We Now Have Full Details on Trump's Theft of Government Documents

Donald Trump left Washington, D.C., on Jan. 21, 2021. And here we are, 17 months later, discovering that he had boxes of the most secret information—including national security documents involving human intelligence and imagery from spy satellites—stashed in Mar-a-Lago. Including in the drawers of his own desk.

The government brief filed on Monday evening (along with the affidavit behind the FBI search) have made it absolutely clear that Trump, beyond a shadow of doubt, committed and instructed others to commit multiple serious federal offenses, any one of which can, and has, sent other people to jail for many years. The story told in the court filings is one in which every agency involved—from the National Archives, to the Department of Justice, to the White House—gave Trump every possible break. Everyone gave Trump almost endless chances to do the right thing.  What’s amazing is that both of the documents—which are utterly damning—were released only because federal judges went out of their way to show unprecedented deference to Trump.

Even before Trump went out the door, refusing to attend the inauguration of President Joe Biden, the National Archives was informed by the White House Records Office that documents it was tracking had not been returned. When the National Archives had trouble negotiating with Trump’s team to obtain these documents, they turned to the White House, but rather than issuing an order, Biden’s team took a hands-off attitude, leaving it to the archives to sort out. The National Archives considered seeking a subpoena, but instead worked slowly using the Presidential Records Act, while Trump either ignored their requests or asked for more time.

After about a year, the Archives had learned that there were about 15 boxes of government records at Mar-a-Lago, many of which contained classified material.  Stealing and improperly securing classified documents is a crime and the Archives could have simply referred the matter to the FBI.  

Instead of referring the matter to the FBI, the Archives notified the DOJ and Trump’s attorneys of what they knew, and continued working through the steps of the Presidential Records Act, which allowed Trump to continue asking for more time when not simply being unresponsive.

On April 12, a clearly frustrated archivist informed Trump that she intended to refer the matter to the FBI the next week. Trump’s response was to ask for another delay. The Department of Justice didn’t get their first glimpse of what was in the first 15 boxes until April 29.

That day, the Department of Justice sent notification to Trump’s legal team that the contents of the boxes held “important national security interests” and that “access to the materials is not only necessary for purposes of our ongoing criminal investigation, but the Executive Branch must also conduct an assessment of the potential damage resulting from the apparent manner in which these materials were stored and transported.”

In the case of human intelligence, any sign that the identity of an asset had been revealed would have meant immediate exfiltration, even if there was no clear sign that the asset was in danger. Both embedded resources and in-place agents that had taken years to establish would have been removed as rapidly as possible to avoid any consequences of having been compromised. Considering that the CIA and other agencies had noted a recent increase in assets lost overseas, there is a chance that handling these documents in an non-secure fashion had already generated fatal results.

Even then, the response of Trump’s attorneys was to ask for more time. And, for the first time in this sequence, Trump tried a new ploy by saying that, if he didn’t get the extension he wanted, he would assert “‘executive privilege made by counsel for the former President.” On May 10, the acting archivist informed Trump’s attorneys that they were not giving them an extension, and did not recognize Trump’s authority to claim privilege over classified materials. 

The FBI finally got there hands on those first 15 boxes on May 16. What they found inside was “184 unique documents bearing classification markings, including 67 documents marked as CONFIDENTIAL, 92 documents marked as SECRET, and 25 documents marked as TOP SECRET.” Additionally, some bore the markings indicating they were only to be handled within secure facilities or that they were restricted in the interest of national security. That day, May 16, was the first day the FBI, Department of Justice, and other agencies really got a sense of how bad this was going to be.

At this point, the FBI “developed evidence” that what was in the 15 boxes was far from a complete tally of the dangerous documents in Trump’s possession. There’s been an assumption that this was a matter of someone coming forward—a witness or whistleblower—but it’s also likely that the documents found may have simply been incomplete. Considering how loosely the material had been treated, these classified documents may have been missing pages, or documents that the White House Records Office had identified as being with Trump might not have surfaced.

Even at this late date, it seemed as if the DOJ was desperately trying to offer Trump an “out,” because that subpoena indicated that Bobb could comply by sending any remaining classified documents to the Department of Justice and signing a “sworn certification that the documents represent all responsive records.” Trump’s team  asked for an extension.  And that’s how two FBI agents and a Department of Justice attorney ended up visiting Mar-a-Lago on June 3, 2022, supposedly to pick up the last remaining classified documents. 

When they arrived, Bobb handed over an accordion envelop that contained a further 38 classified documents, including 17 marked as “TOP SECRET.” Some of these were also marked “SCI” indicating that they were where “sensitive compartmentalized” documents while others bore national security markings. Bobb didn’t even try to explain why Trump had these documents, or why they hadn’t been returned with the first 15 boxes. Bobb then signed a document saying:

“Based upon the information that has been provided to me, I am authorized to certify, on behalf of the Office of Donald J. Trump, the following: a. A diligent search was conducted of the boxes that were moved from the White House to Florida; b. This search was conducted after receipt of the subpoena, in order to locate any and all documents that are responsive to the subpoena; c. Any and
all responsive documents accompany this certification; and d. No copy, written notation, or reproduction of any kind was retained as to any responsive document.”

We now know that statement was an outright lie.  During that visit to Mar-a-Lago, the agents were allowed to see the so-called “storage room” at Mar-a-Lago where they were told all the boxes of documents from the White House were kept. However, they weren’t allowed to look at the contents of those boxes. In fact, “the former President’s counsel explicitly prohibited government personnel from opening or looking inside any of the boxes that remained in the storage room, giving no opportunity for the government to confirm that no documents with classification markings remained.”

Over the next month, the FBI “uncovered multiple sources of evidence” that “classified documents remained at the Premises, notwithstanding the sworn certification.” They also developed evidence that records were “likely concealed and removed from the Storage Room and that efforts were likely taken to obstruct the government’s investigation.” Unlike the steps that made the FBI step up their activity in the first place, this change would almost certainly seem to reflect the action of some whistleblower or other witness who told the FBI about these crimes in progress. Video from the storage room area, showing that the room was frequently entered and that materials were taken from it, may have contributed to this conclusion.

The FBI obtained and carried out a search warrant on August 8, netting approximately another 100 classified documents. From the image contained in the latest Department of Justice filing—an image now suspected to represent documents found in Donald Trump’s personal office—many of those documents were not just top secret, but included the SCI notice showing that they were compartmentalized information. Other markings on those pages show that they are among the most valuable, most sensitive, documents in all of government.

What the whole history of this event shows is how at every level, and every step, the National Archives, the Department of Justice, the FBI, and the judges involved gave Trump every possible break. He was granted almost endless delays.When the FBI stepped in, Trump had the opportunities to simply own up to the documents he was still holding and put this all behind him.  He didn’t. Instead, he and his legal team continued to lie, in the process obstructing a criminal investigation.  Trump had every opportunity to do the right thing-- and he threw them all away.