WASHINGTON (AP) — The National Archives removed classified markings from the first batch of 15 boxes recovered from Mar-a-Lago earlier this year, according to newly released government communications with Trump’s legal team. We recovered over 100 documents, totaling over 700 pages. .
The figures reveal a large number of secret government documents recovered from former President Donald Trump’s Florida mansion months earlier, well before FBI agents returned there with a search warrant on August 8. I’m here. Removed 11 more sets of sensitive recordsThe warrant also reveals an FBI investigation into illegal retention of records and possible obstruction of justice.
A drawing on the paper was included In a letter dated May 10th Deputy archivist Debra Steidl-Wall told Trump’s attorney, Evan Corcoran, that the Biden administration would not honor claims of presidential privilege over the documents.
According to the letter, Mr. Corcoran several weeks ago requested additional time for the archives to review the materials in the box before turning them over to the FBI, claiming that some were subject to executive privilege and therefore could not be disclosed. is exempted.
The letter was published Tuesday on the website of the National Archives and Records Administration. It was previously published Monday night on a website set up by John Solomon. John Solomon, appointed by Trump as one of his nominated representatives to the archives in June, is a Trump ally and conservative journalist.
The archivist’s letter states that the Department of Justice will obtain presidential records from archives belonging to the federal government and necessary for the records of the current president, “there is no precedent for a former president to claim executive powers to challenge a sitting president.” No,” he said. As a result, claims of executive privilege will not be honored and the FBI will be granted access to the documents within days, the letter said.
The Archives asked the Department of Justice to investigate after it said it found classified material among 15 boxes of records it recovered from Mar-a-Lago.
In the letter, archivist Wall wrote that in those boxes the Archives identified items marked as classified at the top secret level, as well as information about special access programs.
The record contains 100 classified documents “over 700 pages long,” citing an excerpt from another communication from the Department of Justice’s National Security Agency, which said, “Access to the material is ongoing. “It is not necessary solely for the purposes of criminal investigations,” but also for “assessment of potential damage” resulting from the manner in which the documents were transported and stored.
Corcoran did not immediately return a message requesting comment on the letter.
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Associated Press writer Farnoush Amiri in Washington contributed to this report.
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