Donald Trump Was Told He Could Not Keep Any Classified Documents Before Mar-a-Lago Raid, Federal Prosecutors Claim

Donald Trump was reportedly informed by his lawyer, Evan Corcoran, that he was not permitted to keep any classified documents in his custody after he was initially subpoenaed for them in 2022, according to evidence received by federal prosecutors.

Corcoran later produced around 40 classified files taken from Trump's Mar-a-Lago property and informed authorities that there were no other documents on site. However, the FBI conducted their own search and found over 100 other classified materials.

Following the findings, an investigation was launched into whether Trump purposely chose not to hand over the other documents, as well as if he had attempted to hide them by having them relocated by staff.

As OK! previously reported, a Trump staffer told investigators that other employees had been asked to move boxes from a storage room into the embattled politician's personal home several weeks before the FBI's August 2022 raid. Surveillance camera footage caught staff members moving series of boxes from storage around the same time.

Trump’s valet, Walt Nauta, also alleged items were moved both before and after the subpoena.

Corcoran's warning to Trump regarding retaining any of the classified filings was written in around 50 pages of notes that were recently detailed to an outlet by sources familiar with their contents.

The papers included information on when Corcoran planned to search for the classified files and where he "intended to search and not search for classified documents."

They also confirmed that Corcoran told Nauta about the subpoena and even had the valet unlock the storage room prior to his search.

The lawyer revealed in the scribblings that Nauta offered to help him look through the boxes in question, but Corcoran said no and had the staffer leave the room.

His search through roughly 60 boxes of documents ended up taking days to complete, and the notes also reportedly implied that there were times the storage room was left unattended while Corcoran took breaks.

The private legal notes were later provided to a grand jury as evidence, as the judges involved believed Trump could have used his attorney's advice in order to commit or further a crime.

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The sources told The Guardian about the contents of Corcoran's notes.