The FBI found White House documents stowed away in a closet at Mar-a-Lago amid search for sensitive and top secret information: report
- The FBI seized official White House documents from Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago home on August 8.
- Investigators left with 26 boxes of records, several of which were filled with classified documents, according to an NYT report.
Federal investigators found batches of sensitive, official White House records in the basement of Mar-a-Lago and in the closet in Donald Trump's office, according to The New York Times.
The publication reported on Monday that Trump and his aides returned about 150 classified documents to the National Archives and Records Administration, even before the FBI raided the former president's Palm Beach, Florida home on August 8.
As of this month's raid, Justice Department officials have taken back 26 boxes of documents, including 11 sets that were categorized as classified. One set of documents had top secret information, according to The Times.
It's not immediately clear how these documents are traditionally stored in the White House or how they would be stored in the National Archives, but several people familiar with the investigation told The Times that the FBI found documents in a container that was in a closet in Trump's office.
Another set of documents was in the storage area located in the basement of Mar-a-Lago.
Two former White House officials who were tasked with representing the former president to the National Archives were contacted by the agency and tried to secure the documents' return, according to the newspaper. But Trump rejected their efforts, calling the boxes of documents "mine," three advisers told the outlet.
The Presidential Records Act maintains that all official material remains government property and must be handed over to the National Archives upon a president's departure.
Neither a spokesperson for the DOJ nor a representative for Trump responded to Insider's request for comment.