On August 12, 2022, the FBI seized multiple sets of documents marked top secret from former President Donald Trump’s resort home Mar-a-Lago, according to a search warrant unsealed the Friday before. The search warrant urged agents to seize all documents, “fruits of crime” and other items “illegally possessed” in violation of three laws related to handling of government documents. Agents took boxes of items, binders of photos, one handwritten note and an “executive grant of clemency” for GOP operative Roger Stone, according to a receipt for property seized that was attached to the warrant.
Eleven sets of classified documents were among the materials seized in the raid, according to a receipt for property seized that was attached to the warrant. One group of files was marked “Various classified/TS/SCI documents,” which includes an abbreviation for top-secret/sensitive compartmented information. Information about the president of France was also on the list of items removed from Mar-a-Lago.
Trump, in an apparent defense against the allegations against him, claimed on social media that former President Barack Obama “kept 33 million pages of documents, much of them classified” after leaving office.
The former president called the search an “assault” and complained that the authorities had broken into a safe. Both parties have taken different approaches to the subject. Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene has created and sold “Defund the FBI” t-shirts online. On the other hand, Hillary Clinton’s team is fundraising with “But Her Emails” caps and shirts, mocking a common phrase used as a scapegoat for MAGA supporters.
By the next weekend, a couple dozen supporters of former President Donald J. Trump had gathered across the street from his private residence in Palm Beach, Florida. Some were holding Trump-Pence flags from their 2020 campaign, others wearing the notorious red MAGA hats. But all were united in their anger over the news that federal authorities had conducted a search of Mar-a-Lago.
Due to the revival of Trump supporters created by the scandal, Trump is expected to announce his campaign for the 2024 election.