Trump changes his version and says that he had declassified the documents registered in his mansion

With the passing of days, the scandal over the search of Donald Trump’s mansion in Florida is clouding. The former president defended this weekend that the documents seized by FBI agents at Mar-a-Lago, his private club and residence, had already been declassified, in a new change in his version of the matter. The agents appeared last Monday with a search warrant authorized by a judge and took a dozen boxes of materials and documents, after a dispute that has dragged on for many months between Trump and the National Archives. According to US law, all documents and materials related to the exercise of the functions of the president must be preserved in the National Archives. Trump reportedly took many of them to Mar-a-Lago and the National Archives claimed them for months. In January of this year, Trump returned 15 boxes of documents, but the National Archives was convinced there was more to recover. The case ended up in the Department of Justice, which ended up visiting the residence of the former president in Florida. Some of those documents, investigators believed, could be classified and of a sensitive national security nature. It was then that the dance of versions began. Trump’s lawyers assured investigators in June that all documents marked classified and stored in boxes at Mar-a-Lago had been returned. The Department of Justice and the FBI suspected that this was not the case, sought judicial authorization for the search, obtained it and carried out the operation. Trump and his Republican allies denounced the search as an attempt at “political persecution.” In a statement, the former president assured that he had “worked and cooperated” with government agencies in the case. Much of his attacks were against the attorney general, Merrick Garland, whom they accused of “politicizing” justice. Republicans in Congress demanded – and continue to do so – that he give explanations in the legislative headquarters. Garland, in a rare decision, appeared to acknowledge that he gave his approval to the operation and that he would not give details of the case, which is under investigation. But he would request the publication of the search warrant. When the judge gave the go-ahead, it was verified how the FBI had found documents considered classified in his registry, among others, some related to nuclear weapons. But neither its specific content nor the investigators’ affidavit was disclosed to justify the need for registration before the judge. It was delightful when Trump, through a statement from his office to the Fox network, announced that, in any case, any document found at Mar-a-Lago was not classified. “From time to time we all have to take work home with us. American presidents are no exception,” the statement said, assuring that there was an “order in place” by Trump that any document leaving his office and ending up at his residence would no longer be would consider classified. The document declassification process, despite the broad powers of the US president, is more complex, especially for those of a sensitive national security nature. And, in any event, holding the documents at his residence would still be a violation of the Presidential Documents Act. Democrats were quick to criticize Trump’s explanation. Adam Schiff, who chairs the House Intelligence Committee, called it “absurd” and assured that there was no evidence that Trump had declassified those materials. This Sunday, Trump gave a further twist to the matter and assured that the documents that the FBI took are protected by the regulations that protect the relationship between lawyer and client and by the executive privilege of the president. “I respectfully request that these documents be immediately returned to where they were,” he said in a message on his social network Truth Social.


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