Trump told to turn over ‘classified national security’ docs months before FBI raid
by Jerry Dunleavy, Justice Department Reporter |
August 23, 2022 09:53 AM
Former President Donald Trump was warned by the National Archives months ahead of the FBI raid of his Florida home that some of the records that had been turned over from Mar-a-Lago consisted of “classified national security” and "top secret" information.
A new report reveals acting Archivist Debra Wall sent a letter to Trump lawyer Evan Corcoran in May, informing him that the National Archives and Records Administration came into possession of 15 boxes of records transferred from Mar-a-Lago in January. The letter added that an initial review of the records “identified items marked as classified national security information, up to the level of Top Secret and including Sensitive Compartmented Information and Special Access Program materials.”
Those are among the highest classification levels.
“NARA informed the Department of Justice about that discovery, which prompted the Department to ask the President to request that NARA provide the FBI with access to the boxes at issue so that the FBI and others in the Intelligence Community could examine them,” Wall wrote in a May 10 letter published by Just The News. “On April 11, 2022, the White House Counsel’s Office — affirming a request from the Department of Justice supported by an FBI letterhead memorandum — formally transmitted a request that NARA provide the FBI access to the 15 boxes for its review within seven days, with the possibility that the FBI might request copies of specific documents following its review of the boxes.”
This May letter was soon followed by a Justice Department subpoena, an early June visit to Mar-a-Lago by DOJ investigators, and, finally, the early August raid.
“It has now been four weeks since we first informed you of our intent to provide the FBI access to the boxes so that it and others in the Intelligence Community can conduct their reviews,” she said in May.
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https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/justice/trump-classified-national-security-months-fbi-raid
