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© Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.Trump search inventory reveals new details from FBI seizure
By ERIC TUCKER WASHINGTON©2025 GPlusMedia Inc.
70 Comments
painkiller
The agents also found more than 10,000 other government documents kept by Trump with no classification marked.
No big deal. These documents present no threat to the US.
White House cafeteria menus and the like are nothing to worry about.
dagon
Imagine a small, independent business; not to mention the yugest, bigliest , more beautiful business in the Tri-State Area.
Now imagine they were as sloppy with their tax and business records.
Do you think they would not be in a world of trouble from regulatory and tax officials for this record-keeping?
Trump is a symptom of American legal, social and economic dysfunction.
Bob Fosse
Maybe one of the maids took them.
Missing government classified documents.
I can’t help but feel that if a Democrat had done this 45 fans would going insane, well more insane.
lincolnman
Just as we expected, he's already either given these documents to his overseas "best buds", or he's moved them to his other properties. Get search warrants for Bedminster, Doral, Trump Tower, etc before these disappear overseas also...
Get that? After Trump directed his lawyer to confirm in writing IN JUNE that "there is no longer any classified information at Mar-A-Lago", the FBI finds OVER 100 CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS during its search IN AUG... That is textbook obstruction of justice...
We all know why - so he can do more "quid-pro-quos" with our enemies for fake dirt on his opponents...
And the great MAGA-unanswerable - why is Trump ranting he declassifed it all when his attorneys just yesterday filed in court that "it is to be expected that CLASSIFIED INFORMATION would be in Presidential records at Mar-A-Lago"?
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/08/31/politics/doj-trump-mar-a-lago-what-matters/index.html
So Trump's faux excuse for his masses is that he declassified it all - yet in court his attorneys defense is that it is classified....
This is just another replay of The Big Lie - yell rigged in public but once in front of a judge admit "this is not a fraud case"....
Welcome to MAGA-world....
lincolnman
Even Trump flunky and "best ever" AG Bill Barr called foul on Trump's classified stash....
Bill Barr, the one-time attorney general under former President Donald Trump, told Fox News on Friday that the ex-president had no “legitimate reason” to hoard classified material at his Florida resort. Furthermore, he defended the Justice Department’s decision to raid Mar-a-Lago, arguing that the DOJ was “being jerked around” by Team Trump.
“Is there any legitimate reason for those materials to be in the former president’s possession?” Roberts asked. “No. I can’t think of a legitimate reason why they should have been—could be taken out of the government, away from the government if they are classified,” Barr replied. “I frankly am skeptical of the claim that he declassified everything.”
“Let me just say, I think the driver on this from the beginning was, you know, loads of classified information sitting in Mar-a-Lago. People say this was unprecedented, well it’s also unprecedented for a president to take all this classified information and put them in a country club, OK?”
Barr added: “And how long is the government going to try to get that back? They jawbone for a year, they were deceived on the voluntary actions taken, they then went and got a subpoena, they were deceived on that, they feel, and the facts are starting to show, that they were being jerked around and so how long, you know, how long do they wait?!”
https://www.yahoo.com/news/bill-barr-blows-every-trumpy-191001230.html
Waiting for all the Trump supporters here to call Barr nothing but a "Lib and a leftist"....ROFL...
plasticmonkey
Did it ever occur to you that Trump is a serial cheat and con man? Just look at the guy’s record over the last few decades.
Desert Tortoise
The are the property of the American people and by law belong to the National Archives. Everyone in Federal service has to take training on the Federal Records Act and completion of this training is recorded in your personnel record. There is no excuse for not knowing these documents belong to the National Archives.
Blacklabel
Maybe have been, could be. Same stuff. Yep
Desert Tortoise
Eh, more like a great example of what a disorganized cluster the Trump organization has been from day one.
Desert Tortoise
Most here do not seem to have any experience or training with classified materials. A President might order a document declassified but only starts a process. The Original Classification Authority (OCA) has to weigh in on what risks are inherent in declassifying a given document. There is a review process the declassification goes through where affected agencies can push back. A President is not necessarily the final authority after all. The process generates a paper trail too. No matter what a President might say, if the process was not followed and the necessary documentation generated the document remains classified.
And once a new President is sworn in the former President has no power to declassify anything.
