Earlier this month, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) asked the Department of Justice to launch a criminal investigation into Donald Trump’s handling of White House records after the agency officials recovered 15 boxes of materials from the former president’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida.
Then, both The New York Times and the Washington Post reported that classified documents were included with the records that were retrieved from Trump’s home —some of them were classified as “top secret.”
On Friday, NARA confirmed the report in a letter to the House Oversight Committee.
“NARA has identified items marked as classified national security information within the boxes,” archivist David Ferriero wrote.
Hours later, attorney and former U.S. Army prosecutor Glenn Kirschner declared that Trump had committed a “five-year felony” by illegally taking classified national security documents from the White House.
“That is a five-year felony. The National Archives has reported and referred to the Department of Justice for investigation the fact that Donald Trump removed classified national security information from the White House and he whisked it away to Mar-a-Lago,” he told MSNBC host Jonathan Capehart on Friday, according to Newsweek.
“That’s troubling,” he added, pointing out other examples of individuals being “promptly prosecuted” for less severe violations and arguing that if the scandal involved anyone else “there would be no story here.”
Newsweek also noted that “Many other legal experts and former federal law enforcement officials urged the Justice Department to open an investigation into Trump over the classified documents.”
The outlet highlighted a tweet by former FBI Assistant Director Frank Figliuzzi who wrote: “DOJ, this ball is in your court.”
Richard Signorelli, a former assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, tweeted: “The discovery of classified material in 15 boxes illegally taken by Trump should supply probable cause for the issuance of search warrants of Trump’s homes/offices for other public records. Of course, that would require @TheJusticeDept to actually do something aggressive.”
Read more on Newsweek.
