Ex-US President Donald Trump presented an argument in a court on Wednesday, August 31, 2022, saying the National Archives should have been expecting classified documents in the 15 boxes he returned in January from his Mar-a-Lago residence since those were presidential records.
Trump also admitted in his written closing argument that classified material was found at his Mar-a-Lago residence, however, maintained that it should not have been worrying news and should not have resulted in a search at his home in August.
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Wednesday’s filing was Trump’s formal response to the prosecutors, who have argued that the former President’s legal counsels have partaken in obstructive conduct by hiding documents in his Mar-a-Lago home and concealing the numbers of documents at the venue.
The Department of Justice (DoJ) had earlier revealed in its court filings that the Mar-a-Lago search was a result of the FBI uncovering evidence that the former President’s team had hidden materials after claiming otherwise.
“The purported justification for the initiation of this criminal probe was the alleged discovery of sensitive information contained within the 15 boxes of Presidential records,” Trump’s legal team wrote.
“But this ‘discovery’ was to be fully anticipated given the very nature of Presidential records. Simply put, the notion that Presidential records would contain sensitive information should have never been cause for alarm,” they added.
According to the lawyers representing Donald Trump, as per the Presidential Records Act, the National Archives needed to do a follow-up in good faith to recover the presidential records.
Trump made claims that he had declassified all documents in the photo on Truth Social on August 31.
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“Terrible the way the FBI, during the Raid of Mar-a-Lago, threw documents haphazardly all over the floor (perhaps pretending it was me that did it!),” Trump wrote.
“And then started taking pictures of them for the public to see. Thought they wanted them kept Secret? Lucky I Declassified!” he added.
The court hearing is slated to take place on Thursday, September 1 at 1 pm ET.
