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United States FBI agents conducted a search at former US President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida, on suspicions of violations of the US Espionage Act. The Act prohibits officials from illegally retaining sensitive defense documents.
According to the Justice Department, the search team recovered no less than 11 sets of classified documents, including some marked as top secret.
The search was also carried out as part of a federal investigation to learn whether Trump removed official documents when he left office in January 2021. Speaking about the search, Trump took to social media to address the issue himself.
According to him, the documents were "all declassified" and placed in "secure storage." He said, via India Today:
"They didn't need to 'seize' anything. They could have had it anytime they wanted without playing politics and breaking into Mar-a-Lago."
Congress enacted the Espionage Act two months after the United States got involved in World War I
Donald Trump is being investigated for allegedly violating the Espionage Act. The Act was formulated in World War I to prevent treason in the United States.
The documents that have been found at his Florida residence are meant to be kept and viewed only in specially secured government facilities.
Federal authorities executed the search to seize "physical documents and records constituting evidence, contraband, fruits of crime, or other items illegally possessed in violation of the Espionage Act of 1917". This also implies that the situation is of a serious nature.
Congress enacted the act only two months after the United States became a part of World War I. The act mainly prohibits obtaining information in any form of documents relating to national defense, which can later injure the United States or be advantageous to any foreign nation.
The Act is also capable of imposing criminal penalties on anyone obstructing enlistment in the armed forces or being disloyal to the military or naval forces.
The Act not only prevents the dissemination of sensitive information to people inside or outside of the US, it also handles cases of mishandling top secret and classified official documents.
Trump's 2016 rival, Hillary Clinton, was also investigated under the Espionage Act as she used a private email server on which some sensitive information was found.
As per former FBI Director James Comey, there wasn't enough evidence against Clinton that could prove that she wanted to share top secret information in an illegal manner.
While the investigations are on, Donald Trump has not yet been charged of violating the Espionage Act.
Further information on Donald Trump vs FBI
The FBI reportedly took 30 items, which included 20 boxes, many binders of photos, a handwritten note to Trump's longtime adviser Roger Stone and an executive grant of clemency for him. The list also had information about the "President of France."
The warrant denoted that FBI agents were ordered to search a room called the '45 Office', which could be because Trump was the 45th President of the United States. They were also asked to search other rooms in the estate where documents could potentially be stored.
According to the Justice Department, the warrant was approved by US Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart. While the warrant did not explain why the investigators had reason to believe the Espionage Act violation, the law's section cited that the warrant prohibits illegal or unauthorized possession of national defense information.
In the US, more cases related to the Espionage Act include Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, who was found guilty of 17 counts of violation of the Espionage Act for receiving and publishing top secret official documents.
Former CIA analyst Edward Snowden was also charged with violating the Act. He was proven to have leaked confidential and classified documents related to the National Security Agency's surveillance program in 2013.
