Headlining above is the first paragraph of the item, which also states:
The agents also found more than 10,000 other government documents kept by Trump with no classification marked.
The inventory compiled by the Justice Department reveals in general terms the contents of 33 boxes and containers taken from Trump's office and a storage room at Mar-a-Lago during the Aug. 8 search. Though the inventory does not describe the content of the documents, it shows the extent to which classified information — including material at the top-secret level — was stashed in boxes at the home and mixed among newspapers, magazines, clothing and other personal items.
And the empty folders raise the question of whether the government has recovered all of the classified papers that Trump kept after leaving the White House.
[...]
All told, the inventory shows, the FBI seized more than 100 documents with classification markings in August, including 18 marked top secret, 54 secret and 31 confidential. The FBI had identified 184 documents marked as classified in 15 boxes recovered by the Archives in January, and received additional classified documents in a single Redweld envelope during a June visit to Mar-a-Lago.
The Justice Department has said that it searched the property in August after developing evidence that documents were likely "concealed and removed" from the storage room as part of an effort to obstruct its probe.
The court filings have not offered an explanation for why Trump had kept the classified documents, and why he and his representatives did not return them when requested.
The inventory shows that 48 empty folders with classified banners were taken either from the storage room or office, along with additional empty folders labeled as "Return to Staff Secretary" or military aide.
It is not clear from the inventory list what might have happened to any of the documents that apparently had been inside.
[italics added] The crowd of commentators at emptywheel.com have ideas about Trump, and empty folders, and such, some suggesting bad motive, some wondering if empty folders and "unfoldered" recovered classified documents could be cross-checked to see what, if anything, is suggested via the folders, as ultimately missing classified and highly sensitive information.
Some commentators at empty wheel note Trump has other residences, etc. This link:
Return to Sender: DOJ Seized Evidence that Up to 90 Highly Sensitive Documents May Have Disappeared
.................a sample from the commentary..................
Jim Luther says: On 5 October 2021, the New York Times reported (and it was repeated in a number of other outlets) a secret cable stating that a concerning number of U.S. informants were being captured and executed, with dozens of incidents in the last few years that involved killings, arrests or compromises of foreign informants. I suspect that the administration’s carelessness was deadly and damaging for the entire term. The only real question is if it was intentional, or just the standard level of incompetence the administration displayed across the board.
Troutwaxer says: Trump may be the US’s version of Kim Philby.
Replyearlofhuntingdon says: Poor analogy. Philby was good at what he did, aided by his being a member of a small English elite, one that still engages in self-protection at the expense of much else. Trump is neither, but he has acquired his own self-protecting horde, and he has done tremendous damage to US national security.
ReplyTroutwaxer says: You’re probably right about Philby’s vs. Trump’s character, but I was referring to the damage to our security.
ReplyThomas Guillemette says: More like Aldrich Aimes [sic]
Aldrich Ames is a former Central Intelligence Agency officer turned KGB double agent, who was convicted of espionage in 1994. He is serving a life sentence, without the possibility of parole, in the Federal Correctional Institution in Terre Haute, Indiana.Wikipedia
Having read much but not all of the emptywheel commentary, none of what was read offered any kind word for Trump, the best being accusation of malice-free simple narcissistic slovenliness toward duty, and a hubris and possessor-mentality toward things legally owned as the property of the National Archives; i.e., guessing nothing worse than that; while the above excerpt suggests otherwise.
Most Noteworthy in the AP report:
The court filings have not offered an explanation for why Trump had kept the classified documents, and why he and his representatives did not return them when requested.
We all wonder about that. The nation awaits whatever next, intervening, and final shoes will drop.