Trump legal team locates two more classified records, source says

2:11 pm Thursday, December 08th, 2022

(This Dec. 7 story has been corrected to say documents were found at storage site, not home)

By Steve Holland

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A team that Donald Trump hired to search for White House documents found at least two classified records, a person familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

A federal judge directed Trump’s attorneys to look for any classified material still in his possession. They found the documents in at a storage site in West Palm Beach, Florida, one of four properties searched, the person said.

The Justice Department is investigating whether Trump broke the law by retaining U.S. government records, some marked as top secret, after leaving office in January 2021.

Trump, who last month launched his 2024 presidential campaign, has denied wrongdoing and has said without providing evidence that the investigation is a partisan attack.

The searches were reported earlier by the Washington Post and CNN.

FBI agents seized thousands of documents, about 100 of which were marked classified, during a court-approved Aug. 8 search of his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach.

Prosecutors are also looking into whether Trump or his team obstructed justice when the FBI sent agents to search his home. Officials have said more classified documents may still be missing.

Last month U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Jack Smith, a war crimes prosecutor, as special counsel to oversee both the documents investigation as well as a separate investigation into his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

“President Trump and his counsel continue to be cooperative and transparent, despite the unprecedented, illegal and unwarranted attack against President Trump and his family by the weaponized Department of Justice,” said Trump spokesman Steven Cheung.

Garland appointed Smith as special counsel to ensure the probe was independent of U.S. President Joe Biden, who may face Trump again in the 2024 election.

Trump has faced a series of legal setbacks over the past week, including a Tuesday verdict that his company was guilty of tax fraud.

(Reporting by Steve Holland; additional reporting by Doina Chiacu and Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Scott Malone)