Trump held on to material on foreign nation's nuclear capabilities: WP

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Former US President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate has proven to be an absolute treasure trove of critical documents, and reports saying the FBI raid on the home was with the aim of finding classified nuclear documents have proven to be true.

FBI agents that conducted the Mar-a-Lago search found a document detailing a foreign nation's military defenses, which include its nuclear capabilities, the Washington Post reported, saying this raised concern about the classified materials Trump has been keeping in his possession for all this time.

Several documents seized by the FBI contained information about top-secret US operations that only a handful of officials know about them. The FBI seized 11 boxes worth of papers, including data deemed to be so secret that they could not be stated individually in the "receipt" of what was taken. Only the president, handpicked members of his Cabinet, or near-Cabinet-level officials are able to reveal the information about the top-secret documents to other government officials, people familiar with the matter told WP.

The documents in question are of such secret nature that they require special clearances, not just a top-secret clearance. These types of documents are also so secret that only a handful of government personnel are authorized to know about them, with records relating to them being kept under lock and key.

In addition to the 150 documents recovered by the National Archives in January and the documents given to the DoJ in June by Trump aides, the documents recovered in the Mar-a-Lago raid raised a total of more than 300 classified documents recovered by Washington, the New York Times reported previously.

Trump and the National Archives have been at each other's throats since the former left office in 2021 after the agency found that he was in possession of White House documents that he should have turned over to the government upon the end of his term.

It was only in the latest batch of documents seized from Trump that there was information regarding a foreign country's nuclear and military capabilities, and people familiar with the issue did not reveal which country was in question nor give out any additional details about the Department of Justice's investigation into the matter.

The dramatic FBI raid on Donald Trump's palatial Florida residence has supercharged the bitter, polarizing political debate around the slew of judicial investigations facing the former President as he considers another White House run.

The raid led to Trump facing a criminal investigation over potential violations of the Espionage Act and additional statutes relating to obstruction of justice, as well as the destruction of federal government records, according to the search warrant executed by FBI agents at the former President's home.

Trump is in such hot water that he announced that he was taking the US government to court over the FBI's raid in a bid to stop the federal agency from delving into the material seized from him until a special court official can be appointed to review the documents in question.

The violation of the Espionage Act has a possible punishment of 10 years in federal prison, the statute for obstruction carries a maximum sentence of 20 years, and the statute for the destruction of records carries a potential lifetime ban on holding public office.

The whole debacle with the Department of Justice deals a Trump mighty legal blow, which constitutes his latest, as he fights numerous other cases, including the January 6 Capitol riots, which could obstruct his path to a new presidency at the White House in 2024.