While much of the just released affidavit is redacted to protect the ongoing investigation, particularly witnesses, there is ample proof the FBI was warranted in raiding Trump’s Florida home.
In seeking permission to search Mar-a-Lago, the FBI told a judge that there was “probable cause to believe” that classified national security materials were improperly taken to “unauthorized” locations at former President Donald Trump’s club and that a search would also likely find “evidence of obstruction.”
“There is probable cause to believe that additional documents that contain classified (National Defense Information) or that are Presidential records subject to record retention requirements currently remain at (Mar-a-Lago),” the FBI affidavit says. “There is also probable cause to believe that evidence of obstruction will be found at (Mar-a-Lago.)”
The affidavit spells out that the recovery of top secret documents was necessary to ‘prevent grave damage to national security.’
In bold terms, the warrant authorizing the search said agents were seeking all “physical documents and records constituting evidence, contraband, fruits of crime, or other items illegally possessed in violation of three potential crimes,” including a part of the Espionage Act outlawing gathering, transmitting, or losing national defense information. The warrant also cites destruction of records and concealment or mutilation of government material.
‘In total, Trump had 184 classified documents, 67 confidential, 25 top secret and handwritten notes in boxes returned to the National Archives, according to the document that states the FBI had ‘probable cause to believe evidence of obstruction would be found’ at his Florida home.