Trump lawyers in discussions with Justice Department about Mar-a-Lago home, sources say

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Trump lawyers in discussions with Justice Department about Mar-a-Lago home, sources say

One of his attorneys confirmed to NBC News that Donald Trump's legal team was in discussions with the Justice Department as recently as early June about records found at the former president's Mar-a-Largo home.

Trump attorney Christina Bobb said Tuesday that the FBI removed about a dozen boxes from a basement storage area and that agents indicated that they were investigating possible violations of laws dealing with the handling of classified material and the Presidential Records Act.

Multiple sources have confirmed to NBC News that the unprecedented search was related to classified material.

The Washington Post reported the new details from Bobb, who said she was present for Monday s search, while CNN previously reported aspects of the spring meeting.

According to Bobb, Trump's lawyers searched through two to three dozen boxes of material in a storage area earlier this year, looking for possible presidential records, and they turned over a number of pages that might meet the definition.

Bobb said she and Trump lawyer Evan Corcoran met with a senior Justice Department official whose name she could not recall. Bobb said that Trump was not interviewed, but he appeared at the beginning of the meeting, and greeted investigators. Bobb said federal officials looked through boxes of material.

Corcoran didn't respond immediately to a request for comment. The Justice Department hasn't said anything about the FBI's search of Trump's home.

Bobb told NBC News that the Justice Department officials said they did not believe the storage unit housing the documents was properly secured. She said that Trump officials added a lock to the facility and that FBI agents broke the lock when they searched the property Monday.

Bobb said she did not know what prompted the Justice Department to escalate its investigation to a court-ordered search.

A source close to Trump said there was no plans to release a copy of the warrant. The source said that Trump had personally shown the Justice Department officials the room where the materials were housed during the spring meeting, which took place June 3.

Trump said in a lengthy email statement by his Save America political committee, Trump said his home was currently under siege, raided, and occupied by a large group of FBI agents who broke into my safe. Trump had to return 15 boxes of documents that the National Archives and Records Administration said were improperly taken from the White House this year.

The National Archives asked the Justice Department to examine whether Trump's handling of White House records broke federal law.

A spokesman for Trump, Taylor Budowich, blasted the FBI's search, calling it both brazen and completely unnecessary. The president Trump and his representatives have gone to great painstaking measures in communication and cooperation with the appropriate agencies, something that is routine for all similar instances, Budowich said in a statement Tuesday.