Shocking Court Document Reveals What FBI Found At Mar-A-Lago Before The August 8 Search
Federal Judge Bruce Reinhart released the highly redacted affidavit for the August 8 FBI raid of Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence on August 26. Former President Trump and his allies had been pushing for the affidavit to be released for weeks. Senator Lindsey Graham called for the search warrant affidavit release on Fox News (via Axios). Graham called for Attorney General Garland to "show his cards" and said, "The American people are going through too much pain and heartache on this endless effort to destroy Donald Trump." The released court document is published on Politico, and while much of the information is covered up, it looks like Trump could be in big trouble.
The startling number of classified documents Trump held at Mar-a-Lago was estimated on August 23, and it's a nightmare scenario. The New York Times reported that government officials had recovered over 300 classified documents from the former president since he left office. The outlet's estimate included the documents returned by Trump to the national archives, those recovered by the Justice Department, and those seized by the FBI on August 8.
But the shocking redacted affidavit for the search warrant reveals what the FBI found at Mar-a-Lago before the August 8 search.
FBI affidavit for August 8 search reports 184 classified documents found in January 2022
The Washington Post reported that there were 184 classified documents taken from the White House to Mar-a-Lago before the FBI search on August 8. According to ABC News (via Twitter), out of the 184 classified documents recovered before the August raid, "67 were confidential documents, 92 were secret documents, and 25 were top secret documents." The New York Times said that some materials Trump stored at Mar-a-Lago were related to something known as Special Access Programs — "some of the nation's most closely held secrets." In addition to that bombshell, the FBI affidavit noted there the heavy redactions in the document were to "protect the safety of witnesses, law enforcement officials and 'the ongoing investigation,'" per The Associated Press (via Twitter). That information indicates the FBI had multiple people who gave them information about the classified documents held by Trump.
Trump keeping the classified documents is very serious for the former leader. Military.com reported that a former Air Force language analyst Reality Winner served four years in prison for taking and leaking one classified document about the 2016 Russian cyberattack on United States voting machines. Senator Amy Klobuchar noted the serious security breach by Trump holding many classified documents at Mar-a-Lago and tweeted: "People could die. People put their lives on the line undercover for our democracy. That's why top secret documents are kept top secret."