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FBI found over 100 classified files at Mar-a-Lago, new documents show

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FBI agents retrieved just over 100 classified or secret files from Donald Trump’s Florida resort when they raided it last month, as well as 43 empty folders marked “classified”, according to documents released on Friday.

Aileen Cannon, a Trump-appointed judge in Florida, unsealed the full list of items officers took during their search of Mar-a-Lago on August 8 as part of an investigation into whether he broke the Espionage Act in his handling of classified material.

The FBI probe has weakened not only Trump but also the Republican party, whose poll ratings have fallen since the investigations were revealed just months ahead of the US midterm elections.

The documents taken last month are in addition to those Trump handed over voluntarily to the justice department earlier this year, and give a sense of the amount and scope of the material the former president took with him when he left office.

According to the inventory, which was unsealed on Friday, agents retrieved 103 documents with classified markings, including 54 marked secret and 18 marked top secret. There were a further 90 empty boxes that were marked either “classified” or “return to staff secretary/military aide”.

The boxes, which were stored in Trump’s office and a storage room, also contained 1,673 printed out articles from newspapers and magazines, as well as more than 11,000 apparently unclassified government documents or photographs.

The inventory showed that the items were mixed up alongside clothing and books.

The details add to an emerging picture of how Trump hoarded a vast amount of government material at his Florida estate. Last week, the justice department revealed he had voluntarily handed over 15 boxes earlier in the year, which included 184 classified documents.

In a separate filing on Friday, the justice department said it had investigated every document discovered during the raid, excluding any that a separate in-house “filter team” had deemed subject to attorney-client privilege.

Nevertheless, Trump continues to push for the court to appoint an independent official to review the documents further and decide which ones the justice department can use in its investigation.

Cannon on Thursday heard arguments for and against appointing a so-called special master, but has not yet made her decision on whether to do so.

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