Feds served subpoena, seized documents from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago in June: report
This week’s FBI search of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort came two months after his attorneys cooperated with a grand jury subpoena, turning over additional documents to federal investigators at the estate, multiple outlets reported Thursday.
CNN reported that the subpoena was issued shortly before an early June meeting, during which Justice Department officials were shown the basement storage room where boxes of documents and other memorabilia from Trump’s four years in the White House were reportedly kept. The outlet added that the 45th president’s attorneys handed over all documents that were marked “top secret.”
CNN and the Wall Street Journal reported that Trump greeted the agents at the start of the meeting, with the Journal quoting him as saying: “I appreciate the job you’re doing” and adding: “Anything you need, let us know.”
The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that Jay Bratt, the Justice Department’s counterintelligence chief, made a written request June 8 — five days after the initial meeting — for a stronger lock on the basement door, signing his note: “Thank you.” A source told the paper that a new lock was put in place the next day.
At some point in the following days, according to the outlet, investigators received a tip that there may be additional classified documents at the resort.
On June 22, the Journal reported, the Trump Organization received a subpoena for security camera footage from Mar-a-Lago, which was turned over.
That was the last major development on the case until Monday’s raid, when plainclothes FBI agents removed approximately a dozen boxes of documents and other materials after searching locations including a bedroom, a safe, and former first lady Melania Trump’s closet.
“My attorneys and representatives were cooperating fully, and very good relationships had been established,” Trump insisted in a post on his Truth Social platform Thursday. “The government could have had whatever they wanted, if we had it. They asked us to put an additional lock on a certain area – DONE! Everything was fine, better than that of most previous Presidents, and then, out of nowhere and with no warning, Mar-a-Lago was raided, at 6:30 in the morning, by VERY large numbers of agents, and even ‘safecrackers.’ They got way ahead of themselves. Crazy!
The back-and-forth over the documents began earlier this year, when the National Archives revealed to the House Oversight Committee it had found classified information in 15 boxes of White House records that were returned from Trump’s Florida home this past January.
In the Feb. 18 letter to the panel, Archivist David Ferriero revealed that the agency was in contact with the Justice Department about potential violations of the Presidential Records Act of 1978, which mandates that each commander-in-chief preserve documents relating to his official duties and turn them over to the Archives at the conclusion of his term.
Laws governing the custody of such records have been loosely enforced in the past, with high-profile prosecutions ending in misdemeanor plea deals — or with no charges being filed at all.
Most notably, in 2016, then-FBI Director James Comey announced Hillary Clinton would not face prosecution in connection with her sending and receiving classified material on a personal email server.
With Post wires
