Officials reportedly found classified documents at former President Donald Trump‘s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida following his White House exit.
Some of the documents were “clearly marked as classified” and included “top secret” material that potentially could rev up legal scrutiny of his handling of White House records, the Washington Post reported.
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“I have been told I was under no obligation to give this material based on various legal rulings that have been made over the years,” Trump said in a statement. “Crooked Hillary Clinton, as an example, deleted and acid-washed 32,000 emails and never gave that to the government. Then, they took large amounts of furniture out of the White House. And Bill Clinton kept numerous audio recordings that the archives wanted, but were unsuccessful at getting after going to court.”
It is unclear how many classified documents were kept at Mar-a-Lago or how they got there. The National Archives and Records Administration recovered 15 boxes of material from his resort in mid-January. The National Archives reportedly asked the Justice Department to review Trump’s handling of White House documents.
The National Archives told the Washington Examiner that it does not comment on possible investigations, and the Justice Department did not respond to requests for comment.
The classified documents are being held in a sensitive compartmented information facility as the Justice Department deliberates on how to proceed, sources told the Washington Post. Top-secret information could cause “grave damage” to national security if it is not handled properly, according to the National Archives.
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Trump has faced scrutiny for his handling of White House documents during and after his presidency. The Presidential Records Act of 1978 requires key White House documents to be preserved for the historical record. During his time in the White House, Trump reportedly ripped up documents that staff had to tape back together to comply with the law.
Trump is also suspected of flushing documents down a White House toilet, according to a forthcoming book by New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman. Trump called it a “fake story.”
