Federal agents probing former President Donald Trump’s ties to classified materials told the judge who signed a search warrant for his Florida property last year that they were concerned that the whereabouts of some documents were unknown, according to a new court order. The filing shows.
A Less Revised edition Did search warrant affidavit Signs made public on Wednesday revealed Justice Department officials became concerned after viewing security camera video from Mar-a-Lago that they obtained from Trump’s company.
The affidavit said the video showed a Trump staffer — identified as former White House aide Walt Nauta — moving boxes from a storage area where Trump and his lawyers had previously stored Admitted to possessing classified documents.
“The current location of the boxes that were removed from the storage room area but not returned is unknown,” the affidavit said.
Those videos were mentioned in the criminal indictment filed against Trump and Nauta last month. The indictment says that in June last year, under a subpoena, Nauta removed 64 boxes from a storage room and took them to Trump’s residence in Mar-a-Lago, days before going to retrieve the documents. . According to the indictment, he only moved 30 boxes back to the storage room before federal authorities arrived.
The less redacted version of the affidavit also refers to other allegations mentioned in the indictment, Including a statement from a Trump lawyer that he was told that “all records that came from the White House were stored in a location at Mar-a-Lago, within the storage room.” The indictment says the documents were stored at several locations, including Trump’s office and residence, a ballroom stage and a bathroom.
The government has said that the FBI search turned up more than 100 classified documents, some of which were marked “secret” and “top secret”.
The federal judge in Florida who signed the August search warrant, Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart, in an order earlier Wednesday ordered additional information from the affidavit to be made public.
Reinhart declined requests from media organizations, including NBC News, that the entire affidavit be sealed in light of last month’s related criminal charges against Trump, but found that “additional portions of the search warrant application must be sealed.”
He said the Justice Department agreed in a sealed filing that some additional parts of the search warrant could be made public, but said other parts would be kept “to comply with grand jury confidentiality rules and to protect investigative sources and methods”. be sealed.
Reinhart said the Justice Department “has met its burden of showing that its proposed modifications to the affidavit are designed to serve the legitimate interests of the government and that the least onerous option is to seal the entire search warrant affidavit.” Are.”
The newly released sections of the affidavit include information from a 37-count federal indictment that was opened last month.
Trump is accused of breaking seven different laws, including 31 counts of knowingly withholding national defense information and a single count of false statements and representations, conspiracy to obstruct justice, withholding a document or record, tampering with a document Corruptly concealing, in federal, involves concealing a document. Investigation and cover-up plan.
He has pleaded not guilty and has claimed that he has made the documents public and will do as he pleases.
Trump’s co-defendant Nauta will be arraigned on Thursday.
Reinhart last year ordered other parts of the search warrant to be made public.
His Wednesday order revealed that the Justice Department also wants to keep secret its proposal for a limited release of some materials so that they can be handed over to Trump’s lawyers.
Reinhart said he would allow the motion to remain sealed because it “identifies investigative steps that have not yet been made public” but that he would allow his decision to be made public upon the government’s request because it “does not disclose material”. does “any search stuff.”
Reinhart stayed the order until July 13 to give the government time to decide whether it wanted to appeal.
Peter Carr, a spokesman for special counsel Jack Smith, declined to comment Wednesday.
A lawyer for Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday night.