DOJ suspects Trump still has classified documents he removed from White House

The Department of Justice suspects that ex-President Donald Trump mightiness inactive person classified documents that helium removed from the White House erstwhile helium near bureau successful January 2021, radical acquainted with the substance told NBC News.

The DOJ's caput of counterintelligence matters, Jay Bratt, precocious told Trump's attorneys that the section believed helium had not turned implicit each the authorities documents helium took erstwhile helium near office, classified oregon not, NBC reported.

The news, archetypal reported by The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, comes 2 months aft FBI agents empowered by a hunt warrant raided Trump's residence successful Florida and seized thousands of authorities documents. More than 100 of the records were marked classified.

It besides comes days aft acting Archivist of the United States Debra Steidel Wall, successful a missive to the House Oversight and Reform Committee, said that the National Archives and Records Administration inactive has not recovered Trump White House unit records that are contained connected nonofficial physics accounts they utilized during his presidency.

NARA recovered much than 150 documents marked classified successful boxes of records that Trump turned implicit to the bureau from Mar-a-Lago successful January.

The DOJ declined to comment.

Trump's spokesman, Taylor Budowich, successful a connection to NBC News, said, "The weaponized Department of Justice and the politicized FBI are spending millions and millions of American taxation [dollars] to perpetuate witch hunt aft witch hunt."

Budowich said that "all caller Presidents moved millions of pages of documents," and argued that "President Trump is being unjustly, illegally, and unconstitutionally targeted due to the fact that helium won't halt warring to reconstruct powerfulness backmost to the people."

The Aug. 8 raid astatine the Mar-a-Lago Club successful Palm Beach was portion of an ongoing transgression probe of Trump for the removal of authorities records erstwhile helium near office, and imaginable obstruction of justness successful not returning those documents arsenic national authorities sought their return.

By law, specified records are the spot of the U.S. government.

The DOJ has said that the raid recovered bare record folders that were marked classified. Officials besides person complained that a judge's ruling temporarily barring the DOJ from examining the seized classified documents "appears to barroom the FBI and DOJ" from a reappraisal that could place different records that are "still missing."

Although the FBI searched Mar-a-Lago, wherever Trump resides successful nonsummer months, agents did not hunt either his residence astatine his play nine successful Bedminster, New Jersey, oregon his flat astatine Trump Tower successful New York City.

The Daily Mail past period published a video taken of Trump successful May 2021 boarding a pitchy from adjacent Mar-a-Lago arsenic record boxes were being loaded connected the plane. Trump was traveling to Bedminster astatine the time.

Trump's lawyers are divided implicit however to respond to the DOJ's suspicion that the erstwhile president inactive has classified material, the Times study noted. One radical of attorneys, headed by Chris Kise, had suggested that Trump clasp a forensic accounting steadfast to hunt for the suspected records. But different attorneys dissuaded Trump from that route, according to the report.

The latest reports connected the perchance still-missing classified documents complicate an already tangled ineligible situation.

Judges successful 4 national courts, including the Supreme Court, are dealing with disputes betwixt Trump's lawyers and the DOJ implicit the parameters and timing of the usage of the records successful the transgression probe.