1 of 3 | Former President Donald Trump held more than 700 pages of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida, according to a letter released by the National Archives. File Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI |
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Aug. 23 (UPI) -- Former President Donald Trump kept more than 700 pages from more than 100 documents with "the highest levels of classification" at his Mara-a-Lago home in Florida through January, according to a letter released Tuesday by the National Archives and Records Administration.
The letter, dated May 10, informs Trump's lawyers about the discovery of "missing Presidential records" inside 15 boxes of documents Trump transferred in January, along with the documents' highly classified nature.
"In its initial review of materials within those boxes, NARA identified items marked as classified national security information, up to the level of Top Secret and including Sensitive Compartmented Information and Special Access Program materials," wrote Debra Steidel Wall, acting archivist of the United States.
"According to NARA, among the materials in the boxes are over 100 documents with classification markings, comprising more than 700 pages," the letter said.
The National Archives informed the Department of Justice about that discovery "which prompted the department to ask the president to request that NARA provide the FBI with access to the boxes at issue so that the FBI and others in the intelligence community could examine them," the letter said.
"Access to the materials is not only necessary for purposes of our ongoing criminal investigation, but the Executive Branch must also conduct an assessment of the potential damage resulting from the apparent manner in which these materials were stored and transported and take any necessary remedial steps," the letter said.
The Presidential Records Act requires all presidential records be properly preserved and turned over to the National Archives at the end of each administration.
Earlier this month, the FBI seized 11 boxes of documents, including at least one set of papers that had been categorized as top secret, during a search of Mar-a-Lago on Aug. 8.
Trump has criticized the Justice Department for the search and is calling for the full release of the affidavit used to get the search warrant.
Last week, Magistrate Judge Bruce E. Reinhart said at least portions of the affidavit could "presumptively be unsealed."
On Monday, Trump filed a motion in a Florida court requesting that a third party review the materials seized during the search, arguing his constitutional rights were violated and that privileged materials may have been seized.
