AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin
- Former President Trump took “top secret” documents from the White House, The Washington Post reported.
- The documents were “clearly marked as classified,” The Post said.
- The National Archives, which handles such documents, has asked the Justice Department to investigate.
Former President Donald Trump took documents that were clearly marked as “top secret” with him to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, The Washington Post reported Thursday, citing two unnamed sources.
“Top Secret” is the highest level of classification, referring to material that could harm national security if released.
According to The Post, the documents were found by the National Archives, which stores and preserves presidential records.
The revelation comes after The New York Times reported earlier on Thursday that National Archives officials had uncovered suspected classified material among 15 boxes of letters and other documents that had been taken from the White House to his Florida compound when he left office in January 2021.
After uncovering the documents, officials referred the matter to the Department of Justice, which in turn asked for the National Archives’ inspector general to conduct an investigation.
Under the Presidential Records Act of 1978, the last administration’s records are owned by the public, not the former president.
In addition to taking documents, Trump has also been accused of destroying them. Reporters at The New York Times and Bloomberg have both said sources confirmed that torn-up records were found near White House toilets.
Trump has denied the claim.
On the campaign trail in 2016, the former president repeatedly attacked his rival, Hillary Clinton, for maintaining a private email server while Secretary of State. Several email on the server were found to contain classified information.
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