According to the report, 18 documents classified as "top secret", 53 documents classified as "secret" and 31 documents classified as "confidential" were seized in the August 8 raid at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate. Seven of the top secret documents, 17 of the classified documents and three of the confidential documents were in Trump's office.
Two months before the search, Trump's lawyers had sworn in affidavits to representatives of the US Department of Justice that the ex-president no longer stored any secret documents in Mar-a-Lago.
The FBI agents also found dozens of empty folders marked "classified information" during the search, according to the list. It is unclear what happened to the documents in the folders. They also found more than 11,000 documents not classified as secret or confidential, which Trump says he can keep - even though they officially belong to the US National Archives.
The Department of Justice list also shows that many of the classified documents Trump kept in his Mar-a-Lago office or in a separate closet in the mansion were intermingled with personal legal documents, gifts, and books from his White House days .
Trump is currently engaged in a fierce legal battle with the US Department of Justice. He describes the raid as unlawful and demands that a neutral examiner examine the confiscated documents. Florida-based federal judge Aileen Cannon will rule on the matter.
Meanwhile, the investigators received backing from Trump's former attorney general, Bill Barr. People would say the raid on the ex-president's mansion was "unprecedented," Barr told conservative news channel Fox News on Friday. "Well, it's also unprecedented for a president to take all this classified information to a country club." Mar-a-Lago is not only Trump's residence, but also a private club for well-heeled members.
Investigators probably have "good evidence" to have gone this far in their actions, Barr said. The investigators refer to an anti-espionage law, which also regulates the handling of classified documents, to a law against the obstruction of investigations and a law against the destruction of government documents.
The raid on Trump has led to fierce political controversy in the United States. Trump has repeatedly described the search of his villa as politically motivated. He accuses President Joe Biden's Democrats of using the judiciary to prevent him from running for president again in 2024.
