Former president Donald Trump is now accusing FBI agents of staging a photograph taken during the 8 August search of his home and office to “make [him] look bad” and repeating his previous claim to have declassified the entire lot of highly sensitive documents found there.
A late Tuesday court filing by the Department of Justice revealed that FBI agents had found documents bearing markings of the highest levels of classification in locations throughout Mr Trump’s Palm Beach, Florida, home and office at Mar-a-Lago, the mansion turned private club where he maintains his primary residence.
A photograph submitted to the court with the filing shows between and 15 and 20 documents sitting on the carpeted floor at Mr Trump’s club.
Many of the documents in question are redacted but with classification markings left visible at the top of pages. One document is shown with its “SECRET” classification cover sheet visible, while five have cover sheets with “TOP SECRET” markings. All six cover sheets are marked SCI, which means the enclosed document contains Sensitive Compartmented Information, a category generally reserved for human and signals intelligence and information on sources and methods.
Writing on his Truth Social platform, Mr Trump lashed out at the FBI with baseless accusations.
“Terrible the way the FBI, during the Raid of Mar-a-Lago, threw documents haphazardly all over the floor (perhaps pretending it was me that did it!), and then started taking pictures of them for the public to see,” he said.
In fact, it is standard practice for FBI agents to use photographs to document the condition and location of evidence during court-ordered searches.
Mr Trump also mocked the DOJ for publishing the photograph of the redacted classified documents and their cover sheets.
“Thought they wanted them kept Secret? Lucky I Declassified!” he wrote.
But despite his claim to have declassified the documents, not one of them was marked to have been declassified. Had then been declassified, the words “SECRET” or “TOP SECRET” would have been struck out with a pen and a separate marking would show the document to have been declassified on his orders at a particular date and time.
