NARA Confirms Classified Info Found in Docs That Trump Took to Mar-a-Lago After Leaving Office

The development comes as speculation grows that Trump could be investigated by federal authorities for suspected crimes related to his handling of presidential documents.

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) announced on Friday that classified information was discovered in the 15 boxes of documents taken to Mar-a-Lago, Florida, by former President Donald Trump after he left the office in January last year.

In a letter to Congress, the government agency stated that documents labeled "classified national security information" were discovered in the boxes confiscated from Trump's residence.

"NARA has identified items marked as classified national security information within the boxes. [...] Because NARA identified classified information in the boxes, NARA staff has been in communication with the Department of Justice," the agency said in a letter to Democrat Rep. Carolyn Maloney of New York, who is chair of the House Oversight Committee.

The letter, which is a response to Maloney's inquiry, signed by NARA archivist David Ferriero, added that the Trump administration failed to capture and preserve "certain social media records."

"NARA has also learned that some White House staff conducted official business using non-official electronic messaging accounts that were not copied or forwarded into their official electronic messaging accounts," per the letter.

In response to a question of what steps NARA has already taken, and what it is currently doing to guarantee that any further records not turned over to NARA are not lost or destroyed, the agency said that it has "asked the representatives of former President Trump to continue to search for any additional Presidential records that have not been transferred to NARA, as required by the Presidential Records Act (PRA)."

"After the end of the Trump Administration, NARA learned that additional paper records that had been torn up by former President Trump were included in the records transferred to us," Ferriero noted about some of the documents allegedly not preserved by the administration. "Although White House staff during the Trump Administration recovered and taped together some of the torn-up records, a number of other torn-up records that were transferred had not been reconstructed by the White House."

Instead of handing over 15 boxes of documents to the Archives, Trump took them to Mar-a-Lago after he stepped down from the presidency. Last month, the former president had to return those boxes to the agency.

According to a report from earlier this month, the boxes contained "love letters" between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, as well as a letter from former President Barack Obama.

Officials at the National Archives reportedly feared that the former president had broken the law when it came to handling government documents, particularly secret documents, and urged the Justice Department to investigate.

Representatives for Trump reportedly told the NARA that they were "continuing to search for additional presidential records that belong to the National Archives" in accordance with the PRA.