Two documents with classified markings were found in a Florida storage unit during a search by a team hired by former President Donald Trump’s lawyers, a person familiar with the situation told CNN.
Those documents were handed over to the FBI. No other documents with classified markings were found during a search of four of Trump’s properties, the source said.
The discovery of the documents was first reported by The Washington Post.
Lawyers for former President Donald Trump recently hired a team to search four of his properties for any potentially remaining classified materials, according to a source familiar the matter. The team of two searched Trump Tower in New York, the Bedminster golf club and two other properties amid lingering concerns from the Justice Department that not all documents had been returned to the federal government.
The four searches, which were carried out in recent weeks, were overseen by Trump’s legal team, the source said. Trump’s attorneys offered to let federal investigators observe the search at his Bedminster property, but that offer was declined. Given the Justice Department’s response, Trump lawyers did not make a similar offer for the search of the other properties.
It would be highly unusual for the Justice Department to observe searches that aren’t conducted by law enforcement. The department declined to comment.
Some details of the search were first reported by The Washington Post.
Lawyers for former president Donald Trump conducted a search of at least two of his properties for classified materials in recent weeks, after they were instructed by a federal judge to attest they had fully complied with a May grand jury subpoena to turn over all materials bearing classified markings, according to people familiar with the matter.
Trump’s legal team hired an outside firm to carry out the search of his golf club in Bedminster, N.J., and, more recently, Trump Tower in New York, according to the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive information.
Chief U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell (Obama) told Trump’s legal team to continue to search for documents after the Justice Department expressed concerns that the team had not fully complied with a subpoena earlier this year. Howell, according to people familiar with the matter, did not give specific orders on how a search should be done.
But while the Justice Department had continued to have questions about documents that might remain at Mar-a-Lago — and while some people close to Mr. Trump believed another search warrant might be executed — a person familiar with the discussions among federal officials said there was no recent probable cause by which to obtain a warrant for Bedminster or Trump Tower.
