The people did not provide additional details to the Post about “what kind of information the agents were looking for” or whether those documents were recovered, according to the document.
The revelation adds key context to the Justice Department’s extraordinary decision to search the home of a former president.
As CNN previously reported, the criminal investigation began with concerns about missing documents raised by the National Archives, which made a criminal referral to the Justice Department after discovering highly sensitive documents among materials recovered from Mar-a-Lago in January The 15 boxes contained some materials that were part of special access programs (SAPs), a classification that includes protocols to significantly limit who would have access to the information, according to a source familiar with what the Archives discovered in the boxes. That led to FBI interviews with grand jury subpoena aides for this week’s court-authorized search and seizure of documents.
While Attorney General Merrick Garland has declined to share specific details about the search, he said Thursday that he “personally approved” of the decision to seek a warrant to search Trump’s Florida home.
“The department does not make this decision lightly. When possible, it is standard practice to seek less intrusive means as an alternative to a search and to limit the scope of any search that is conducted,” Garland said at a press conference .
The attorney general also said the Department of Justice had filed a request with the court that the search warrant and the receipt for the property searched be sealed.
Trump said in a late-night post on his Truth Social platform Thursday that he “would not oppose the release of the documents,” adding, “I went a step further by encouraging the immediate release of these documents.”
CNN reported earlier Thursday that Trump and his legal team had not yet made a decision on how to respond to the Justice Department’s motion, according to a source familiar with their thinking.
Since the search, top Republicans in Congress have rushed to Trump’s defense, calling the move politically motivated. The former president has denied any wrongdoing, claiming that the investigation is aimed at derailing his possible bid to return to the White House.
In a pair of posts on Truth Social after Garland’s statement, Trump went on to say that his lawyers were “fully cooperating” and had developed “very good relationships” with federal investigators before Monday’s search of Mar-a – Lake
The search warrant had been authorized by a federal court, Garland said.
“It’s a federal crime to remove classified documents improperly. And so if you fill out that affidavit and you have to list the crime, you can list it as a crime,” said Elie Honig, a former federal and state prosecutor and a CNN senior legal analyst, after the search warrant.
This story was updated with additional information on Friday.
CNN’s Tierney Sneed, Evan Perez, Hannah Rabinowitz and Zachary Cohen contributed to this report.