FBI agents seized top-secret documents, as well as documents relating to the “president of France”, during their search of the home of former US president Donald Trump, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, when justice is preparing to make public the warrant authorizing this unprecedented search in the United States.
US federal police officers seized “twenty” boxes, said the Wall Street Journal on Friday, which said it had access to a three-page inventory of what was collected on Monday during this search. Or, documents classified top secret or confidential, photos and a handwritten note.
The newspaper ensures that this inventory contains information concerning the “President of France”. No other details are given on the nature of this information, or whether it concerns the current French President Emmanuel Macron. The operation, which has infuriated Trump supporters citing “political persecution”, was carried out Monday at his residence in Mar-a-Lago, Florida.
It seems to have had the objective of recovering highly confidential documents taken away by the ex-president when he left the White House. According to the Washington Post, some of the documents sought may relate to nuclear weapons. Donald Trump denounced a “brainstorm” early Friday on his social network Truth Social.
“It must be recognized that this information as it is brought to light – and we will know more about it later – is highly confidential, well above the top secret level”, affirmed for her part on Friday the Democratic president of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi talking about a potentially “very serious” matter.
The highly unusual willingness of the Department of Justice to make the search warrant public, announced Thursday by Minister Merrick Garland, was welcomed by Donald Trump.
“Not only will I not oppose the publication of the documents (…) but I will go further by ENCOURAGING their immediate publication”, wrote Thursday evening the Republican billionaire, who had nevertheless refrained from making public the copy of the warrant he had received.
Donald Trump’s lawyers have until 3:00 p.m. (7:00 p.m. GMT) to respond to the proposal of Merrick Garland, who assured Thursday, during an exceptional press conference, to have “personally approved” the search.
Melania Trump’s cupboards searched?
The Minister of Justice also denounced, during his brief televised address, the “unfounded attacks” coming from the Republicans against his ministry and against the FBI. “The ministry does not take this kind of decision lightly,” he said, adding that the case was of “important public interest”, three months before the midterm legislative elections.
In asking for the confidentiality of the warrant to be lifted, the Department of Justice cited, without contradicting them, the declarations of representatives of Donald Trump indicating that the FBI was looking for archival documents of the White House, possibly classified defense secret .
Monday’s search was the first ever to target a former US president.
Outraged, Donald Trump told Truth Social on Monday that his lawyers were cooperating “fully” with the authorities when “suddenly and without warning, Mar-a-Lago was raided, at 6:30 a.m., by a VERY large number of agents” .
He complained in particular that FBI agents “searched the closets of First Lady” Melania Trump. On Wednesday, he even suggested that the federal police may have “placed” false evidence against him during this operation.
Republican sympathizers, though known for their support for law enforcement, castigated the intervention of the FBI, so much so that an association of agents denounced calls “unacceptable (…) to violence against the police”
Thursday, a gunman who had tried to enter FBI offices in Ohio (north of the United States) was killed by the police after a long confrontation. After the search, the Republican tenors had united with their former president, who retains a strong hold on the conservative party and plans to be a presidential candidate again in 2024.
The ex-real estate magnate, at the heart of the judicial news in the United States, was also subjected on Wednesday to a hearing under oath before the Attorney General of New York.
He then repeatedly invoked his right not to answer questions under the 5th Amendment of the Constitution. Letitia James, the highest magistrate in New York State, has been investigating since 2019 on suspicion of financial and tax fraud within the Trump Organization family group.