Classified federal documents were likely "concealed and removed" from a storage room at former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in an effort to "obstruct" the ongoing federal information, according to the Justice Department.
A court document filed by the agency late Tuesday night said that over 100 classified records, including some materials marked with the highest level of US classification, were recovered from the ex-presidential residence when the FBI executed a search warrant on Aug. 8.
Obstruction of justice now appears to be the central thrust of the federal investigation, which was opened to probe Trump's alleged removal of classified government documents from the White House as he left office in January 2021.
Revelations that the records were "likely concealed and removed from the Storage Room and that efforts were likely taken to obstruct the government's investigation" come as part of the Justice Department's efforts to oppose Trump's motion to appoint an independent figure known as a "special master" to review the trove of confiscated documents.
The director of national intelligence is currently reviewing the materials to determine "the potential risk to national security that would result from the disclosure of these materials" to any third party.
Trump is seeking to have the special master review the documents to see whether any are covered under the principle of executive privilege, which is a presidential right to keep certain types of information secret, but critics call the move a stalling tactic in the face of growing legal woes.
District Judge Aileen Cannon said in an order on Saturday that she was inclined to approve the request for a special master ahead of a hearing she scheduled for Thursday.
The documents taken from Mar-a-Lago are the latest set retrieved from Trump's residence. The National Archives and Records Administration retrieved 15 boxes, including 184 classified documents in January, and handed them over to the FBI as it referred the matter to the bureau.
During a June 3 visit to Mar-a-Lago by the FBI, Trump's attorney handed documents over "in a manner that suggested counsel believed that the documents were classified: the production included a single Redweld envelope, double-wrapped in tape, containing the documents," US Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Juan Antonio Gonzalez wrote in Tuesday's filing.
An individual identified solely as a custodian presented a certification letter that stipulated "a diligent search" had been completed following a court-approved subpoena.
During the Aug. 8 search, however, FBI agents "in a matter of hours, recovered twice as many documents with classification markings as the 'diligent search' that the former President's counsel and other representatives had weeks to perform," Gonzalez wrote.
That, he said, "calls into serious question the representations made in the June 3 certification and casts doubt on the extent of cooperation in this matter."
A photo included as part of the government's filing depicts a trove of apparent government documents laid out on the floor, some of which are whited out, but others clearly show government markings indicating they classified information.
