Donald Trump has lashed out once again at Joe Biden and the US Department of Justice after it was revealed that classified documents were found stashed in his bedroom at Mar-a-Lago.
The former president, in a typically loud post on his social media platform Truth Social, claimed that FBI agents had been authorized to use “deadly force” during the “unconstitutional” raid of his Florida property.
Four documents marked “classified” were found in Mr Trump’s bedroom, according to a newly unsealed opinion by US District Judge Beryl Howell.
The 87-page document found prosecutors had presented compelling evidence that the former president had knowingly stashed national security documents in his home and then tried to conceal them when the DOJ tried to retrieve them.
In her opinion, Judge Howell wrote: “Notably, no excuse is provided as to how the former president could miss the classified-marked documents found in his own bedroom at Mar-a-Lago.”
In his Truth Social tirade, Mr Trump slammed the August 2022 at his Florida home and private club.
“WOW! I just came out of the Biden Witch Hunt Trial in Manhattan, the ‘Icebox,’ and was shown Reports that Crooked Joe Biden’s DOJ, in their Illegal and UnConstitutional Raid of Mar-a-Lago, AUTHORIZED THE FBI TO USE DEADLY (LETHAL) FORCE.
“NOW WE KNOW, FOR SURE, THAT JOE BIDEN IS A SERIOUS THREAT TO DEMOCRACY. HE IS MENTALLY UNFIT TO HOLD OFFICE — 25TH AMENDMENT.”
In a rare statement, seemingly in direct response to the former president’s post, the FBI said that its agents had followed “standard procedure” during the raid.
"The FBI followed standard protocol in this search as we do for all search warrants, which includes a standard policy statement limiting the use of deadly force,” the statement read. “No one ordered additional steps to be taken and there was no departure from the norm in this matter."
The FBI’s search of Mar-a-Lago confirmed that dozens of other classified documents remained on the property. Mr Trump has claimed he had every right to possess the secret documents as a former president.
In her opinion, Judge Howell noted there were at least two more rounds of classified materials found at Mar-a-Lago following additional searches.
“Two months after the former president yielded 38 unique classified documents to the government on June 3, 2022, the government discovered over 100 additional classified documents stored in Mar-a-Lago during execution of the August 8, 2022 search warrant that the former president had failed to deliver,” the opinion stated.
“The documents were classified to levels as high as TOP SECRET, with some documents bearing additional sensitive compartment indications; undoubtedly, these documents contained national defense information.”
It went on: “More classified-marked documents still were uncovered in November 2022 in a leased storage unit, in December 2022 in the Office at Mar-a-Lago, and apparently sometime thereafter in the former president’s own bedroom at Mar-a-Lago.”
Judge Howell’s opinion was unsealed along with a large batch of other previously secret grand jury-related documents stemming from the investigation into Mr Trump for withholding reams of classified documents after leaving office in 2021, including some of the nation’s most sensitive military secrets.
US District Judge Aileen Cannon released the batch of documents on Tuesday after lengthy negotiations with special counsel Jack Smith’s team and the former president’s lawyers.
Two weeks ago, Judge Cannon indefinitely postponed the planned 20 May trial date, stating that a host of issues around evidence, discovery, and the Classified Information Procedures Act (CIPA) still needed to be decided before the high-profile trial could commence.
The former federal prosecutor, who was nominated to the bench by Mr Trump in 2020, argued in her decision that extending the pre-trial process through the end of July would “outweigh the best interest of the public and Defendants in a speedy trial.”
It means that the former president’s ongoing criminal trial in Manhattan, in which he is accused of falsifying business records to mask hush money payments of $130,000 to pornstar Stormy Daniels, could be the only trial that plays out before the end of 2024.
A trial date for his DC trial for election subversion was taken off the calendar while the Supreme Court decides if Mr Trump has immunity from prosecution.
In the Florida case, Mr Trump faces 40 separate federal charges in the case, stemming from allegedly holding onto hundreds of classified documents after leaving the White House for his private Mar-a-Lago home and club in Florida, then conspiring to obstruct government attempts to retrieve the materials. He has pleaded not guilty.
In documents unsealed earlier this month, the former president’s valet and co-defendant, Walt Nauta, described Mr Trump essentially choosing at random which documents to return to the National Archives as he wrapped up his presidential affairs.
