WASHINGTON − The Department of Justice’s long-running investigation into the classified documents found at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home came to an end Thursday with an indictment filed in Federal District Court in Miami.
Trump and his long-time personal aide and former White House valet, Walt Nauta – informally known as Trump’s “body man” because he is frequently at Trump’s side to attend to his needs and requests – were charged with dozens of counts of allegedly violating eight federal statutes related to the handling of classified documents.
Federal agents had seized hundreds of classified records in August of last year from Trump’s property in Palm Beach, Florida, following allegations that the former president took classified records from the White House after leaving office. Trump has denounced the investigation saying he was entitled to take the records.
According to the Presidential Records Act, all documents from the end of Trump’s tenure in the White House − which are considered part of federal property − should be transferred to the National Archives and Records Administration.
Here’s a timeline of the movement of the classified documents from the White House to Mar-a-Lago:
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Jan. 14, 2021 – Leaving the White House
Movers are photographed wheeling boxes outside of the White House and loading moving trucks six days before Trump’s last day in office.
Jan. 18, 2021 – Moving trucks spotted in Florida
CBS Miami reports at least two moving trucks arrive at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home.
Jan. 20, 2021- Trump heads to Mar-a-Lago
Trump leaves the White House and travels to Mar-a-Lago. White House aides are spotted carrying boxes onto Marine One before Trump departs the White House for the last time.
Boxes that arrived at Mar-a-Lago were were stored at one of the club’s ballrooms and stacked on the ballroom’s stage, according to the indictment.
March 2021 – Documents move to ballroom
Nauta and other employees move boxes from the ballroom to the business center at the Mar-a-Lago Club, according to the indictment.
April 5, 2021 – Boxes stored in shower
One Trump employee texts another employee about moving boxes out of the business center to make space for the business center, which was set to be used as an office for Trump’s team.
Employees then move some boxes from the business center to a bathroom and shower in Mar-a-Lago Club’s Lake Room, according to the indictment.
May 6, 2021 – Archives notices items missing
The National Archives discovers documents are missing from the items received from the Trump administration when he left office. It requests the records from Trump, writing in an email: “There are also now certain paper/textual records that we cannot account for. We therefore need your immediate assistance to ensure that NARA receives all Presidential records as required by the Presidential Records Act.”
The email, from the archives General Counsel Gary Stern, cites specific missing documents, including correspondence between Trump and North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un, the letter that former President Barack Obama left for Trump on his first day in office and two dozen boxes of original presidential records stored in the residence of the White House.
Around the same time, Trump directs employees to clear a storage room on the ground floor of the Mar-a-Lago Club to store boxes, according to the indictment. The storage room is located near a liquor supply closet and linen room and has multiple outside entrances.
June 24, 2021 – 80 boxes housed in storage room
More than 80 boxes are moved to the storage room.
July 2021 – Trump shows off classified document
At the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, Trump participates in an audio-recorded interview with a writer, a publisher and two members of his staff where he shows and describes a “plan of attack” prepared for him by the Defense Department and a senior military official, according to the indictment. Those in the room did not have security clearances.
Trump made comments like, “as president I could have declassified it” and “now I can’t, you know, but this is still a secret.”
August/September 2021 – Trump reveals document to PAC rep
Also at the Bedminster club in New Jersey, Trump shows off a classified map of a military operation to a representative from his political action committee who did not have security clearances, according to the indictment.
Dec. 7, 2021 – Documents spill on storage room floor
Nauta finds that several boxes had fallen in the storage room, their contents spilled onto the floor. One of these documents was marked with identification that it should only be released by the “Five Eyes” intelligence alliance of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Nauta photographs the spilled contests and texts the photo to another employee, according to the indictment.
January 2022 – Trump returns 15 boxes of records
Trump’s team returns 15 boxes of documents stored at the Mar-a-Lago estate to the National Archives for review. Nauta, along with another Trump employee, load the boxes into Nauta’s car and he takes them to a commercial truck for delivery to archives.
The National Archives reviews and finds that 14 of the 15 boxes contain classified materials.
The documents include correspondence with the North Korean leader that Trump described as “love letters” and the letter from Obama.
The boxes also include 184 unique documents bearing classification markings including 67 documents marked “confidential,” 92 documents marked “secret,” and 25 documents marked “top secret.”
