FBI seized top secret documents at Trump’s home; Espionage Act cited
The FBI seized classified material from Donald Trump in a search that has thrown US politics into turmoil, and court filings revealed the former president may be under investigation for mishandling government records and potentially compromising national security information.
Court documents unsealed by a judge Friday shed new light on Trump’s legal exposure in the latest of a string of investigations into his activities as a businessman, sitting president, and ex-officeholder and deepens his legal troubles on the eve of a potential third bid for the White House.
The list of information seized during Monday’s search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida includes documents that bore the US government’s highest top-secret rating, and prosecutors indicated they are exploring possible violations of the federal Espionage Act among other allegations.
The FBI seized “TS/SCI documents,” which stands for top-secret and sensitive compartment ed information, a government label for material gathered through sensitive intelligence sources or methods.
The items were taken during the execution of a search warrant signed by a Florida judge earlier this week that was immediately attacked by Trump and his Republican allies as a political move by the administration of his successor, President Joe Biden.
The White House has said that Biden wasn’t told in advance about the search.
The search has galvanized some in the Republican Party as it intensifies its campaign to retake Congress and bolster Trump for a possible 2024 run.
Trump suggested the search warrant — which a federal judge had to sign off on after finding probable cause that a search would yield evidence of crimes — was politically motivated.
The former president and some conservative commentators also floated baseless conspiracy theories that FBI agents might have planted evidence.
