Team hired by Donald Trump finds classified docs in strange place by Mar-a-Lago estate
Palm Beach, Florida - At least two more documents bearing classified markings were reportedly discovered in the vicinity of former president Donald Trump’s Florida home.
Those papers, kept in a sealed box, were found in a federally run West Palm Beach storage facility, The New York Times reported Wednesday.
The discovery was reportedly made by a team hired by Trump to scour four storage locations after federal agents searched his Mar-a-Lago estate in August to retrieve documents that should not have left the White House with the 45th president in January 2021.
That search, believed to have included Trump Tower in Midtown Manhattan and Trump National Golf Course in Bedminster, New Jersey, is said to have been completed over Thanksgiving weekend.
Trump’s lawyers reportedly notified the Justice Department once the seemingly classified documents were located.
A spokesman for the 76-year-old politician, who is running for president again in 2024, told the Times that Trump’s counsel is being "cooperative and transparent" in aiding feds with the retrieval of classified documents. That spokesman also called the process an "unwarranted attack against President Trump."
The August 8 search of Trump’s Florida home is said to have produced more than 300 classified documents. That could result in criminal charges — particularly if Trump deliberately absconded with top secret information and tried to obstruct the investigation to locate it.
Attorney Eric Herschmann reportedly warned Trump in late 2021 that he could face legal jeopardy for failing to return government materials. The former president argued documents in his possession belong to him and that he had the power to declassify information "by thinking about it."
Cover photo: Collage: JOE RAEDLE / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP / Giorgio VIERA / AFP