FBI search warrant shows Trump under investigation for potential obstruction of justice, Espionage Act violations

A search warrant viewed by POLITICO reveals that the FBI is investigating Donald Trump for a potential violation of the Espionage Act and removed classified documents from the former president’s Florida estate earlier this week.

A receipt accompanying the search warrant shows that Trump possessed documents including a handwritten note; documents marked with “TS/SCI,” which indicates one of the highest levels of government classification; and another item labeled “Info re: President of France.” Also among the items taken from Mar-a-Lago this week: An item labeled “Executive grant of clemency re: Roger Jason Stone, Jr.,” a reference to one of Trump’s closest confidants who received a pardon in late 2020.

The warrant shows federal law enforcement was investigating Trump for removal or destruction of records, obstruction of justice, and violating the Espionage Act. Conviction under the statutes can result in imprisonment or fines.

The documents, set to be unsealed later Friday after the Justice Department sought their public disclosure amid relentless attacks by Trump and his GOP allies, underscore the extraordinary national security threat that federal investigators believed the missing documents presented. The concern grew so acute that Attorney General Merrick Garland approved the unprecedented search of Trump’s estate last week.

The disclosure of the documents comes four days after Trump publicly confirmed the court-authorized search of his Mar-a-Lago home by the FBI, marshaling his political allies to unleash fierce criticism of federal investigators. But the details in the warrant underscore the gravity of the probe — an unprecedented investigation of a former president for mishandling some of the nation’s most sensitive secrets.

Trump has claimed since Monday that he has cooperated with investigators from the National Archives and FBI for months and that the unannounced search was an unnecessary escalation. But after several rounds of negotiations in which materials were recovered by the Archives, federal investigators came to believe Trump hadn’t returned everything in his possession.

The search warrant, signed on Aug. 5 by federal magistrate judge Bruce Reinhart, revealed that dozens of items were seized, most of them described in vague terms like “leatherbound box of documents,” “binder of photos” and “handwritten note.”

Other items on the list indicate the presence of classified material, describing them as “miscellaneous top secret documents” and “miscellaneous confidential documents.”

Stone's attorney Grant Smith said that the longtime Trump ally "has no knowledge as to the facts surrounding his clemency documents appearing on the inventory of items seized from former President Trump’s home at Mar-a-Lago."

Shortly after 3 p.m., the Justice Department confirmed that Trump’s lawyers would not oppose the public release of the search warrant and underlying receipt of materials, which ahd already begun to circulate widely.

Meridith McGraw contributed reporting.