United States
Trump took over 700 pages of confidential documents
Donald Trump’s Florida home was raided by the FBI two weeks ago. photo
© Julia Nikhinson/AP/dpa
Donald Trump is said to have taken hundreds of secret documents with him after the end of his presidency – some of them with the highest classification level.
After leaving the White House, former US President Donald Trump took at least 700 pages of secret documents with him, according to the US National Archives. Some of them are classified with the highest levels of secrecy, according to a letter to one of Trump’s lawyers that the archive published.
The documents are stored in Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida and were handed over in January. The US media unanimously reported on the letter, which is dated May 10, and the New York Times published it online.
The letter went on to say that the government “must undertake an assessment of the potential harm resulting from the apparent manner in which these materials were stored and transported.” The now published exchange between the agency and Trump’s defense attorneys took place months before the FBI’s search of the ex-president’s property two weeks ago. In this case, other documents, some of which were classified as top secret, were secured.
The search had caused a stir beyond the United States. Trump had argued that he had released the confiscated sets of documents from his presidency. Incumbent presidents do have far-reaching powers to lift secrecy. But for the release of documents there is a formal procedure with several highly official steps. Trump also claimed that there was a permanent corresponding instruction in place for all documents taken home.
Trump only filed a lawsuit against the government on Monday, demanding that a neutral examiner be used for the most recently confiscated documents and that all investigations be stopped until then. Trump’s taking of the documents could constitute a criminal act. The 76-year-old, however, describes the actions of the Ministry of Justice against him as politically motivated. For weeks he has been flirting with the idea of running for the presidency again in 2024.