Papers Trump kept at Mar-a-Lago included Iran nuclear secrets and information about US espionage, report says

Former president responds by attacking National Archives as ‘corrupt’ and suggesting the FBI may have planted compromising documents

Former president Donald Trump denied a report in The Washington Post that documents that the FBI recovered from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida included highly sensitive information about China and Iran.

Mr Trump posted to his Truth Social media platform on Friday afternoon.

“Who could ever trust corrupt, weaponized agencies, and that includes NARA, who disrespects our Constitution and Bill of Rights, to keep and safeguard any records, especially since they’ve lost millions and millions of pages of information from previous Presidents,” he said. “Also, who knows what NARA and the FBI plant into documents, or subtract from documents—we will never know, will we?”

At least one document that the FBI recovered describes the nature of Iran’s missile programme, according to a person whom The Post interviewed. Other documents focused on China.

Experts warned that disclosing certain information could create multiple risks, including endangering people aiding US intelligence efforts and compromising collection methods. Other countries could also retaliate for actions the United States took secretly.

The report suggests that the documents are by far some of the most sensitive that the FBI seized when it executed a search warrant at Mr Trump’s residence back in August of this year as it investigates potential mishandling of classified information, obstruction and destruction of government records.

The documents the FBI seized are said to have also included information on other country’s military defences, including nuclear capabilities.

Among the almost 13,000 documents seized, 103 of them were classified and 18 were top secret.

The former president has vehemently denied any wrongdoing, saying that presidents can declassify information”even by thinking about it.”

The search at Mar-a-Lago came after boxes sent from Mr Trump’s residence to the National Archives and Records Administration contained 184 classified documents, including 25 top secret documents. In June, Mr Trump’s legal team turned over 38 additional classified documents.

Sources for The Post said that while many of the more senstive documents Mr Trump and his team took included top-level analysis that did not contain names, they could provide valuable information for adversaries about how the United States gathers intelligence.

In addition, some of the seized documents are so sensitive that many national security officials are not informed about them.