Report: Classified items found at Trump storage unit in Florida

my name is eric tucker and I cover the FBI Justice Department and National Security for the Associated Press in Washington. Former President Donald trump has announced his intention to run for the White House again. And that brings fresh attention to *** slew of Justice Department investigations that hover around him and his orbit as we speak. The short answer about any impact on the Justice Department's investigations is that there won't really be much of one. It's important to note that the Justice Department is fully permitted to investigate and indeed prosecute people who are running for office, including the office of President. So there is no reason in the near interim to expect that the Justice Department investigation will slow down in any way. That says, it is of course politically challenging and difficult for the Justice Department to operate *** criminal investigation that involves *** presidential candidate or really any candidate for office. And the desire for the Department would be presumably to try to wrap this up or concluded one way or the other as soon as it can. I think it is reasonable to assume that Donald trump will be speaking quite *** bit on the campaign trail about the Justice investigations that he currently faces as well as the investigation in Georgia. Those are matters that are on the minds of the american people and they're also clearly on the minds of Donald trump himself. He is um very agitated by the existence of these investigations. He has attacked them uh professed his innocence and being on the campaign trail gives him an open microphone to say the things that he wants to say to defend himself, Iowa, we expect that the Justice Department will remain silent in the face of attacks from Donald trump. It is customary for the department to not respond to criticism from people who are under investigation. And I would think that that would not be any different here. I would imagine that what we will hear from the department will be when it chooses to indict if it chooses to indict and some sort of disclosure about the conclusion of the investigation and that is likely to be it.

Video above: Trump announces presidential run amid legal woesLawyers for former President Donald Trump found at least two items marked as classified during a recent search of a storage unit in West Palm Beach, Florida, and have provided them to the FBI, according to a published report Wednesday.The Washington Post, citing anonymous sources, reported that the items were discovered by an outside team brought in by Trump's representatives to search his other properties for any additional classified materials. The nature of the classified materials was not immediately clear, but the storage unit in which they were found had been used to hold items from an office in northern Virginia used by Trump staffers after he left office, the newspaper said.The FBI recovered roughly 100 documents marked as classified during an Aug. 8 search of Trump's Palm Beach estate, Mar-a-Lago. That's on top of 37 documents bearing classification markings that Trump lawyers retrieved from the home during a June visit, as well as 15 boxes containing about 184 classified documents recovered in January by the National Archives and Records Administration.Video below: DOJ asks court to deny Trump plea over FBI searchThe possibility that the Justice Department had not yet recovered all classified materials has existed for months.The FBI's August search of the home came after investigators developed evidence indicating that additional sensitive documents remained there, even though Trump representatives had certified that all classified documents requested in a Justice Department subpoena had been located and returned.After a federal judge pressured the Trump team to demonstrate its full compliance with the subpoena, the newspaper said, it hired an outside firm to search properties including Trump's golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, as well as Trump Tower in New York.Video below: AP Explains: Feds cite effort to obstruct Trump probeA Justice Department spokesman declined to comment.A spokesman for Trump, responding to reports about an outside firm's search for classified materials, said in a statement that "President Trump and his counsel continue to be cooperative and transparent, despite the unprecedented, illegal, and unwarranted attack against President Trump and his family by the weaponized Department of Justice."Spokesman Steven Cheung did not respond to a follow-up phone call about subsequent reporting indicating that a search of the storage unit had turned up two items with classification markings.

Video above: Trump announces presidential run amid legal woes

Lawyers for former President Donald Trump found at least two items marked as classified during a recent search of a storage unit in West Palm Beach, Florida, and have provided them to the FBI, according to a published report Wednesday.

The Washington Post, citing anonymous sources, reported that the items were discovered by an outside team brought in by Trump's representatives to search his other properties for any additional classified materials. The nature of the classified materials was not immediately clear, but the storage unit in which they were found had been used to hold items from an office in northern Virginia used by Trump staffers after he left office, the newspaper said.

The FBI recovered roughly 100 documents marked as classified during an Aug. 8 search of Trump's Palm Beach estate, Mar-a-Lago. That's on top of 37 documents bearing classification markings that Trump lawyers retrieved from the home during a June visit, as well as 15 boxes containing about 184 classified documents recovered in January by the National Archives and Records Administration.

Video below: DOJ asks court to deny Trump plea over FBI search

The possibility that the Justice Department had not yet recovered all classified materials has existed for months.

The FBI's August search of the home came after investigators developed evidence indicating that additional sensitive documents remained there, even though Trump representatives had certified that all classified documents requested in a Justice Department subpoena had been located and returned.

After a federal judge pressured the Trump team to demonstrate its full compliance with the subpoena, the newspaper said, it hired an outside firm to search properties including Trump's golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, as well as Trump Tower in New York.

Video below: AP Explains: Feds cite effort to obstruct Trump probe

A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment.

A spokesman for Trump, responding to reports about an outside firm's search for classified materials, said in a statement that "President Trump and his counsel continue to be cooperative and transparent, despite the unprecedented, illegal, and unwarranted attack against President Trump and his family by the weaponized Department of Justice."

Spokesman Steven Cheung did not respond to a follow-up phone call about subsequent reporting indicating that a search of the storage unit had turned up two items with classification markings.

Report: Classified items found at Trump storage unit in Florida

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