FBI finds top secret files at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in raid he called a ‘hoax’

The FBI recovered top secret documents from Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home, it emerged on Friday night, amid reports they were looking for material related to nuclear weapons.

Eleven sets of classified documents were found in the former president’s Florida residence, the Wall Street Journal reported, including some considered so secret they were only meant to be viewed in special government facilities.

Mr Trump on Friday morning said any suggestions FBI agents were looking for nuclear documents was a “hoax”. Later in the day, however, he appeared to downplay the issue, suggesting Barack Obama had kept nuclear documents himself.

Mr Obama “kept 33 million pages of documents, much of them classified”, Mr Trump wrote on his Truth social website. “How many of them pertained to nuclear? Word is, lots!”

Among the classified documents taken from Mr Trump’s home were one set marked only for viewing in specific government sites, four marked top secret, three marked secret and three classified.

The inventory compiled by agents also revealed material relating to the “President of France” was taken, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Mr Trump’s lawyers argue he declassified the material before he left office, but it was unclear last night whether he had the authority to do so with the most sensitive material.

The Justice Department was reported to have been concerned that if such items were being stored at Mr Trump’s home, they could become a target for foreign intelligence agencies.

“Nuclear weapons issue is a Hoax, just like Russia, Russia, Russia was a Hoax, two Impeachments were a Hoax, the Mueller investigation was a Hoax, and much more,” Mr Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“Same sleazy people involved. Why wouldn’t the FBI allow the inspection of areas at Mar-a-Lago with our lawyer’s, or others, present. Made them wait outside in the heat, wouldn’t let them get even close - said ‘ABSOLUTELY NOT.’ Planting information anyone?”

An informant at Mar-a-Lago was believed to have tipped off the FBI before the search.

The reported discovery of top secret material came as the US Justice Department asked a judge to make public the warrant authorising the raid. A decision was due on Friday night.

The search of Mr Trump’s Florida home was part of an investigation into whether he illegally removed records from the White House as he left office in January 2021, some of which the Justice Department believes are classified.

Attorney General Merrick Garland, the top US law enforcement officer, and an appointee of President Joe Biden, said he had personally approved the search.

Mr Trump on Friday morning also called for the immediate publication of the warrant.

He said: “Not only will I not oppose the release of documents related to the unAmerican, unwarranted, and unnecessary raid and break-in of my home in Palm Beach, Florida, Mar-a-Lago, I am going a step further by ENCOURAGING the immediate release of those documents.

“Even though they have been drawn up by radical left Democrats and possible future political opponents, who have a strong and powerful vested interest in attacking me, much as they have done for the last 6 years…”

To obtain a search warrant the Justice Department must prove to a judge that probable cause exists to believe that a crime was committed under the Presidential Records Act, which deals with how documents are stored after a presidency.

The department had substantial engagement with Mr Trump and his representatives prior to the search warrant.

That included a subpoena for records and a visit to Mar-a-Lago a couple of months ago by FBI and Justice Department officials to assess how documents were kept.

Neither Mr Trump nor the FBI have said anything about what specific documents agents might have recovered, or what precisely they were looking for.

The National Archives asked the Justice Department and FBI to investigate after saying 15 boxes of records it retrieved from the estate in January included classified records. Multiple federal laws govern the handling of classified information.

Republicans have attacked the investigation as politically motivated.

But Steny Hoyer, a senior Democrat congressman, condemned those attacks as “despicable and dangerous”.