Mar-a-Lago search inventory shows documents marked as classified mixed with clothes, gifts, press clippings
CNN
By Tierney Sneed
US District Judge Aileen Cannon on Friday released a detailed inventory from the Mar-a-Lago search that the Justice Department previously filed under seal in court.
The search inventory released showed that classified documents had been mixed in with personal items and other materials in the boxes in which they were stored.
Federal investigators also retrieved more than 11,000 non-classified government documents.
One box containing documents marked with confidential, secret and top secret classification identifications also contained “99 magazines/newspapers/press articles,” according to the inventory from last month’s search filed in federal court in Florida.
Several other boxes detailed in the inventory contained documents marked as classified stored with press clippings, as well as with articles of clothing and gifts.
The court filing also provided a breakdown of the type of markings on the classified material taken from Mar-a-Lago, including 18 documents marked top secret, 54 documents marked secret and 31 documents marked confidential.
In addition, federal investigators collected more than 48 empty folders with a “classified banner” and 42 empty folders marked to return to the staff secretary or military aide.
The judge also released a status report the department filed under seal about its investigative team’s review of the evidence so far.
Cannon at a hearing on Thursday indicated she intended to release the documents. She did so after giving both the prosecutors and former President Donald Trump’s lawyers the opportunity to lodge any objections to the documents’ release. They did not.
Prosecutors wrote in the investigative team status report that was unsealed that “all evidence pertaining to the seized items — including, but not limited to, the nature and manner in which they were stored, as well as any evidence with respect to particular documents or items of interest — will inform the government’s investigation.”
“The investigative team has reviewed the seized materials in furtherance of its ongoing investigation, evaluating the relevance and character of each item seized, and making preliminary determinations about investigative avenues suggested or warranted by the character and nature of the seized items,” the status report said.
“The seized materials will continue to be used to further the government’s investigation, and the investigation will continue to use and evaluate the seized materials as it takes further investigative steps, such as through additional witness interviews and grand jury practice,” the Justice Department added.
This story is breaking and will be updated.
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