In June, a lawyer for Donald Trump allegedly misrepresented the documents the former president took from the White House after his term in office.

Accordingly, the lawyer signed a statement that all classified documents in Trump's possession had been handed over to the government.

The New York Times reported on Saturday, citing four people familiar with the process.

Sofia Dreisbach

North American political correspondent based in Washington.

  • Follow I follow

However, the list released after Monday's search includes 11 boxes the FBI took from Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate;

some of these were classified as "top secret" or "confidential".

Such documents should only be viewed in government institutions.

At the end of a presidency, White House records typically go to the National Archives.

The attorney's written confirmation came after a June 3 visit to Mar-a-Lago by a group of investigators -- including Jay Bratt, director of the Department of Justice's counterintelligence division.

At that time, two of Trump's lawyers are said to have shown the investigators the room with the documents and given them classified papers.

The signed statement is said to have followed a little later, after which all the documents that were under lock and key were handed over.

Earlier this year, the National Archives had already returned 15 boxes from Trump's possession.

Also investigations into obstruction of justice

The written confirmation is an indication that Trump's team told investigators an untruth.

That would explain why Trump is under investigation not only for possible violations of the Espionage Act and unauthorized removal of government documents, but also for obstruction of justice.

That was also mentioned in the search warrant as the reason for the historically unprecedented raid on the property of a former president.

Justice Minister Merrick Garland assured in a short speech on Friday afternoon that the decision to carry out the raid was not taken lightly.

"Upholding the rule of law is the fundamental principle of the Department of Justice," Garland said.

That means applying the law - "without fear or favoritism".

He also requested that the investigation decision be published on Friday.

Trump himself made the raid public on Monday evening and complained of "political persecution" and a "siege".

On Saturday, he wrote again on his online platform Truth Social that he has the truth on his side - and if you have the truth on your side, you will ultimately be victorious.

He had previously claimed that he had declassified all classified documents while still in office;

he provided no evidence for this.