Donald Trump mixed magazines,
personal correspondence with top secret documents, the FBI (Federal Bureau of
Investigation), United States’ premier sleuthing agency, said in a heavily
redacted affidavit on Friday. According to the affidavit, 14 of the 15 boxes retrieved
from Trump’s Florida residence contained classified documents, many of them top
secret, mixed in with miscellaneous newspapers, magazines and personal
correspondence.

The FBI further stated that
no space in Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate was authorised for storing classified
material. The FBI’s search warrant affidavit, that became public after heavy
redaction, suggested “probable cause to believe that evidence of obstruction will
be found.”

The 32-page affidavit lays
out how the haphazard retention of confidential government documents, and the
apparent failure to safeguard them despite months of entreaties from US
government officials has exposed the former president to legal peril at a time
he is preparing for another presidential run in 2024.

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“The government is
conducting a criminal investigation concerning the improper removal and storage
of classified information in unauthorised spaces, as well as the unlawful
concealment or removal of government records,” the affidavit states. The
affidavit has been drafted by an FBI special agent.

Documents previously made
public show that federal agents are investigating potential violations of
multiple federal laws, including one that governs gathering, transmitting or
losing defense information under the Espionage Act. The other statutes address
the concealment, mutilation or removal of records and the destruction,
alteration or falsification of records in federal investigations.

Also Read | Was Trump just being Trump? FBI search at Mar-a-Lago raises questions

Following the release of
the search warrant affidavit, Donald Trump wrote on his TRUTH Social platform
that the investigation was a “public relations subterfuge.” He suggested that
he and his associates had a close working relationship with the FBI and had “given
them much.”

The affidavit argues a
search of Mar-a-Lago was necessary due to the highly sensitive material found
in those 15 boxes. Of 184 documents marked classified, 25 were at the top-secret
level, the affidavit says. Some had special markings suggesting they included
information from highly sensitive human sources or the collection of electronic
“signals” authorised by a special intelligence court.