When the FBI searched Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in 2022, they found classified documents squirreled away in a storage room, a ballroom, a bedroom, Trump’s office, and a bathroom. But according to sources who recently spoke to ABC News, it seems that the FBI team missed at least two rooms in their search, and special counsel Jack Smith has been asking witnesses what they know about these rooms.
One of these rooms is reportedly a closet. Missing a closet in a 126-room, 62,500-square-foot mansion located on 17 acres of land, with numerous outbuildings, seems understandable, even for a well-organized search. But there’s more to this than just an overlooked closet. According to ABC’s sources, that closet wasn’t just locked on the day the FBI came to call; two months before the FBI’s search, Trump had the locks changed on the closet and personally took the key to the new lock.
The second room overlooked by the FBI could be even more intriguing. It’s reportedly a “hidden room” accessible through Trump’s bedroom. Considering that the indictment against him in this case states that classified documents were found in “his bedroom,” it certainly seems that FBI agents may have wanted to search this location.
What was in the two missed rooms? The short answer is: We don’t know. But Smith seems to be highly interested.
Reportedly, FBI agents conducting the search noticed the locked closet but couldn’t find the key, were told the door “went nowhere,” in ABC’s words, and decided not to break into it.
But at some point during his investigation, Smith learned that Trump had the lock on the closet changed while one of his attorneys was searching a storage room for classified documents in response to a federal subpoena. Trump reportedly took the key to the new lock. It’s also worth noting that, until then, the Secret Service had managed the closet’s lock, according to ABC’s sources.
The timing is certainly suspicious, and a maintenance worker reportedly called Trump’s request to change the lock and give him the key “unusual.”
The FBI search team was unaware of the hidden room attached to the bedroom, which was accessible through a small door that was reportedly behind a dresser and a TV. While it’s tempting to think that this might be some kind of panic room, ABC’s sources indicate that “maintenance workers sporadically entered [the room] to access cables.” This, in addition to the positioning of the dresser and TV, suggests that this was more of a “wiring closet” than a safe space. Still, it’s unclear how large this area may be or what it may have held other than cables.
Considering that classified documents were found in the bedroom to which this hidden space is reportedly attached, the FBI certainly would have been interested if they had known this hidden space existed.
It’s unclear how Smith’s team learned about the hidden room or that the closet had been missed and its lock changed. But it doesn’t seem probable that the special counsel’s office would begin spontaneously asking about these locations unless someone had tipped them off to the FBI failing to look in these spots.
There does not seem to have been any subsequent search targeting these locations. Even if a search were conducted at a later date, there would have been ample opportunity to move documents from these two rooms into other locations at Mar-a-Lago or to other sites.
According to ABC, it’s unclear if Trump’s attorneys knew about these locations when they assured the government that there were no more documents.
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One of these rooms is reportedly a closet. Missing a closet in a 126-room, 62,500-square-foot mansion located on 17 acres of land, with numerous outbuildings, seems understandable, even for a well-organized search. But there’s more to this than just an overlooked closet. According to ABC’s sources, that closet wasn’t just locked on the day the FBI came to call; two months before the FBI’s search, Trump had the locks changed on the closet and personally took the key to the new lock.
The second room overlooked by the FBI could be even more intriguing. It’s reportedly a “hidden room” accessible through Trump’s bedroom. Considering that the indictment against him in this case states that classified documents were found in “his bedroom,” it certainly seems that FBI agents may have wanted to search this location.
What was in the two missed rooms? The short answer is: We don’t know. But Smith seems to be highly interested.
Reportedly, FBI agents conducting the search noticed the locked closet but couldn’t find the key, were told the door “went nowhere,” in ABC’s words, and decided not to break into it.
But at some point during his investigation, Smith learned that Trump had the lock on the closet changed while one of his attorneys was searching a storage room for classified documents in response to a federal subpoena. Trump reportedly took the key to the new lock. It’s also worth noting that, until then, the Secret Service had managed the closet’s lock, according to ABC’s sources.
The timing is certainly suspicious, and a maintenance worker reportedly called Trump’s request to change the lock and give him the key “unusual.”
The FBI search team was unaware of the hidden room attached to the bedroom, which was accessible through a small door that was reportedly behind a dresser and a TV. While it’s tempting to think that this might be some kind of panic room, ABC’s sources indicate that “maintenance workers sporadically entered [the room] to access cables.” This, in addition to the positioning of the dresser and TV, suggests that this was more of a “wiring closet” than a safe space. Still, it’s unclear how large this area may be or what it may have held other than cables.
Considering that classified documents were found in the bedroom to which this hidden space is reportedly attached, the FBI certainly would have been interested if they had known this hidden space existed.
It’s unclear how Smith’s team learned about the hidden room or that the closet had been missed and its lock changed. But it doesn’t seem probable that the special counsel’s office would begin spontaneously asking about these locations unless someone had tipped them off to the FBI failing to look in these spots.
There does not seem to have been any subsequent search targeting these locations. Even if a search were conducted at a later date, there would have been ample opportunity to move documents from these two rooms into other locations at Mar-a-Lago or to other sites.
According to ABC, it’s unclear if Trump’s attorneys knew about these locations when they assured the government that there were no more documents.
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