Donald Trump is under criminal investigation for potential violations of the Espionage Act and additional statutes relating to obstruction of justice and destroying federal government records, according to the search warrant executed by FBI agents at the former president’s home on Monday.
The search warrant – the contents of which were confirmed by the Guardian – shows the FBI was seeking evidence about whether the mishandling of classified documents by
Trump, including some marked top secret, amounted to a violation of three criminal statutes.
Most notably, the search warrant authorized FBI agents to seize materials from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence to investigate crimes in connection with
the Espionage Act, which outlaws the unauthorized retention of national security information that could harm the United States or aid an adversary.
The other statutes listed on the warrant include the federal law that makes it a crime to destroy or conceal a document in order to obstruct a government investigation, and the federal law that prohibits the unlawful removal of government documents more generally.
FBI agents retrieved a total of 11 sets of classified documents, some of which were marked top secret,
the Wall Street Journal first reported. Federal agents also took away four sets of top secret documents, three sets of secret documents, and three sets of confidential documents, the receipt showed.
Trump lashed out at the justice department on Friday, saying in a statement that he had declassified all of the records in question. “It was all declassified,” Trump asserted.
The former president’s claim was met with immediate scepticism, partly because the seized documents appeared to retain their original classified markings, according to a source familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an open investigation.
Trump has offered no details about how the supposed declassification took place
But whether the former president actually declassified the documents may not ultimately matter. The Espionage Act, for instance, does not distinguish between classified and declassified materials – unauthorized retention of any document relevant to the statute remains a crime.
Documents marked as top secret are also meant only to be viewed in secure rooms known as a sensitive compartmented information facilities, or SCIF, and their presence in a basement storage area at Mar-a-Lago appears to satisfy the technical elements of a violation of law.
“If reports are accurate and contained among these documents are some of the most highly classified information our government holds – information classified as top secret/secure compartmented information – then it would explain a great deal about why the department and the FBI took the step of obtaining a warrant to recover the documents,” Schiff said.
“It appears that the FBI sought to remove those documents to a safe location previously, but Trump did not fully cooperate. Every day that information of such a classification sits in an unsecure location is a risk to our national security. If any other individual had information of that nature in their possession, the FBI would work quickly to mitigate the risks of disclosure.”
Of course, no president besides trump would pull this stunt.
