FBI 'found foreign state's nuclear secrets at Trump estate were so classified' agents realised they couldn't read them
7 September 2022, 07:15 | Updated: 7 September 2022, 07:31
Documents found at Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago compound were about a foreign country's nuclear secrets and were so sensitive that the FBI agents who seized them realised they should not be reading them.
Senior officials in President Joe Biden's administration were not even allowed to look at them, The Washington Post said.
The documents contained information about the unnamed foreign government’s military defences, including nuclear weaponry.
It has not been revealed if that government was a friend or adversary to the US.
The FBI did not comment on the report, and representatives for Mr Trump did not immediately respond to comment.
Read more: FBI finds empty folders marked with classified banners during raid of Trump's Florida home
The documents were among more than 11,000 papers and photos taken by FBI agents during their swoop on the estate in Palm Beach, Florida on August 8.
Mr Trump is being investigated over documents taken from the White House after he left the presidency in January 2021.
A judge has agreed to his request for the records taken by the FBI be reviewed, which will likely delay the Department of Justice investigation.
But the department argued such an appointment was unnecessary as it has reviewed potentially privileged documents and found only a limited set of material that could be covered by attorney-client privilege.
It has also said Mr Trump was not entitled to the return of the documents, as he is no longer president and they did not belong to him.
Read more: Man charged after threat to crash stolen plane into Mississippi Walmart
Personal items were mixed in with the classified documents which potentially made them evidence, the department argued.
Mr Trump has blasted the raid, insisting the documents were due to be moved to his presidential library.
His supporters have been infuriated by the search.
He said earlier this month that it was "one of the most shocking abuses of power by any administration in American history" and "a travesty of justice".
"They're trying to silence me and more importantly they're trying to silence you. But we will not be silenced, right?" he told fans at a rally in Pennsylvania.