Blacklabel
They gonna try to prosecute trump over some empty folders and some magazines and newspaper clippings.
Muh archival records!
This should be fun.
Bob Fosse
Really?
Well, if that’s all that the FBI recovered then you have nothing to worry about.
Sounds rather ‘speculative’ though to imagine it’s just magazines and newspaper clippings. Better to wait and see.
Blacklabel
Right in the article. they even took the man’s or his wife’s clothing. For the national archives! They seek to claim to own anything he has ever seen or touched in this massive overreach.
Bob Fosse
It’s interesting that out of the entire article you chose to focus on this.
‘Mixed among’
What was ‘mixed among’?
Blacklabel
Mixed among the empty folders. That “apparently” had something in them before. How do they know that? Total speculation that’s how.
now they after him for empty folders. Claiming with no proof that something “must have” or “might have” been inside.
if they had a case wouldn’t have to desperately speculate.
Bob Fosse
Sounds like you are speculating.
Let me guess, it’s right in the article alongside the part where they took his clothes for the National Archives (which isn’t in the article, more speculation and distraction).
Blacklabel
clothes are mentioned by the article as being on on this inventory list.
bass4funk
We shall see. Now the left at least online and on TV have the power to silence people, thankfully they have ZERO power to tell anyone anything in public. The constant barrage on this former President time and again and again is not getting quite the results the left want and that’s helping Trump, it looks like this judge just might allow third party to oversee these documents and will determine if the Feds acted appropriately, and overstepped their legal boundaries.
bass4funk
What do clothes or a presidential jacket have to do with the espionage act. Ohh, these people have soooo much explaining to do and it’s coming sooner rather than later. Garland needs to get his ducks in order and fast!
Peter Neil
This article is about Trump, let's keep it that way.
The big question is what and where are the papers that were in the empty folders marked Secret or Top Secret with additional qualifications? This is biggest intelligence disaster for the US ever. All human resources will have to pulled because they are in mortal danger.
The rule is even if it is only suspected they have been compromised, they have to pulled. I would not doubt that it started months ago when the DOJ recognized they were being lied to by Trump and his lawyers and substantially completed before the search warrant was executed.
All of the machinations by his legal team and Fox News guest lawyers and mouthpieces will fall flat in court. They are flailing because there is no legitimate defense.
There is no executive privilege for a private citizen and executive privilege is for withholding executive branch material from the other two branches. The DOJ, FBI and archives are part of the executive branch. Done.
His own team said a special master would have to have special security clearance to review documents. There goes the defense that he "declassified" the documents, which never happened. and he did not have the authority to declassify many of them.
One of his lawyers even admitted on live TV that she had access to the documents.
What and where are the documents in the empty folders? Again, the biggest intelligence disaster in history.
Obstruction and distribution, copying or possession of those documents are serious crimes, and I predict he'll be convicted.
The former President of the United States betrayed the intelligence community and the defense of the country like no other spy in history.
Bob Fosse
Well, that answers your question.
FizzBit
By now, even though he’s not the president anymore, some folks are so addicted to “making their voice heard” over anything Trump, these headlines will feed that addiction. In the real world, most folks care more about food gas and electric bills.
bass4funk
Not quite, but it will soon enough.
Bob Fosse
I know right? Who remembers the price of gas when they are chanting “lock her up, lock her up!”
Should I ever be under criminal investigation I’ll be sure to ask the judge if they are aware of the bearings of current gas prices on the case.
wallace
43 empty classified documents. Where and what were the contents? Does Trump still have them or did he dispose of them? They could have even been nuclear secrets. Serious stuff from an ex-president who knows the rules and the law.
plasticmonkey
Trump is in real legal trouble. He and his enablers can try to score political points off this, but in the end the law’s the law. And Trump ain’t above it.
Doesn’t matter how much you scream about the left, libs, Dems, witch hunt, blah blah. Justice will prevail.
Blacklabel
an empty folder has no requirement to have ever had anything in it.
you have to prove something was there or was supposed to be there.
Otherwise its an empty folder that was waiting to be used.
I have a box of envelopes here on my desk. What was in them!!!!!!??
ummm nothing. I have never used them yet.
Blacklabel
under $3, for sure.
Bob Fosse
They took lots of envelopes with stuff in them. It’s in the inventory you read.
