Prosecutors release new photos of ‘highly guarded secrets’ in messy boxes at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago

Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Special counsel Jack Smith has defended federal law enforcement’s handling of documents discovered at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property, sharing images in a new court filing that show how the former president stashed “top secret” materials and government “secrets” in a cluttered collection of clothing, Christmas ornaments, newspapers and photographs of himself. Smith’s team wrote that Trump “personally chose to keep documents containing some of the nation’s most highly guarded secrets in cardboard boxes along with a collection of other personally chosen keepsakes of various sizes and shapes from his presidency – newspapers, thank you notes, Christmas ornaments, magazines, clothing, and photographs of himself and others.” After he left the White House in January 2021, Trump took his “cluttered collection of keepsakes” to his Florida home, “where the boxes traveled from one readily accessible location to another — a public ballroom, an office space, a bathroom, and a basement storage room,” according to prosecutors. open image in gallery Documents marked ‘confidential’ and ‘secret’ appear inside boxes containing newspapers and other files at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago. Smith has urged District Court Judge Aileen Cannon — a Trump appointee — to reject Trump’s “bad faith” argument that ignores the “unsurprising reality that the order of some of the items may have shifted since then.” open image in gallery Documents and boxes bearing presidential emblems were discovered at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago next to pictures of Trump and other personal items.