FBI agents found 3 classified documents inside desks in Trump's office at Mar-a-Lago, DOJ says in court papers

• The FBI found three classified documents inside a desk at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate, the DOJ said.
• In a court filing late Tuesday, the DOJ said the documents were found in Trump's "45 Office."

Federal agents found three classified documents stored in desks belonging to former President Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate, the Department of Justice said in a court filing late Tuesday.

In a 36-page filing, the DOJ said FBI agents found 33 boxes, containers, or items of evidence that consisted of over 100 classified documents — including "information classified at the highest levels" — during their August 8 search of Trump's South Florida estate.

When FBI agents searched the "45 Office," Trump's workspace at Mar-a-Lago, the DOJ said they found three classified documents inside desks rather than in any boxes.

"The seized documents included documents that were collectively stored or found together with documents with classification markings," the DOJ said in the court filing.

The DOJ also included a photograph in its Tuesday filing that showed various documents — with colored cover sheets to indicate their classification level — that were seized by federal agents at Mar-a-Lago. The classification level of these documents ranged from classified to top secret.

"In some instances, even the FBI counterintelligence personnel and DOJ attorneys conducting the review required additional clearances before they were permitted to review certain documents," the DOJ said.

Tuesday's court filing comes after the former president sued to try and stop the government from reviewing all the materials taken during the Mar-a-Lago raid. However, the DOJ said Trump didn't note executive privilege over the documents or say if any were declassified before the search.