17 documents with a seal of secrecy
• 7 documents marked top secret
• 43 empty folders with advertising banners
• 28 blank files marked Return to Staff Secretary/Military Assistant.

In all, investigators said, the FBI seized more than 11,000 government documents from the Palm Beach property.

US presidents must turn over all their documents and emails to the National Archives.

The Justice Department is investigating whether Donald Trump mishandled documents by moving them from the White House to his Mar-a-Lago estate after he left office in January 2021.

Prosecutors say Trump and his lawyers failed to voluntarily provide relevant documents and “may have withheld or deleted” records to hinder the investigation.

Donald Trump rejected these accusations, saying that he had already declassified the documents in his possession. He also claimed that the files were stored in a vault at Mar-a-Lago, but a declassified inventory revealed that FBI agents found about 1,500 documents from his office, as well as files marked with secret banners that were empty.

Meanwhile, documents filed in court confirm earlier reports that many of the files were mixed in with personal items, including clothing, books and newspapers.

Taylor Budowicz, a spokesman for former President Trump, said the unsealed document showed the government’s actions were not a “surgical and limited search and recovery” but a “Smash and Seize.”

A more detailed list of classified materials seized by the Justice Department during the Mar-a-Lago raid does not shed much light on what exactly the documents contained. However, it does show where they were located.

Of the 18 Top Secret documents listed, seven were in Donald Trump’s office and not in a property storage area, as were 17 of the 54 classified documents.

This indicates that these top-secret items were within the reach of the former president – and that he could have them for a reason.

The inventory also shows that many classified documents, both in a storage room and in Trump’s office, were mixed in with photos, newspaper clippings, “clothes/gifts” and empty folders — the basis of a seemingly disorganized method for box and disposal of materials. in the final days of Trump’s presidency. (Source: News.ro)