Jan. 31, 2022 – Archives finds torn-up records
Archives releases a statement saying some of the documents received had been torn up by the former president.
“As has been reported in the press since 2018, White House records management officials during the Trump Administration recovered and taped together some of the torn-up records,” according to the agency’s statement. “These were turned over to the National Archives at the end of the Trump Administration, along with a number of torn-up records that had not been reconstructed by the White House.”
Feb. 7, 2022 – 15 boxes of records return to D.C.
Archives releases a statement saying the administration arranged for the transport of 15 boxes of presidential records from Mar-a-Lago to the National Archives in Washington, D.C.
Feb. 9, 2022 – DOJ gets involved
The National Archives contacts the Department of Justice related to classified materials found in the 15 boxes.
David Ferriero, the national archivist, writes in a letter: “Because NARA identified classified information in the boxes, NARA staff has been in communication with the Department of Justice.”
March 30, 2022 – FBI opens investigation
The FBI opens a criminal investigation into the unlawful retention of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, according to the indictment.
April 26, 2022 – Federal grand jury opens investigation
A federal grand jury opens an investigation into the classified documents.
May 22, 2022 – Aide pulls a box out of storage
Nauta enters the storage room at Mar-a-Lago where boxes of documents were stored. He remains inside for 34 minutes before carrying out one of the boxes, according to the indictment.
May 24 – June 1, 2022 – Moving boxes around
Nauta on May 24 removes three boxes from the storage room. On May 30, he removes 50 boxes and on June 1, 11 more.
On the afternoon of May 30, a Trump family member texts Nauta about bringing boxes on a plane, writing: “Not sure how many he wants to take on Friday on the plane. We will NOT have a room for them. Plane will be full with luggage,” according to the indictment.
Nauta writes back that Trump wanted to “pick from them,” referencing the boxes he had moved.
June 2, 2022 – Trump attorney conducts search
A Trump attorney, who was not informed that boxes had bee moved from the storage room the day before, arrives at Mar-a-Lago to look for classified documents. Nauta escorts the attorney to the storage room.
The attorney locates 38 documents with classification markings and places them in a folder, then asks Nauta to bring him clear duct tape to seal the folder.
Nauta then escorts the attorney to a dining room to meet with Trump, who asks “Did you find anything? … Is it bad? Good?” according to the indictment. Trump allegedly makes a plucking motion to the attorney who said he interpreted it to mean “pluck it out” if “there’s anything really bad in there.”
Later that evening, the attorney contacts another of Trump’s attorneys, Christina Bobb, to ask her to serve as a custodian of records and sign a certification of the search for documents.
On the same day, a Mar-a-Lago worker, who has not been publicly identified, sees Nauta move boxes into a storage room, according to the The New York Times, which cited an unidentified source.
June 3, 2022 – Justice Department receives some records
Bobb, who did not herself perform a search of Trump’s documents, signs a certification that a “diligent search” was conducted and “any and all responsive documents” accompany the certification and that no more classified documents were found at Mar-a-Lago.
The Justice Department receives an envelope from a Trump attorney at Mar-a-Lago with 38 documents − 17 marked top secret, 16 secret and five confidential.
Earlier that day, Nauta and others load several boxes along on a plane that Trump boarded when leaving Mar-a-Lago, according to the indictment.
Trump records investigation:From early red flags to the search at Mar-a-Lago
Aug. 8, 2022 – DOJ searches Mar-a-Lago
The Justice Department searches Mar-a-Lago for additional documents and find many more.
FBI agents log more than 100 classified documents and 20 boxes of items from the Palm Beach estate, including 11 sets of classified documents.
Some are marked top secret, including one set deemed “Various classified/TS/SCI documents,” an abbreviation for “top secret/sensitive compartmented information.”
Overall, agents seize more than 11,000 government documents and photographs in the Mar-a-Lago raid in addition to hundreds of classified records. Other items found in the search are later reported to have included:
- 31 confidential documents, 54 “secret” documents and 18 “top secret.”
- 48 empty folders with classified banners
- 42 folders marked “return to staff secretary/military aide”
- More than 11,000 government documents or pictures without classification markings
- Nearly 1,700 magazines, newspapers or press clippings
- 19 articles of clothing or gift items
- 33 books
