Search of Donald Trump's home: the investigation is aimed at a possible violation of the Espionage Act
Sylvie Claire / August 13, 2022
FBI (U.S. Federal Police) agents seized top secret documents from the home of former U.S. President Donald Trump in possible violation of the Espionage Act, according to court documents made public Friday by the U.S. Justice.
Investigators suspect the Republican, with the illegal possession of classified documents, of having violated a U.S. law on espionage.
Several court documents were released Friday by a Florida judge: the warrant authorizing the search, before it was conducted, and a lengthy inventory of documents seized Monday by FBI agents.
The search warrant, which had been placed under seal, was made public by a federal judge in Florida, along with an inventory of the documents seized. Among them is one concerning the president of France, according to the same source.
The operation, conducted in the residence of Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago in Florida, had provoked the fury of his supporters evoking a political persecution, as well as many Republican tenors.
On Thursday, the Minister of Justice, Merrick Garland, in an exceptional speech, asked that a judge make public the warrant authorizing the search so that its reasons are known to all.
This request - very unusual - was welcomed by Donald Trump.
Not only will I not oppose the release of the documents [...] but I will go further by ENCOURAGING their immediate release, wrote the billionaire on Thursday evening, who had however refrained from making public the copy of the warrant he had received.
The former president assured in a statement Friday that the documents recovered by the police had all been declassified.