FBI agents removed classified documents marked as top secret when they searched Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence on Monday, according to a description of the search warrant receipt that lists the materials seized by federal agents, provided by a source directly familiar with the document.
The most sensitive set of documents removed from Trump’s post-presidency home in Florida were listed generically as “Various Classified/TS/SCI” – the abbreviation that stands for top secret/sensitive compartmented information – the source said, among other records.
FBI agents retrieved a total of 11 sets of classified documents, some of which were marked top secret, the Wall Street Journal first reported. Federal agents also took away four sets of top secret documents, three sets of secret documents, and three sets of confidential documents, the Journal reported.
The search warrant receipt did not provide any further detail about the substance of the classified documents, the newspaper reported, but said the FBI additionally collected binders of photos, materials on the “president of France”, and a grant of clemency for Trump operative Roger Stone.
FBI agents searched Mar-a-Lago on Monday bearing a warrant – approved by Merrick Garland, the attorney general – that authorized a search of “the 45 Office”, as well as “all storage rooms and all other rooms or areas … in which boxes or documents could be stored”, the Journal also reported.
The disclosure of the contents of the search warrant and the receipt came hours before the deadline for Trump and his legal team, led by Evan Corcoran, to oppose a motion by the justice department to make public both documents, which remain under seal.
Trump said in a statement late on Thursday on his social media website that he would not oppose the release of the two documents. “Not only will I not oppose the release of the documents … I am going a step further by ENCOURAGING the immediate release of those documents,” he posted.
The motion to unseal, announced by Garland in prepared remarks at the justice department’s headquarters on Thursday, does not currently include the affidavit accompanying the warrant that would give greater detail on the probable cause that led to the approval of the Mar-a-Lago raid.
Corcoran is understood to be in possession of both the search warrant and the receipt, while at least one more lawyer representing Trump has reviewed the contents of the receipt, say sources close to the former president. Trump has not authorized them to release the documents, the sources said.