Trump lawyers hire team to search properties for remaining classified material: Report
Cami Mondeaux
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Lawyers for Donald Trump have reportedly hired an outside team to search four of the former president’s properties for any remaining classified materials that need to be returned to the federal government.
A team of two carried out four separate searches at Trump Tower in New York, his Bedminster golf club, and two other properties over the last several weeks, sources told CNN. The searches come after a federal judge instructed Trump’s legal team to certify it had fully complied with a subpoena issued in May to turn over all classified materials that were taken after he left the White House.
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Trump’s legal team oversaw the searches, while the FBI and the Justice Department declined to join, according to the outlet. Spokespeople for both agencies did not respond to the Washington Examiner’s requests for comment.
The two-person team did not find any new classified information during its searches, sources told the Washington Post, although it’s unclear what information has been communicated between Trump’s legal team and the DOJ.
The independent searches come months after the DOJ conducted a raid of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home on Aug. 8 as part of an investigation into whether the former president violated the Espionage Act by taking classified documents from the White House after he left office.
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Trump has admitted to taking the records from the White House but argued the documents were part of his personal records because he was still serving his term when the materials were taken to Mar-a-Lago.
Since the August raid, DOJ officials have questioned whether all classified materials have been returned to the department, according to the Washington Post. However, CNN reported that Trump’s team is considering allowing the DOJ to search Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in order to avoid another high-profile raid or other legal troubles.