Oh, So Now It’s Bad to Take Hundreds of Classified Documents to Your House
What’s the point in being president of the United States if you can’t take hundreds of classified documents back home with you when you leave?
Between documents the National Archives and Records Administration retrieved from Mar-a-Lago in January, more handed over to the Department of Justice in June, and another batch taken in the FBI’s August 8 raid, the government has retrieved more than 300 classified documents from former President Donald Trump’s possession, according to multiple reports.
In the first retrieval alone, of 15 boxes, the National Archives recovered more than 700 pages of classified documents, according to an April letter from the National Archives to Trump’s lawyers which was published on the right-wing news site Just The News Monday.
It was after officials discovered the number and nature of documents taken that the criminal investigation into Trump was triggered, according to the New York Times. The investigation centers on three potential violations of federal law, including the Espionage Act, according to the unsealed warrant.
In the two-plus weeks since the raid, death threats have been made against the federal magistrate judge who signed the warrant, a Capitol riot attendee attempted to attack the FBI office in Cincinnati, and officials have claimed there has been an “increase in threats to federal law enforcement.”
Trump’s lawyers filed a motion in federal court Monday seeking an order to appoint a third-party “special master” to investigate the materials taken from Mar-a-Lago. Trump has denied all wrongdoing and, as with the Mueller investigation and both of his impeachments, has characterized this investigation as a partisan witch hunt.
"The Mar-a-Lago Break-In, Search, and Seizure was illegal and unconstitutional, and we are taking all actions necessary to get the documents back, which we would have given to them without the necessity of the despicable raid on my home, so that I can give them to the National Archives until they are required for the future Donald J. Trump Presidential Library and Museum," Trump said in a statement Monday.
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Paul Blest, Khareem Sudlow
