By Yashwant Raj Washington 13 August : US federal agents removed 11 sets of classified documents from the Florida residence of former President Donald Trump during an unprecedented search earlier this week, as per legal documents relating to the hunt and ongoing investigation, which was sealed by a judge on Friday.
The files are part of an alleged illegal infraction of the Espionage Act and a few other laws.
They comprised four sets of top-secret documents as well as three sets of secret documents, and three sets of confidential documents according to an inventory of items confiscated by FBI agents.
Certain of the documents classified as “classified/TS/SCI” documents “shorthand” for “top secret/sensitive compartmented data”.
In addition, there was an official document on the French president Emmanuel Macron.
The papers, included in the “Receipt of Property” handed to Trump’s lawyers from the FBI but did not provide specifics that were contained in the documents.
One set was entitled “Various classified documents/TS/SCI”.Another set was titled with “Miscellanous (Miscellaneous misspelled) Top Secret Documents”.The one about Macron simply stated, “Info re: President of France.”
The warrant that authorized the FBI search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence on Monday identified three possible violation of federal law.These could all result in the stipulation of years in prison and fines in the event that the accused is found guilty.
These are federal laws: 18 USC 2071 (Concealment removal or destruction) 18 USC 793 (Gathering and transmitting or destroying defence information) and 18 USC 1519 (Destruction, alteration or falsification of records in Federal investigations).The second law 18 USC 793, is a part of the Espionage Act, but it is not specifically related to the practice of spying.
Trump could be subject to an investigation for a criminal violation of the Espionage Act.
The former president is involved in several of legal proceedings that are both civil and criminal.He was in New York City to give evidence in one of the cases on Monday, when the FBI visited his property in Florida.
This is a civil matter against Trump Organization, the family business that is run by his sons since he was elected as President.
Trump is currently facing criminal charges in Georgia state arising from his attempts to change the results of the presidential election in 2020 in his favor.
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