Donald Trump allegedly under investigation for violating the Espionage Act

Donald Trump allegedly under investigation for violating the Espionage Act

Image of Donald J Trump. Credit: El-Amin/shutterstock.com

After the FBI removed 20 boxes of documents from his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida, Donald Trump is allegedly under investigation for violating the Espionage Act.

According to the search warrant unsealed by a Florida magistrate judge on Friday, August 12, in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Donald Trump is under investigation for obstruction of justice and violating the Espionage Act.

The search warrant had been granted on Friday, August 5, by Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart, giving permission for the FBI to conduct a search of the Mar-a-Lago home of the former president. Read a copy of the search warrant courtesy of CNN Digital.

FBI agents reportedly removed 20 boxes of documents – which included 11 sets of classified papers – from the Palm Beach complex last Monday, August 8.

A copy of the warrant and receipts obtained by DailyMail.com, claims that some of the documents were marked ‘Top Secret’. These types of sensitive documents are supposed to be kept in specialised government facilities.

In the warrant, it cites criminal statuses including obstruction of justice, removal of records, and espionage. According to the warrant, the feds uncovered three sets of confidential documents, three sets of secret documents, and four sets of top secret documents.

Government sources told Newsweek on Friday, August 12, that the FBI was looking for Top Secret and ‘compartmented’ documents dealing with intelligence ‘sources and methods’. Among the documents was allegedly one containing information about French president Emmanuel Macron.

While in office, the President of the United States has the power to declassify any document. There are strict federal procedures to be followed for this, but Trump’s lawyers claimed that he had declassified these documents before he left the White House.

The term ‘compartmented document, according to intelligence sources, refers to ‘classified information concerning or derived from intelligence sources, methods, or analytical processes, which is required to be handled within formal access control systems established by the Director of National Intelligence’. Trump would not have had the power to have such documents declassified said the sources.

On Friday afternoon, posting on his Truth Social platform, Donald Trump insisted: ‘Number one, it was all declassified. Number two, they didn’t need to ‘seize’ anything. They could have had it anytime they wanted without playing politics and breaking into Mar-a-Lago. It was in secured storage, with an additional lock put on as per their request’.

He added: ‘They could have had it anytime they wanted – and that includes LONG ago. ALL THEY HAD TO DO WAS ASK’. Earlier in the day he had compared these latest allegations to ‘Russia, Russia, Russia’, impeachment and the Steele Dossier. He also suggested that evidence could have been ‘planted’.

Trump’s legal team has asked for a detailed account of what was taken from his home by the FBI agents. They do not have a copy of the affidavit to the warrant. This would reveal much more information but the government has said that although the warrant has been unsealed, it has no plans to release the affidavit yet.

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Written by

Chris King

Originally from Wales, Chris spent years on the Costa del Sol before moving to the Algarve where he is a web reporter for The Euro Weekly News covering international and Spanish national news. Got a news story you want to share? Then get in touch at editorial@euroweeklynews.com

Comments


    • CCW60

      13 August 2022 • 21:45

      Just another witch hunt of the left since they haven’t been able to get him on anything. The warrant was non specific, vague, general about what they may be looking for and where…NOT the kind of warrant the courts would say was valid. It was a fishing expedition. In order to be valid they need to specify exactly in detail what they are looking for and what they expect to find. The way it was written they could have been looking for his junk mail. SECOND and more importantly the President of the United States (all of them) have the sole authority and power to declassify anything they want. ALL the documents he had in his possession were already declassified. The goal is to stir up so much dirt he won’t be able to run again in 2024 and that’s it. It’s all a political stunt.

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