DOJ says classified docs at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate 'likely concealed and removed' to obstruct probe

WASHINGTON - The Justice Department said Tuesday that classified documents were "likely concealed and removed" from former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate as part of an effort to obstruct the federal investigation into the discovery of the government records.The FBI also seized 33 boxes containing more than 100 classified records during its Aug.

8 search of Mar-a-Lago and found classified documents stashed in Trump's office, according to a filing that lays out the most detailed chronology to date of months of strained interactions between Justice Department officials and Trump representatives over the discovery of government secrets.The filing offers yet another indication of the sheer volume of classified records retrieved from Mar-a-Lago.

It shows how investigators conducting a criminal probe have focused not just on why the records were improperly stored there, but also on the question of whether the Trump team intentionally misled them about the continued, and unlawful, presence of the top secret documents.The timeline laid out by the Justice Department made clear that the extraordinary search of Mar-a-Lago came only after other efforts to retrieve the records had failed, and that it resulted from law enforcement suspicion that additional documents remained inside the property despite assurances by Trump representatives that a "diligent search" had accounted for all of the material.It also included a picture of some of the seized documents bearing clear classification markings, perhaps as a way to rebut suggestions that whoever packed them or was handling them could have easily failed to appreciate their sensitive nature.A redacted image shared in a court filing by the Department of Justice on Aug.