This procedural document explains in the most detail yet the reasons that led the FBI to search the former president’s home on August 8 to retrieve highly confidential documents that he failed to return after leaving the White House despite repeated requests would have.
obstruction
Before the operation, the FBI uncovered “multiple sources of evidence” showing “secret documents” were still at Trump’s sprawling Mar-a-Lago residence, the document said.
The Justice Department said it explained the process that led to the raid in order to correct “the incomplete and inaccurate account of statements” by Donald Trump. The department’s statement responds to the former president’s request last week for an independent third party to review documents seized by the FBI from his home.
But naming that third party could block investigators’ access to the documents, and the judiciary should not do so “because these (seized) documents do not belong to Trump,” the document points out. Such an appointment “is not necessary and would seriously damage the interests of the government, including in terms of national security,” it underlined.
According to the Justice Department, some of the documents seized on Aug. 8 bore the “HCS” mark, which is US intelligence parlance to refer to information obtained from “human sources”, whistleblowers and other undercover agents.