Donald Trump search finds classified documents on storage site Chicago Tribune

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Former President Donald Trump hired people to search four properties after a federal judge ordered them to search harder for any kind of material still in his possession, and they found nothing at least two documents with classified marks inside a sealed box at one of the locations, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The Trumps’ search team discovered the documents at a federally operated storage site in West Palm Beach, Florida, the person said, prompting his lawyers to notify the Justice Department about them.

Justice Department officials have told the president’s former lawyers they believe he may have more classified materials that were not turned over in response to a subpoena issued in May. The FBI searched Mar-a-Lago, Trumps private club and residence in Florida, in August for additional classified documents and other presidential records.

People close to Trump said Wednesday that no classified material had been found in the searches, a claim that has since been proven false. The Washington Post first reported the discovery of two additional documents, as well as searches of properties.

After the warning from the Justice Department, there was a debate among Trump’s lawyers about whether to bring in an independent firm to conduct the search.

The discovery of the documents in the storage unit, maintained by the federal General Services Administration, came during a series of broader searches completed around Thanksgiving and conducted at the Trumps golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey; at Trump Tower in New York; and in a storage closet at Mar-a-Lago, according to two people familiar with the circumstances.

Steven Cheung, a spokesman for Trump, said in a statement that the former president and his advisers continue to be cooperative and transparent, despite the unprecedented, illegal and unwarranted attacks against President Trump and his family of the armed Department of Justice.

The department is investigating the former president’s handling of thousands of government documents, including more than 300 classified ones, that were taken from the White House at the end of his term and found at Mar-a-Lago. Prosecutors are also trying to determine whether Trump thwarted the governments repeated efforts to obtain the materials.

When the Justice Department warned that it believed Trump still had documents in his possession, a lawyer he had hired briefly earlier, Christopher M. Kise, suggested along with other lawyers working for Trump that they will contact an outside company, according to the people. familiar with the events.

A cadre of other Trump lawyers resists the idea; among them is Boris Epshteyn, a communications adviser who has positioned himself as an in-house counsel in some of Trump’s legal entanglements. The dispute led to Kises standing in Trumps circle shrinking for weeks, according to several people close to the former president.

Recently, Chief Judge Beryl A. Howell of the US District Court in Washington, which oversees the grand jury investigations, ordered Trump’s lawyers to search more carefully for any remaining documents. Other lawyers in Trumps circle have taken up the issue and hired a firm, according to one of the people familiar with the matter.

But as the Justice Department continues to have questions about documents that may remain at Mar-a-Lago and as some people close to Trump believe another search warrant could be executed, a person familiar with the discussions with federal officials have said that nothing is likely to happen soon. reason to get a warrant for Bedminster or Trump Tower.

The National Archives has repeatedly raised questions over the past year about the status of some material it should have received, such as correspondence with Kim Jong Un, the leader of North Korea, as well as about two dozen boxes which were considered presidential records at the end of Trump’s term.

Archives officials have contacted several people to try to facilitate the return of the documents, including former White House Counsels Office lawyers who work as Trump representatives at the agency. The former president insisted to several advisers that the boxes were filled with news clippings and personal items; Archives officials explained that the news clippings could be considered presidential records.

Alex Cannon, a lawyer who has worked with Trump in various capacities, became involved in fall 2021 and tried to help archive officials retrieve the material.

Cannon warned others in Trumps circle not to go through the boxes themselves because it’s unclear what’s in them, and people may need security clearances. At one point, as Trump sought National Archives documents related to the investigation into whether his 2016 campaign colluded with Russian officials, he suggested that his lawyers propose a deal with the agency: what what he wanted in exchange for the documents he had.

The lawyers refused to make that suggestion, and Cannon continued to try to push for the documents to be returned to the archive.

Eric Herschmann, a lawyer who worked as a top adviser in the Trump White House, had an informal conversation with Trump. People familiar with the discussion described it as Herschmann speaking as a friend and urging the former president to return the boxes, suggesting that he could be in legal trouble by keeping them, especially if they contain they are classified material.

That possibility became a reality in January, after archive officials obtained the boxes that Trump had been going through for several days last December. Officers opened the boxes and discovered several types of documents. The Justice Department got involved.

When Cannon raised the prospect with Trump that officials weren’t sure they had returned everything, the former president told him to tell officials he had returned everything, according to people briefed on the matter. this. Cannon refused to do so and soon dropped out of the involvement.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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