Unsealed FBI list shows how Trump mixed classified, unclassified items
Among the seized materials were multiple empty folders that bore a classified marking, the document unsealed Friday says
A federal judge — with approval from Trump’s legal team and Justice Department lawyers — ordered Thursday that the inventory list be unsealed. The 11-page document provides the most detailed view yet of the government materials that Trump kept with him in Florida after he left the White House and the seemingly haphazard way he stored them.
Previously released court documents had revealed that Trump had 11 sets of classified documents, including some marked “top secret,” which means the exposure of them could pose “exceptionally grave danger” to national security. The more-detailed inventory provides further information of the manner in which these sensitive documents were stored, often commingled with other items in some of the 27 boxes that were seized by the FBI on Aug. 8.
Box No. 25, for example, contains 76 different magazines and articles published in 2016 and 2017. Mixed in with those media clippings was a government document with a “confidential” classification marking and another with a “secret” classification marking, according to the inventory list.
The box also contained 20 government documents and photographs with no classification, the court filing says. And there was an empty folder with a “CLASSIFIED” banner on it. It’s unclear if Trump and his associates took the folder from the White House without any documents in it, or if documents had been in the folder but were later removed.
A notice filed with the inventory states that the Justice Department has already reviewed every item seized from Trump that is not potentially covered by attorney-client privilege. It says the assessment of the items will continue as part of an ongoing criminal probe into how presidential documents were handled.
“The seized materials will continue to be used to further the government’s investigation, and the investigative team will continue to use and evaluate the seized materials as it takes further investigative steps, such as through additional witness interviews and grand jury practice,” the court filing reads.
“Additionally, all evidence pertaining to the seized items — including, but not limited to, the nature and and manner in which they were stored, as well as any evidence with respect to particular documents or items of interest — will inform the government’s investigation.”
This is a developing story. It will be updated.
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