Search by ‘outside firm’ found more classified documents in Trump storage unit, report says

A search of former president Donald Trump’s properties by a third-party firm retained by his legal team reportedly discovered at least two documents bearing classification markings in a storage unit in West Palm Beach, Florida used by the twice-impeached ex-president.

According to The Washington Post, Mr Trump’s team engaged the outside firm to search the ex-president’s properties — including his New Jersey and Manhattan residences for classified documents — after a federal judge ordered them to certify that he had complied with a grand jury subpoena to produce any such material in his possession.

The outside firm picked through Mr Trump’s quarters at his Bedminister, New Jersey golf club and his home and office at Trump Tower, the New York skyscraper that is still his company’s headquarters and which also served as his primary residence until he switched it to his Mar-a-Lago club during his presidency. The firm also searched the West Palm Beach storage unit, which was engaged by the General Services Administration in July of last year to house documents that had been transferred from a Northern Virginia office used by Mr Trump’s transition team in the months following the end of his term in the White House.

Emails made public by the GSA show the cache of documents was part of more than 3,000 pounds of boxes shipped from Virginia to Florida last September. One person told the Post the items in the boxes included “suits and swords and wrestling belts and all sorts of things” and they did not think “anyone in Trump world” could say what was in the storage unit at issue.

That search, which was one of three searches conducted by the outside firm, turned up at least two items marked as classified. The items were turned over to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, according to “people familiar with the matter” who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Post also reported that Mr Trump’s lawyers invited the Federal Bureau of Investigation to observe as the outside team scoured the ex-president’s property. The bureau declined the request.

Citing “people familiar with the process,” the Post said Mr Trump’s attorneys informed the Department of Justice that the search by the outside firm “with expertise in searching for documents” did not turn up any classified documents at his New York and New Jersey properties. Spokespersons for the FBI and Justice Department did not respond to requests for comment.

A spokesperson for Mr Trump, Steven Cheung, said Mr Trump and his attorneys “continue to be cooperative and transparent” and hit out at the Justice Department for having mounted an “unprecedented” and “unwarranted attack” on the ex-president and his family.

The unusual third-party search of the ex-president’s other residences came months after FBI agents executed a search warrant at Mr Trump’s Palm Beach, Florida home on 8 August, coming away with more than 10,000 government-owned presidential records and more than 100 documents bearing markings indicating that the information contained in the documents was classified at levels as high as “top secret”.

Mr Trump’s team ordered the search of his New York and New Jersey properties after the chief judge of the US District Court for the District of Columbia ordered them to continue searching for classified documents after prosecutors said they had concerns that Mr Trump had not fully complied with a May grand jury subpoena commanding him to turn over any classified material in his posession.

The Post report also stated that Mr Trump’s legal team took this latest step in hopes of avoiding another FBI search of his residences.