WASHINGTON — At least 300 documents containing classified information left the White House with former President Donald Trump, an unprecedented situation that has led to the FBI investigating possible violations of the Espionage Act and obstruction of justice.
The documents, recovered by the National Archives and FBI over the course of two years from the former president’s Mar-a-Lago estate along with more than 11,000 other nonclassified government records, include some of the government’s most highly protected secrets, such as information from spies and informants.
Now, details of the documents’ removal and haphazard storage revealed in the days following the Aug. 8 court-approved search of Trump’s home have left the intelligence community reeling and the public asking: “How could it happen?”