Blacklabel
yeah but people going on and on about the empty ones.
So seems not so confident in what they found that they have to add the empty ones speculation to write a story.
Whats this story all about? empty folders, right?
https://japantoday.com/category/world/empty-folders-among-items-found-in-fbi-search-of-trump-home
Superlib
I often take empty classified folders home with me.
stormcrow
It’s incredible that Trump tried to get away with stealing all of these government secrets. Trump had more than a year to hand them over, but he didn’t. Now he claims he’s the victim of being treated unfairly of a conspiracy. And his MAGA followers believe this?! Dumb, very dumb.
“How long do they wait?” …Former AG Bill Barr
bass4funk
Gas, ($2.28 $2.20 in 2016) electricity, food prices, and inflation weren't the problem then.
If I had a quarter for every single time I heard that line through the years....
They are not doing anything, the Dems and the DOJ and FBI are doing it for him, they are elevating him, keep on lads!
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-seizes-fbi-raid-boost-2024-presidential-bid-2022-08-09/
No one, not even the Democrats or even the Feds
Let us see where and on which side that justice will fall
lincolnman
Rants: "Look, Look! Empty folders with classified marking on the outside - so what".....
Ignores: The FBI seized more than 100 documents with classification markings in August, including 18 marked top secret, 54 secret and 31 confidential. The FBI had identified 184 documents marked as classified in 15 boxes recovered by the National Archives in January, and received additional classified documents during a June visit to Mar-a-Lago.
This after his lawyer certified in writing in Jun that "there is no longer any classified at Mar-A-Lago"....
I'm reminded of the old saying; "The exhortations of desperate men"....
Blacklabel
absent anything inside, its just an empty folder.
can they at least give the man back his books, clothing and personal items that are clearly listed on the inventory?
Anyway, the battle is supposedly for the "soul" of our nation.
But Biden never clearly mentions what side he is on of the battle for our soul. As "the right" are the supposedly freedom at any cost, Christian religious nuts and he hates them.... then that makes Biden on the other side of that war, doesnt it?
Nemo
Yeah, he's toast. Not only did he have secret documents that he had no right to even read, much less possess (given his clearance was revoked) much less read, there are a bunch of folders that previously had documents that no longer do.
There is no proof that he gave them away, in fact that's unlikely as any competent intelligence organization would make a copy and rep!ace the original, but where the he'll are they?
There's a folder. Where are the docs? as long as there location is unknown, they are at risk and who had the folders, eh? Yep, it was Trump. This is on him.
In reality, he is exactly the kind of disorganized slob that he was so mad about being portrayed as, he is a liar, a their of public records, an obstructor of justice and a likely convicted felon.
painkiller
The Justice Department has said there was no secure space at Mar-a-Lago for sensitive government secrets,
Seemed pretty secure for 18 months or whatever.
Democrats can feel safe though:
https://twitter.com/Huff4Congress/status/1558171807445929992?refsrc=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1558171807445929992%7Ctwgr%5Ec367689f2318b063e7bc4fc9717c503b108eb7d7%7Ctwcon%5Es1&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.independentsentinel.com%2Fthis-is-what-we-know-about-the-presidents-power-to-declassify%2F
agondocz
Perhaps the Artist formerly known as the President sold the contents of the now empty folders.
Moderator
Readers, this thread will be closed for discussion for about two hours.
wallace
Is Trump a spy, crook, or just a fool?
Nemo
All those non-classified docs? He didn’t own those either. Those belong to the government.
He had documents, some of which were very highly classified while others were not. He had not right to possess these. Some of them he couldn’t even read anymore (to the extent he could understand them if he did.)
The government requested then demanded their return with a lawful subpoena. He didn’t give them back. His lawyers filed a false affidavit stating that there were no more government records, that they had done a “diligent search”. This was most likely a lie as (in the words of Lawrence O’Donnell, “they were in his damn desk” under his passport meaning they had been moved. Oh, and Trump knew this. A fact he helpfully admitted to when he incriminated himself on “Lies Social.”
Theft of government property, Espionage Act, Obstruction of Justice.
And this does not even get into the question of where the materials for the empty folders marked classified are. Where are they, Don?
wallace
Maybe the empty folders were for use in his university.
Nemo
To be fair, those are not mutually exclusive choices. He could be all of them.
