Federal investigators searched Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach, Florida after an informant told them he might be storing classified records at his private club, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Two months later, the search came to a close after several federal law enforcement officials came to Mar-a-Lago to talk about boxes of government documents that were being stored there.
Federal authorities searched Trump's sprawling South Florida residence, and obtained a warrant to search both classified and White House records that the US justice department thought Trump had illegally kept, two sources previously told the Guardian.
The warrant, executed by FBI agents, intimated that this investigation involving Trump is a criminal investigation.
These sources said justice department officials became concerned that these records were being held unlawfully at Mar-a-Lago after government attorneys discussed with Trump's legal team. The unprecedented search of an ex-president's residence marked the beginning of an ongoing battle between Trump and his overt disdain for the Presidential Records Act of 1978, which mandates the preservation of official records and parties tasked with upholding that law.
The search and reports about an informant for the FBI in or around Trump's inner circle has drawn condemnation from Trump loyalists who framed the search in partisan terms and used it as a call-to-action for fundraising and voter mobilization for November's election.
We now know that there was an FBI informant at Mar-a-Lago, who and how many other FBI informants are around President Trump on a daily basis, working at his clubs, working at Mar-a-Lago, or maybe Bedminster, or maybe on his staff? According to Newsweek, Greene said on her MTG: Live web show.
The Journal's report chronicled discussions between justice department officials and Trump's lawyers over these records. On June 3, a high-ranking Justice Department official and three FBI agents came to Trump's Mar-a-Lago house to discuss boxes with government records that sit in a basement storage room. Trump and his team seemed unaware of the possible gravity of the situation, according to a high-ranking justice department official and three FBI agents. The former president popped into Mar-a-Lago on June 3 and shook hands, according to the Journal. The president, according to a source, said: "I appreciate the job you're doing, let us know. The FBI sent a missive several days later, asking for a more secure lock to be placed on the storage room door. There may still be more classified documents at the private club in the following weeks, according to a person familiar with the stored papers.
The National Archives'removal of 15 boxes earlier this year has resulted in the potential presence of these records. The justice department officials said that they were skeptical that Trump's team was being forthright about the records that were still at his home, a source told the newspaper.
An attorney for Trump said that the warrant for the search was linked to the Presidential Records Act and a potential violation of the statute governing classified records. Trump hasn't disclosed the warrant or talked about the records that have been removed by federal agents.
Kevin McCarthy, the House Republican minority leader, said that the justice department had come to an intolerable state of weaponized politicization When Republicans win back the House, McCarthy said they will carry out oversight of the justice department, warning the attorney general, Merrick Garland, to preserve your documents and clear your calendar.