Seized Items From Trump Home Included Empty Folders Marked ‘Classified’

According to a detailed inventory of items retrieved during the search of Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in Florida, the F.B.I. reportedly found 48 empty folders marked “classified.” It’s not known if the missing documents were among others found during the search or if they are still missing.

A newly disclosed court filing raises the question of whether the government had fully recovered the classified documents from Donald Trump’s Florida home, or if any remain missing. https://t.co/MPPfs2sye0 pic.twitter.com/Ou548bt6jm

— The New York Times (@nytimes) September 2, 2022

From the New York Times:

The filing, a detailed list of items retrieved in the search, was unsealed on Friday as part of the court fight over whether to appoint an independent arbiter to review the materials taken by federal agents from Mr. Trump’s estate, Mar-a-Lago, on Aug. 8.

Along with the empty folders with classified markings, the F.B.I. recovered 40 more empty folders that said they contained sensitive documents the user should “return to staff secretary/military aide,” the inventory said.

It also said that agents found seven documents marked as “top secret” in Mr. Trump’s office and 11 more in a storage room.

Read the full report here. In related news, Bill Barr, Trump’s former Attorney General, told Fox News host John Roberts he can’t think of any legitimate reason for Trump to have any of the documents found to be in the Donald’s possession.

Fox’s Roberts: “Is there any legitimate reason for those materials to be in the former president’s possession?”

Bill Barr: “No … If, in fact, he stood over scores of boxes … and said, ‘I hereby declassify everything in here,’ … it’s almost worse than taking the documents.” pic.twitter.com/F264savP4R — The Recount (@therecount) September 2, 2022