The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) had reportedly sent a letter to Donald Trump’s lawyer Evan Corcoran on May 10, in which it claimed that Donald Trump had kept with him 700 classified documents. The letter, which was written by the current US archivist Debra Steidel Wall, also stated that the Department of Justice was concerned since these documents were related to covert intelligence operations that could affect the country’s security.

In the letter, a copy of which was posted on the NARA website, Wall said that “There are important national security interests in the FBI and others in the Intelligence Community getting access to these materials”. The letter explains that around 100 classified documents, totalling 700 pages, were found in the boxes.

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Wall also said that besides it being necessary to provide the FBI access to the documents in order to carry on the investigation, “the Executive Branch must also conduct an assessment of the potential damage resulting from the apparent manner in which these materials were stored and transported and take any necessary remedial steps.”

In one part of the letter, Wall talks about Trump’s lawyers claims that it was his executive privilege to not reveal the documents. Wall said, “The Assistant Attorney General has advised me that there is no precedent for an assertion of executive privilege by a former President against an incumbent President to prevent the latter from obtaining from NARA Presidential records belonging to the Federal Government”.

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The letter comes in the wake of Trump’s legal team seeking to stop the scrutiny of another set of documents that were seized from the former president’s Mar-a-Lago estate earlier this month until a third-party overseer is appointed.

A total of 11 sets of classified documents were recovered by investigators during the search. Federal authorities revealed that investigations were being carried out to see whether this action by Trump violated the Espionage Act and obstructed the course of justice.