- Investigators were reportedly worried about Trump storing very sensitive documents at Mar-a-Lago.
- According to The New York Times, these fears predated the FBI's decision to raid Trump's property.
- It's unclear what documents Trump kept, but as president he would have had access to highly classified material.
Former President Donald Trump reportedly kept classified documents that contained such sensitive information that federal officials felt they had no other recourse but to raid Mar-a-Lago to get them back, The New York Times reported.
According to The Times, FBI agents made the unprecedented decision to raid the private residence of a former president based on fears that these highly sensitive documents were still at Mar-a-Lago. The report cites "two people briefed on the classified documents" who spoke to the paper about the alleged sensitive nature of the documents.
The Times report also stated that the FBI subpoenaed Trump for the documents this past spring long before the raid took place.
Under the Presidential Records Act, Trump and his staff were required to relinquish records and documents to the National Archives before leaving office. Instead, the archives said that Trump had taken classified material to Florida. According to The Times, the archives tried for months to negotiate with Trump and his attorneys to get more documents turned backed over to them.
Trump and his allies repeatedly railed against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for using a private email server to conduct official business including at times classified material. It is not clear the level of classification of the material Trump had at Mar-a-Lago. As president, the nation's top executive possesses the power to roughly classify or declassify anything at will.
Trump's handling of classified material generated immense scrutiny when he was in office, particularly when it was reported that he discussed codeword-level classified material with the Russian foreign minister and ambassador during a 2017 White House meeting. Codeword is one of the highest levels of classification of US secrets and is constructed in a way as to limit the number of people who know the sensitive information.
At the time, multiple Trump White House officials disputed The Washington Post's report about Trump's alleged disclosure of codeword-level information.
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