Donald Trump, the 45th President of the United States, began his tenure as the head of state with his inauguration on January 20, 2017, and ended on January 20, 2021.
Following his loss in the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden, Trump made a farewell, but hinted a comeback.
"Goodbye. We love you. We will be back in some form,", he said to his supporters, after receiving a 21-gun salute, which is part of a military send-off, before he boarded the Marine One helicopter for his last time as President. At that time, Trump left the White House, and headed to Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, by the time Joe Biden was sworn as the 46th president of the United States.
While Trump may have taken some things from the White House, and from other places during his presidency, reports suggest that he had taken a lot more.
And some of the things he took, were highly confidential.
This divided the internet.
It is said that Trump took a number of government documents and material with him to his Mar-a-Lago, which he has made his private residence since leaving the White House.
It all began back in May of 2021, when the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), the federal agency that preserves government records, realized that a number of important documents had not been turned over to them at the end of Trump's term. By January 2022, they only retrieved 15 boxes, which according to their records, isn't everything.
The Justice Department then began an investigation in April 2022 and later, sent the former President a subpoena.
It was in June that the Justice Department officials visited Mar-a-Lago, served the subpoena for some classified documents, and took the documents with them.
After more subpoena was sent, officials also requested surveillance footage from Mar-a-Lago, which was provided.
But when the officials realized the sensitivity of the documents and material, which include information about the U.S. nuclear weapons, the FBI said that Trump violated the Presidential Records Act, which prompted the launch of a search warrant to find any indication about potential espionage activities and obstruction of justice laws.
It's worth noting that the documents and material Trump took, include a number of "top secret" data, as well as one "top secret/SCI", the highest level of classification.
This made the FBI to believe that Trump is criminally holding on to papers from his single term in office.
Responding to this situation, a top Senate Republican demanded the public release of the evidence that convinced a judge to let the agency take the unprecedented step of barging into an ex-president’s home.
The Democrats however, decried the Republican’s move.
"There is political bias within the FBI, and I think it’s legitimate to raise the question about […] . the way President Trump has been treated,” Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said.
Grassley echoed the call of House Republicans, who stated that the Department of Justice should hand over not only the FBI’s search warrant, but also the supporting affidavit, a document detailing the basis for investigators’ suspicions that the Trump was criminally holding on to the documents and the material from his single term in office.
"Full transparency is going to be when they release the affidavit," said Grassley.
"Just figure the double standard that we’ve had under the FBI over a long time."
"My beautiful home, Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, is currently under siege, raided, and occupied by a large group of FBI agents," Trump said in a statement, adding that "they even broke into my safe."
For his part, Trump who was Trump Tower in New York when the search warrant was executed, claims that all of things the FBI seized from the raid of his Mar-a-Lago residence were declassified and was put in a "secure storage" at the resort.
But when asked about how "secure" this storage is, even Trump's own attorneys couldn't provide the details with confidence.
"It was a locked door, and getting back down into the basement, there’s security, you can’t just walk down there," one said. "Only certain members of staff can get there, and then there’s only one key."
Only "a limited number of people” had access to that area."
The thing is, certain types of documents and material Trump allegedly took, require security measures beyond just lock doors with restricted access. Some of the documents and material even require what’s known as a sensitive compartmented information facility (SCIF).
Trump’s document facility however, was only "a storage room off an interior hallway near the pool," with "boxes everywhere."
And that pool in question, was a major part of resort, and was "a focal point of activity as part of Mar-a-Lago’s day-to-day business."
Trump suggested, without evidence, that President Joe Biden was behind the raid. And this response what then amplified through Trump's many fans on social media.
And due to the fact that Trump, his family and all his aids were not permitted to watch the search "to see what they were doing," Trump hoped that they didn't plant anything.
Elsewhere, Trump started yelling that Barack Obama took tens of million documents after his presidency.
"How many of them pertained to nuclear?" he asked. "Word is, lots!"
This statement was countered by NARA, who said that this Trump's statement is fabulously false, because those documents are already in NARA's possession.
But soon after it was realized how sensitive the documents and the material are, Trump went a little quiet.
"My attorneys and representatives were cooperating fully, and very good relationships had been established," Trump said to his social media, Truth Social. "The government could have had whatever they wanted, if we had it."
The thing is, the government officials visited Mar-a-Lago back in June, and suggested Trump's people to put a padlock to the storage room, only after inspecting the area. But later, all of a sudden, people started blaming Trump from bringing home what he's not supposed to.
Some said that anything inside the documents and material at Mar-a-Lago couldn’t have been classified, simply because everyone can end up bringing home their work from time to time, and U.S. Presidents are no different.
Trump, when he was the President of the U.S., may have to bring home some papers, which can include classified documents, to the residence, in order to prepare for the next day.
Trump had a standing order that documents removed from the Oval Office taken to the residence were deemed to be declassified the moment he removed them.
Then, there is the fact that Trump was so caught up in the “chaotic time” of January 2021, that he might not have the time to sort what he can take with him to Mar-a-Lago, and what he must not take.
At that time, Trump had to move out quickly from the White House, following Biden’s victory on January 6th, 2021.
Trump who didn't accept the fact that he lost, was so caught up with his attempt to win his fans and followers, that he might not have the time to think about this classified necessities.
He didn’t think about leaving the White House, right until after his coup failed.
Then, there is the fact that Trump didn't pack the boxes himself. It was his aids' duties, and it may seem that Trump have no idea what's in there in the first place.
But still, if he didn't know what's in there, so again, why did he refuse to give them back when repeatedly asked?
Mar-a-Lago is a resort and national historic landmark, located in Palm Beach, Florida.
Built from 1924 to 1927, the 126-room, 5,810 m2 estate contains the Mar-a-Lago Club, a members-only club with guest rooms, a spa, and other hotel-style amenities, as well as a private residence Trump converted from the original estate. Trump's residence is a closed off area, separated from the main Mar-a-Lago Club.
Trump purchased the who Mar-a-Lago back in 1985 for around $10 million.
He used the mansion as a residence for eight years, before converting it into the Mar-a-Lago Club.
After leaving office, Mar-a-Lago became the primary residence for Donald Trump and Melania, who previously held primary residence in New York City.
The legality of this has been disputed because, back in 1993, Trump signed a "use agreement" with the town of Palm Beach, Florida, that he had designated Mar-a-Lago from a single-family residence to a private club and specified that guests, including Trump, could not stay there more than three non-consecutive weeks per year.
