The FBI discovered more than 11,000 government documents and photos during its Aug. 8 search of former President Donald Trump’s Florida estate, as well as 48 empty folders marked “classified,” according to court records unsealed Friday. The unsealing by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon in West Palm Beach came a day after she heard oral arguments from Trump’s lawyers and the Justice Department’s two top counterintelligence prosecutors on whether she should appoint a special master to conduct a privileged review. of the seized materials. at Trump’s request. Cannon immediately deferred a decision on whether to appoint a special master, but said she would agree to unseal two files filed by the Justice Department. Former US Attorney General William Barr, who was appointed by Trump, questioned the usefulness of such an appointment. “I think at this stage, since they (FBI) have already looked at the documents, I think it’s a waste of time to have a special teacher,” Barr said in an interview with Fox News. Barr, who left the post at the end of December 2020, defied Trump not to back up his false claims that he had been robbed of that year’s presidential election. In the interview, Barr added that he saw no “legitimate reason” for Trump to have documents at his Florida estate if they were classified. He added: “I’m frankly skeptical of this (Trump) claim that I ‘declassified everything.’ Because, frankly, I think it’s very unlikely and secondly, if he kind of stood over a bunch of boxes without really knowing what was in there and said “I hereby declassify everything in here,” that would be such abuse, it would show such recklessness that it’s almost worse than getting the papers.’ One of the files, released Friday, provides a little more detail about the 33 boxes and other items the FBI found inside Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate as part of its ongoing criminal investigation into whether he illegally withheld information. of national defense and tried to block the probe. It shows that classified documents were sometimes combined with other items such as books, magazines and newspaper clippings. Of the more than 11,000 government records and photos, 18 were classified as “top secret,” 54 were classified as “secret,” and 31 were classified as “confidential,” according to a Reuters tally of the government’s inventory. “Top Secret” is the highest level of classification, reserved for the country’s most closely held secrets. There were also 90 empty files, 48 of which were marked “classified,” while others indicated that they should be returned to the staff secretary/military assistant. It is not clear why the folders were empty or if some records could be missing. The other file unsealed is a brief three-page file from the Justice Department updating the court on the status of its investigative team’s review of seized documents. That filing, dated Aug. 30, said investigators had completed a preliminary examination of the seized materials and would investigate further and interview more witnesses. The Justice Department’s criminal investigation could potentially be put on hold if Cannon agrees to appoint a special master to come in and conduct an independent, third-party review of the seized records. But Cannon signaled at Thursday’s hearing that she may be willing to allow U.S. intelligence officials to continue reviewing the materials as part of a national security damage assessment, even if a special master is appointed. The Justice Department previously said in court filings that it has evidence the classified documents were intentionally withheld by the FBI when it tried to retrieve them from Trump’s home in June. The Justice Department also opposes the appointment of a special master, saying the records in question do not belong to Trump and he cannot claim they are covered by executive privilege, a legal doctrine that can be used to shield certain presidential communications. A federal judge on Sept. 1 appeared sympathetic to former President Donald Trump’s request to appoint a special master to review documents the FBI seized from his home in August, though he declined to immediately rule on the matter. Reuters The Morning Update and Afternoon Update newsletters are written by Globe editors, giving you a concise summary of the day’s most important headlines. Sign up today.