He’s most definitely a narcissistic sociopath and a lawyers worst nightmare for a client. No wonder he cannot get anyone qualified to rep him.
lincolnman
Irrespective of what our Trump supporting friends claim, there are no "alternative" facts - just facts that can't be refuted by a rational person. Facts surrounding this national security violation at Mar-A-Lago include;
Trump took a massive amount of both classified and unclassified information when he left office - all of it required to be turned in to the National Archives according to the Federal Records Act....
Trump kept the classified information, which included Top Secret/SCI and Special Access Programs, insecure in cartons in a closet and in his desk...
Trump partially turned in some of this hoard in Jan, but kept an additional 103 classified documents, even after having his lawyer certify in writing in June that "there is no longer any classified at Mar-A-Lago"...
Trump continues to claim that he "declassified" the info, yet offers no documentation proving this, and his lawyers yesterday filed a response in court contradicting him by saying; "classified information is expected to be found in Presidential records"...
And now our Trump supporting friends are now forced to try to bend rationality by saying that Trump is so stupid he took empty classified folders with no info inside...
It's an utter fiasco...and his indictment is a given - it's just now a matter of who else will be implicated and what other classified documents will be found at his other properties...
Nemo
Lets get past the questions of could he declassify (He couldn’t as of 12:01 PM JANUARY 20, 2021. He couldn’t even read them anymore) or if he did declassify them (Spoiler Alert: he didn’t.).
What if he HAD actually done this? He would have completely gutted the idea of national security. He would have thrown open to any Joe-Shmo (including foreign agents) with a records request, information on human intelligence including sources and methods thereby allowing our adversaries to roll up our networks (by killing our assets) and intimidating anyone from ever helping us again. He would have thrown open our signals intelligence thereby showing our adversaries how to avoid being spied on.
In short, even IF he could have (he couldn’t) or did (he didn’t) declassify all of these HIGHLY sensitive documents, doing so would have done so much damage to our national security that it would cause a normal sentient being to wonder where his true loyalties lie.
Not very MAGA, is it?
And we all know where his loyalty lies - to himself. That’s why he’s in hawk to Russian oligarchs and Saudi oil barons.
Nemo
“Sentient BEING to question his loyalty.”
Apologies.
wallace
Folder marked ‘classified’ apparently on display at Trump 45-themed bar
https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/folder-marked-classified-apparently-on-display-at-trump-s-45-themed-bar-147640901659
Express sister
Woah, sounds like whoever was President in 2016 was doing a great job. You must have loved them.
They shouldn’t have been there at all.
Yeah. Sounds like they’re eminently qualified for their job. Unlike certain former Presidents I could mention.
Nemo
Aaaaaaand pivot to future predicted election results (which will have zero effect on criminal investigations/ proceedings, gas prices (down 80 days in a row “Dooh!”), the economy (843k jobs created in the last 2 months alone) , Clinton, or some other conspiracy-the stupidity of which is rivaled only by the sheer idiocy required to believe, much less state, it …… NOW.
Express sister
Amazing. This dude cannot stop telling on himself. If he were the Zodiac Killer he’d make a themed restaurant called “What if I were the Zodiac Killer, hm? Wouldn’t that be wild? Not saying I am but, wow, that would prove I’m cool and smart”, and it would be decorated with pictures of the crime scenes that only the killer could have.
ulysses
Sold to the highest bidder, after all donald needs his burgers!!!
bass4funk
Trump understood this.
The same DOJ that lied about the FISA and the Russian collusion…yeah, no thanks
Comey, Strzok, Page, Ohr, McCabe….ROFL…if the left calls that qualified we are just doomed and damned as a nation.
I could rattle off a bunch as well.
Nemo
And all of this completely ignores the basic rule of never mix classified and unclassified materials.
These classified documents were mixed in with newspapers and magazines from at least 2017.
Dare we wonder what those were about? (they were surely about Cheeto Jesus.)
bass4funk
Yes, they will because after November The new house speaker can call a bunch of these people in for questioning and will have the power to appoint the special counsel.
the unemployment rate is measured by looking at the number of people looking for jobs versus the number of people holding jobs. What's happened in the last year and a half is that, since February 2020, 3.4 million people have dropped out of the workforce. If you have fewer people looking for jobs versus the number of people holding jobs, it'll look like a lower unemployment rate, whether that first number dropped because people got jobs or people gave up looking.
