FBI seized 'top secret' documents from Trump home, says US Justice Department

euronews.com:

The FBI recovered documents that were labelled "top secret" from former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, according to court papers released on Friday.

The US Justice Department confirmed the seizure on Friday while also disclosing it has probable cause to believe that Trump violated the Espionage Act, a federal law that prohibits the possession or transmission of national defence information.

The latest bombshell disclosures came after a federal judge unsealed the warrant that authorised the unprecedented search this week.

A property receipt — a document prepared by federal agents to specify what was taken during a search — unsealed by the court shows FBI agents took 11 sets of classified records from the estate during a search on Monday. 

The seized records include some that were marked as classified and "top secret" — the highest level of classification, reserved for the country's most closely held national security information.

FBI agents took more than 30 items including more than 20 boxes, binders of photos, a handwritten note and the executive grant of clemency for Trump's ally and longtime adviser Roger Stone, a list of items removed from the property showed. Also included in the list was information about the "President of France".

In a statement on Friday, Trump claimed that the documents seized by agents at his Florida club were “all declassified,” and argued that he would have turned over the documents to the Justice Department if asked.

While incumbent presidents have the power to declassify information, that authority lapses as soon as they leave office and it was not clear if the documents in question have ever been declassified. 

Trump also kept possession of the documents despite multiple