Additional documents marked as “classified” were discovered in former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home by his lawyers after the FBI completed its search of his southern Florida estate in 2022, newly unsealed court filings state.
The documents marked as classified were recovered from President Trump’s bedroom at the estate approximately four months after the initial raid, according to a newly unsealed March 2023 opinion by U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell.
Judge Howell oversaw the initial Washington grand jury proceedings into President Trump’s handling of classified materials after leaving office in 2021.
The case is being investigated by special counsel Jack Smith, who has charged the former president with 40 felony charges related to allegedly mishandling classified information, including the unlawful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice, and concealing a document in a federal investigation.
The former president, who has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him, has defended his actions and argues he is protected by the Presidential Records Act.
In her 87-page opinion last year, Judge Howell stated that President Trump’s lawyers conducted additional searches of his properties after the initial FBI raid was completed in August 2022, during which agents seized over 100 classified documents, some of which were marked “secret” and “top secret.”
The additional searches carried out by his lawyers included a sweep of Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in New Jersey, Trump Tower in New York City, and storage units and offices located in West Palm Beach, Florida, that were leased by the General Services Administration, along with the search of Mar-a-Lago, Judge Howell noted.
‘Classified Evening Summary’
The additional documents discovered in President Trump’s bedroom at Mar-a-Lago consisted of an empty folder and a “mostly empty folder marked ‘Classified Evening Summary,’” according to the judge.
No further information regarding the exact contents of the folders was provided in the judge’s opinion.
The judge further noted there was no evidence suggesting President Trump was even aware of the classified documents in his bedroom.
“To be sure, the government has not provided direct evidence that the former president deliberately retained, or was even aware of, the particular classified-marked documents located by his counsel at Mar-a-Lago in December 2022,” Judge Howell wrote in her decision.
However, the judge expressed disbelief at how President Trump could be unaware of the classified records still sitting in his Florida residence following the August raid.
“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,” the judge wrote in her opinion.
Four other documents were also discovered during the additional search that the judge said were “misleadingly” referred to as “low-level ministerial documents without any explicit mention whether they had classification markings.”
Judge Cannon Orders Trove of Documents to Be Made Public
“To be clear, the four documents were responsive to the May 2022 subpoena,” Judge Howell wrote in her opinion, in which she found that prosecutors had put forward sufficient evidence to show President Trump mishandled classified documents.
A footnote in Judge Howell’s opinion states that an unnamed witness connected to President Trump’s Save America PAC scanned the contents of the box containing the classified materials and stored them on a laptop in her possession.
The laptop was owned by the Save America PAC, according to the footnote in the opinion.
President Trump’s counsel saved those scans onto a thumb drive and provided the thumb drive to the government in January 2023, Judge Howell noted.
The latest opinion was unsealed as part of President Trump’s effort to get the case against him dismissed.
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon ordered that the batch of documents be docketed publicly following negotiations between lawyers from both President Trump’s team and Mr. Smith’s team over redactions.
The Epoch Times has contacted a spokesperson for President Trump for comment.
From The Epoch Times
