Searches at Donald Trump's golf club

Lawyers for former US President Donald Trump have been ordered by a judge in recent weeks to check properties owned by him in New York and New Jersey for any additional secret documents from his presidency that have not yet been handed over to US authorities. This was reported by The Washington Post.

According to it, an outside firm was hired to conduct searches at Trump's golf club in Bedminster and New York's Trump Tower. The US FBI was asked to attend the searches, but the agency declined. Lawyers for the former head of state subsequently told the US Justice Department that no classified documents were found at the facilities in question.

It is worth noting that Trump's spokesman Steven Cheung did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment. The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

FBI agents conducted a search of Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate on August 8. A statement from an FBI agent, on the basis of which the search warrant was issued, noted that documents voluntarily returned by Trump to the US National Archives and Records Administration in May contained classified information. As a result, the DOJ ordered a search to see if the former president still had classified documents and if they were stored in appropriate conditions.

Trump argues that there could be no breach on his part because as president he had the power to declassify all documents in his possession. The exception to this would be nuclear-related material, where the president's declassification powers are limited. Exactly such documents, according to The Washington Post, were found at Mar-a-Lago.