The FBI searched former President Donald Trump‘s Mar-a-Lago residence on Monday after a tip from an informant about the likelihood of more classified documents at the Palm Beach, Florida, estate, according to the Wall Street Journal.
In February, the National Archives called on the Justice Department to look into whether or not Trump violated the law after finding that 15 boxes of classified White House records had been taken to his Florida estate. Under the Presidential Records Act, presidents are required to preserve and turn in all memos, letters, emails and papers that they touched to the National Archives at the end of their term.
After a June meeting between the FBI and Trump’s attorneys to learn more about the documents, they visited the room where more documents were being stored. The 15 boxes of classified information had since been returned, but “someone familiar with the stored papers told investigators there may be still more classified documents at the private club,” the Journal reported.
The informant was able to “identify what classified documents former President Trump was still hiding and even the location of those documents,” two senior government officials told Newsweek.
Before Monday, those close to Trump reportedly thought that the probe into Trump’s documents had stalled, but the FBI’s search warrant into Trump’s offices and personal quarters requires signoff from a federal judge who could issue a warrant for Trump’s arrest based on the evidence found.
The move signals a more serious investigation than was previously assumed.