No conspiracy, even the Dems can’t alter records or historically facts.
bass4funk
So then why didn’t the Feds mention that to Trump earlier this year when they told him to secure the records,
I see…so the Feds knew this and said nothing, but now it means something dire? Hmmm…
Yeah, another witch hunt going on it’s 8th year.
HonestDictator
This is the first "president" and former president to ever be so grossly negligent to put US national security and intelligence at risk due to his complete and utter ineptitude!
EVEN NIXON would not have been this atrocious! Trump makes NIXON look like a SAINT!
Cult 45 has nothing to protect or deflect how FUBAR this is!
Excuses? Deflection? No, just outright lies from their mass delusion.
Nemo
Kevin can't do 1/2 the things he says he's going to to. He can call hearings. Garland doesn't have to provide docs and will tell him to pound sand.
The DOJ appoints a special counsel. I wonder just how likely that is to happen? (Seriously, learn the law or don't comment.)
Unemployment is at a 50 year low, thanks Joe!
And a conspiracy.
You hit all three in one post! Well done, Silly B!
And thanks for making my previous point for me. :)
Nemo
I think tricky Dick is off the hook for setting the standard for scum bag Presidents.
And Buchanan is off the hook for worst president ever. (He allowed the South to secede unchecked after Lincoln's election. Maybe he owed Jefferson Davis money like Don likely owes the Saudis?)
Blacklabel
Wow with all this “indisputable evidence” seems there would be indictments not leaks about empty folders. It’s been a month hasn’t it?
Nemo
As you would know (had you bothered to read the DOJ's filing) FBI investors were specifically prevented from looking inside the boxes, and thus could not determine their contents at that time.
As they lacked a search warrant, they could not ignore the demand at that time.
These are known - or at least knowable - facts.
Nemo
Ah, the Goldilocks argument!
This investigation is too fast. A rush to judgment!
This investigation is too slow. Its been too long/ there's nothing there.
Interestingly, unlike Goldi, there's never a "just right."
When it comes to their narcissist sociopath, every investigation is either too fast or too slow.
Its because he's guilty as he'll and the DOJ is going to dot every eye and cross every t so that, just like it's search warrant, their case is air tight.
bass4funk
Actually, now he can’t, but from January he can
Call for impeachment hearings, hold on to the purse. Cripple a lot of Biden’s toxic agendas, no more free blank checks.
He can called to testify, and under oath, not that it means anything to Democrats, but I’m so glad now knowing all this the man was appointed to the Supreme Court, boy, we definitely dodged a bullet with that one. 2 more years and he’s one for the history pages.
I was just about to say the same to you guys
Because we have more baby boomers retiring, people working from home and people returning to their jobs, so yeah on the face of it, it would give that impression.
Nemo
Dot every "i"
Dotting an eye would hurt.
And he's guilty as "Hell."
New device, new autocorrect.
Apologies.
HonestDictator
As long as the Federal agencies involved are required to uphold their oath to their constitutional values and laws to protect and uphold it, Trump and all involved in this mess will be indicted. The DoJ and AG are building the case as they still are confirming evidence.
When the hammer comes down, it will come down hard. Regardless of what Lindsay Graham said, the feds agencies have a duty that they are required to do, and MAGA-GQP is going to reap everything they've sown.
bass4funk
Again, no diatribes and bloviating. Why would they tell Trump to lock and secure the files, files they already know that are in his possession and raiding his home without his lawyers present as they rummage through his belongings and take whatever it is they want including a presidential jacket.
Lol, yeah…you believe that and just before a midterm. I noticed that these things always seem to happen just right up to an election of some sort, coincidence?
So far, the Feds and Garland are not making them.
sunfunbun
What a worry to see all those empty folders. Chances are high Trump has sold them to Putin, Xi or a number of enemies to try and get out of debt or create places to receive credit and money to run his election on their behalf.
He's a traitor to the constitution, as shown by his action/inaction of the insurrection, and shown continually to promote himself over the United States of America.
He's a criminal and the worst traitor in the history of the country, bar none, and his scamming narcissistic personality certainly makes it easy to read between the lines why he would take documents and have so many empty folders of importance. It's all about making money for himself.