I assume the push back might have been slightly different if former President Trump had taken a favorite white house lounge chair or a decorative pillow back home to his estate in Mar-a-Lago. But why would he ever make it that easy? Right, he wouldn’t. So, instead, he took classified documents.
Last week, Federal agents executed a search warrant, removing boxes of materials from Trump’s Florida estate, making this the first time in American history that a former president’s home was searched as part of a criminal investigation.
As CNN reports, it all started in May of 2021 when an official from NARA (The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration) contacted Trump’s team after realizing that several important documents weren’t handed over before Trump left the White House. The plot thickened in January of 2022 when NARA finally retrieved 15 boxes of Trump White House records from Mar-a-Lago after multiple discussions with his team. In a statement, NARA said that some of the records it received were “torn up by former President Trump,” making it so White House officials had to attempt to tape them back together— not all of which could be reconstructed. Some materials were part of “special access programs,”— a classification that includes protocols to significantly limit who would have access to the information.
As of two days ago, following the unsealing of the Mar-a-Lago search warrant, we now know the Justice Department is looking into possible legal violations. Of the three laws that the court papers list as central to the investigation, one of which involves obstruction of federal probes, and a second of which cites a law that makes it a crime to conceal, remove, or mutilate government records. Finally, a part of the Espionage Act is referred to that involves gathering, transmitting or losing sensitive information related to national defense. Breaking any one of these laws could result in prison time.
Trump and his allies first suggested the FBI had planted evidence, but what would history tell us about nearly anything Trump claims when he’s in trouble? Evidently there is no evidence of such. They’ve also claimed that former President Obama took 30 million documents, many of them classified, to Chicago upon leaving the White House. Another claim of which is easily refuted— The Associated Press (AP) reports that NARA confirmed (in more detail than I find necessary to insert here) that that is simply not true.
Trump supporters also argue that this is no big deal because Trump himself declassified these documents. AP reports that it isn’t evident Trump has any paperwork to back up those claims. And legal experts say that it may not matter if the material has been declassified. You still can’t take it home with you. And when the government asks for it, you need to give it back.
So, a decorative pillow? I think not.
This blog post is part of the CIMA Law Group blog. If you are located in Arizona and are seeking legal services, CIMA Law Group specializes in Immigration Law, Criminal Defense, Personal Injury, and Government Relations.
CIMA Law Group Blog 