People did not provide further details to the Post about “what kind of information agents are looking for” or whether any such documents were recovered.
The revelation adds important context to the Justice Department’s extraordinary decision to raid the former president’s home.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said Thursday that he “personally approved” the decision to seek a warrant to search Trump’s Florida home, though he declined to share specifics about the search.
“The Department does not take such a decision lightly. It is standard practice, where possible, to seek less intrusive alternatives to searches and to narrow any search conducted,” Garland said at a news conference.
Trump said in a post Thursday night on his Truth Community site that he “will not be opposed to the release of the documents,” adding that “I will go one step further by encouraging the immediate release of those documents.”
CNN reported earlier Thursday that Trump and his legal team had not yet reached a decision on how to respond to the Justice Department’s motion, according to a source familiar with their thinking.
After the search, top congressional Republicans rushed to Trump’s defense, a move that was portrayed as politically motivated. The former president, who has denied any wrongdoing, said the investigation was intended to derail his potential bid to return to the White House.
In a pair of posts to TruthSocial following Garland’s statement, Trump continued to say his lawyers were “fully cooperating” and had developed a “very good relationship” with federal investigators ahead of Monday’s search at Mar-a-Lago.
The search warrant was authorized by a federal court, Garland said.
“Wrongfully disposing of classified documents is a federal crime. So if you fill out that affidavit, if you have to list the crime, you can list it as a felony,” said Eli Honig, a former federal and state prosecutor and an affidavit. A CNN senior legal analyst followed the search warrant.
This story was updated Friday with additional information.
CNN’s Tierney Sneed, Evan Perez, Hannah Rabinowitz and Zachary Cohen contributed to this report.
“Lifelong social media lover. Falls down a lot. Creator. Devoted food aficionado. Explorer. Typical troublemaker.”