Updated on 08/26/2022 at 11:37 pm
- The US Justice Department has released an important document regarding the raid on Donald Trump’s mansion.
- Many delicate roads had to be blacked out.
- The former US president is accused of stealing top-secret documents.
According to a document released on Friday, the FBI Investigation against former President Donald Trump National Archives 15. started after trump Boxes were received from the White House, some of which were secret. It comes from an edited version of the affidavit released Friday by the US Justice Department, based on which the FBI searched Trump’s private residence in Florida.
According to the document, 15 boxes 67 documents were marked confidential as well as 92 papers were marked as secret and 25 papers as top secret, The documents included intelligence from “secret human sources”. The term is used in the US to designate government information at the highest level of confidentiality.
In the affidavit, the FBI also said it was conducting a criminal investigation into the “improper removal and storage of classified information” and “unlawful misuse of government records.” It said that strictly confidential documents were distorted, mixed with other documents and not properly labeled. In addition, there were handwritten notes on many of the documents, apparently by Trump himself.
Espionage law violation?
Federal Judge Bruce Reinhart on Thursday ordered the Justice Department – which is also the top law enforcement agency in the US – to make the affidavit public. However, they did make it possible to black out the route. The edited version of the statement used to obtain a search warrant for the raid on Trump’s home was finally released Friday afternoon (local time).
On August 8, FBI officials searched Trump’s Florida home. During the raid, they confiscated several documents – including those classified as “top secret”. Among other things, Trump is suspected of violating an espionage law. It has strict guidelines for maintaining national security documents. US presidents are required to hand over all official documents, including emails and letters, to the National Archives upon leaving office.
Trump speaks of ‘witch hunt’
Along with the affidavit, a letter was also issued on Friday by Donald Trump’s lawyer to the Justice Department. The attorney said in a May 25 letter that secret documents may be under boxes the movers brought to Mar-a-Lago without Trump’s knowledge. He said Trump voluntarily cooperated with the National Archives to return the documents, adding that as US president he has the authority to make public previously classified information.
Trump has repeatedly called the search of his villa politically motivated. Also on Friday he spoke of “witch hunts” in his online network Truth Social. Right-wing populists accused Democrats of President Joe Biden of using the judiciary to prevent him from running for president again in 2024. (MSS/AFP)
Former US President Donald Trump wants to use a lawsuit to appoint a neutral auditor after the US Federal Police searched his assets by the FBI.
