BBC
A federal judge has raised questions about how Donald Trump could have overlooked sensitive documents found in his bedroom during an FBI search of his Florida home at Mar-a-Lago. The files, discovered months after federal agents initially found over 100 classified records in the summer of 2022, have led to allegations that Trump instructed his aides to avoid surveillance cameras at the property.
Trump, facing 40 federal charges of unlawful retention of national defense information, denies the accusations, and his co-defendants, Walt Nauta and Carlos de Oliveira, have also pleaded not guilty. The trial is not expected to start before the November US election, where Trump is the presumptive Republican nominee.
In contrast, President Joe Biden, who also retained classified files, was not charged, as investigators concluded a jury would view him as a “well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.” In the Trump case, a newly unsealed court filing revealed that additional classified documents were found in December 2022, four months after the initial FBI raid. US District Judge Beryl Howell criticized the lack of an excuse for how Trump missed the documents in his own bedroom.
The case also highlighted the absence of video footage of box movements at Mar-a-Lago, suggesting an attempt to avoid surveillance. Meanwhile, Trump is dealing with multiple legal challenges, including a trial in New York over alleged hush money payments to an adult-film star in 2016.
