FBI Executes Search Warrant at Mar-a-Lago, Recovers 102 Classified Documents

FBI agents executed a court-authorized search warrant at Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate on August 8, 2022, recovering over 13,000 government documents including 102 classified records — seven marked Top Secret, 54 Secret, and 31 Confidential — along with materials containing nuclear-related information. Attorney General Merrick Garland personally authorized the search after NARA's criminal referral, and Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart approved the warrant application. Trump claimed presidential authority to have declassified the materials, an assertion federal courts and the Justice Department rejected. The search was the first FBI execution of a search warrant at a former president's residence in American history.