An insider with knowledge of what government records former president Donald Trump still possessed more than 18 months after he left the White House reportedly tipped off FBI officials to a cache of classified documents at the ex-president’s Palm Beach, Florida home and office.
According to Newsweek, two “senior government officials” have said the Monday search of Mr Trump’s rooms at Mar-a-Lago — the mansion turned private club where he spends most of his year — came after a confidential FBI source provided agents with information on “what classified documents [Mr Trump] was still hiding and ... the location of those documents”.
The officials also said the search of the ex-president’s property was based on concerns that Mr Trump was unlawfully holding on to classified national defence information.
Another source told Newsweek that a federal grand jury has already concluded that violations of federal law concerning the handling of national defence information had taken place after examining documents which the National Archives and Records Administration recovered from Mar-a-Lago in January.
Because Justice Department officials believed Mr Trump was still secreting classified documents on his property, prosecutors sought a search warrant from a federal magistrate judge.
The affidavit investigators used to acquire the search warrant reportedly contained “abundant and persuasive detail” showing that Mr Trump was still in possession of classified records in violation of federal law, and that the records that were being sought were held at Mar-a-Lago.
“In order for the investigators to convince the Florida judge to approve such an unprecedented raid, the information had to be solid, which the FBI claimed," the source reportedly said.
