Documents concealed at Trump’s residence to stall FBI probe: Officials

Documents recovered from President Donald Trump’s Florida home were concealed to obstruct FBI investigation, said officials from the US Department of Justice. According to the department, the efforts were possibly taken to obstruct the investigation of Trump’s handling of classified material.

Trump, however, has denied the allegations.

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US presidents, upon leaving office, must transfer all their documents and emails to the National Archives. The FBI is currently investigating whether Trump improperly handled records and took them from the White House to Mar-a-Lago after he left office in January 2021.

An FBI team searched Trump’s property in August, found more than 100 classified documents. This accounted for twice as many classified documents found “in a matter of hours” than by the “diligent search” that Trump’s team claimed they had recently carried out.

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Justice department’s counterintelligence chief Jay Bratt said: “This casts doubt on the extent of co-operation in this matter.”

The department has also released a photograph of the documents retrieved from Trump’s residence during the FBI’s August 8 search. The photograph shows classified files on the floor of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago office.

Donald Trump, however, rejected reports against him as fake news. The former president is also suing for a detailed list of what was taken from his estate.

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Trump’s lawyers have asked for a “neutral” third-party attorney to review the matter, and determine whether the seized files are covered by the executive privilege, which allows presidents to keep certain communications under wraps.