Former US President Donald Trump at Trump Tower in New York on August 9, 2022. YUKI IWAMURA / AP
Federal Judge Bruce Reinhart had given Donald Trump’s attorneys until 3 p.m. Friday, August 12 to announce whether they would object to the unsealing of the arrest warrant for the FBI’s arrest warrant issued by the FBI on Monday, Aug. 8 the former American President in Florida. Minutes before the appointed time, the elements contained in the mandate leaked through the press, causing shock in a country used to surprises when it comes to Donald Trump. According to the document released by the Justice Department, the 45th President of the United States is under investigation for a possible violation of the Espionage Act of 1917.
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FBI agents who went to his home on August 12 seized about twenty boxes of documents, many of them harmless: photos, letters, tracing the history of the Trump presidency as it should be reflected in the archives. A “property receipt” issued at the same time as the search warrant lists the documents seized. Most are identified under vague titles: “leather shirt”, “photos”… Two are a bit more precise. One relates to the July 2020 executive order pardoning a friend of Donald Trump, Roger Stone, who was sentenced to three years in prison as part of an investigation into alleged collusion between the Republican billionaire’s campaign team and Russia. , in 2016. The other reads : “Information Re: President of France”. The Elysée declined to comment.
High level classification
Most notably, investigators found 11 sets of classified documents whose presence at Mar-a-Lago potentially threatens national security. Some are classified at the highest level: TS/SCI (for Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information). They can only be viewed in the security offices of the federal government, a top-secret release is not sufficient. To read it, you must have special access and a specific reason.
The Aug. 5 search warrant — three days before the operation — mentions the legal texts investigators are relying on to justify to the judge what Mr. Trump called a “search” of his home. To the surprise of the experts, there is the Espionage Act. It prohibits any collection of national security information that could harm the United States or benefit foreign adversaries.
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