All of the Attention Was on Mar-a-Lago, But FBI Had Another Trump Property It Was Eyeing for Raid
While former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate has been the center of attention regarding the Justice Department’s investigation into his alleged retention of classified documents, it appears federal investigators have also eyed Trump’s Bedminster golf club.
Since the FBI’s August 2022 raid on Mar-a-Lago, prosecutors have alleged the former president violated the Espionage Act by illegally retaining classified documents after having left office.
One-hundred classified documents were recovered in the raid, according to the New York Times.
Believing more documents would be found at Trump’s 520-acre Bedminster, New Jersey, residence, investigators working for special counsel Jack Smith attempted to secure a warrant to search that particular property, according to the Times.
Sources briefed on the investigation told the Times that the only way they could determine if there actually were classified documents at Bedminster was to have searched the property.
Their lack of probable cause ultimately led a judge to deny their request for a warrant, the Times reported.
The news of this attempted raid comes as Bedminster has also become the focal point of an audio recording made at the estate in July 2021.
CNN plays a recording of Donald Trump discussing classified documents:
“It’s like highly confidential…This is secret information.” pic.twitter.com/h3YaLkdzmF
— Republican Accountability (@AccountableGOP) June 27, 2023
The recording was taken during a meeting with a publisher and writer working on the memoir of former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, the Times reported.
Also in attendance were Trump staffers Margo Martin and Liz Harrington.
Audio of their conversation appeared to suggest that Trump may have kept classified documents at Bedminster and could have shown them to those without clearance.
In the recording, Trump is heard discussing a document which detailed a plan of attack on Iran, which he says was prepared for him by the Pentagon and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley.
He denies reports that he wanted to go through with the attack and suggests that it was actually Milley who pushed for it.
“[Milley] said that I wanted to attack Iran,” Trump said.
The former president appeared to be shuffling through papers as he made those remarks, according to audio obtained by CNN.
“Isn’t it amazing? I have a big pile of papers, this thing just came up. Look. This was him. They presented me this – this is off the record – but they presented me this. This was him. This was the Defense Department and him,” he said.
“This totally wins my case, you know,” he later said.
Trump continued: “See, as president I could have declassified it. Now I can’t, you know, but this is still a secret.”
The recording was provided to several news outlets earlier this week. It’s unclear who leaked their discussion or if Trump actually showed anyone a classified document.
Trump currently faces 37 felony charges – 31 of which are for allegedly unlawfully retaining classified documents.
Sources told CBS News that none of the charges against Trump relate to the retention of a document detailing plans of attacking Iran, as mentioned in the recording.
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