Sources say justice department officials worried records were being held unlawfully at the former president’s Florida estate.
Federal authorities searched Trump’s sprawling south Florida residence having obtained a warrant to seek classified and White House records that the US justice department thought Trump had kept unlawfully, two sources previously told the Guardian.
The sources said justice department officials became worried that these records were being held unlawfully at Mar-a-Lago following government attorneys’ recent discussions with Trump’s legal team.
The Journal’s report chronicled discussions between justice department officials and Trump’s lawyers over these records.
On 3 June, a high-ranking justice department official and three FBI agents came to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago house “ to discuss boxes with government records sitting in a basement storage room along with suits, sweaters and golf shoes”.