A forthcoming book claims that during the FBI’s 2022 raid on Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, agents discovered documents so highly classified that even a senior Justice Department official lacked the clearance to view them. The revelations, published by MSNBC from the book Injustice: How Politics and Fear Vanquished America’s Justice Department, describe an unprecedented national security risk, one that insiders said could have “gotten American operatives killed” if exposed.
Discovery of Extreme Sensitivity
According to the book, written by investigative journalists Carol Leonnig and Aaron Davis, the FBI raid revealed a collection of classified files hidden within Trump’s Palm Beach property. Some of these records were reportedly part of “special access programs,” so restricted that only the president or select cabinet members could authorize viewing. “A handful of documents stored in boxes throughout Trump’s club were so sensitive that even [Assistant Attorney General Matt Olsen] didn’t have authorization to look at them,” the authors write.
DOJ Shock and Internal Debate
Assistant Attorney General Matt Olsen was reportedly stunned when briefed on what agents found. He turned to Julie Edelstein, the Justice Department’s top expert on classified records mishandling, to ask how to proceed. Her response was blunt: “If it was anybody else, we would arrest him tomorrow,” she said. Edelstein explained that “knowingly taking classified documents outside of a secure government facility was a crime, plain and simple.”
Subpoena Defiance and Cover-Up Claims
The authors allege that Trump made the situation worse by attempting to conceal the materials even after receiving a subpoena in May 2022 demanding their return. Edelstein reportedly told colleagues that Trump’s behavior “made the crime far worse.” Yet, according to the book, “Olsen’s team knew that with Trump, all bets were off. The Justice Department would invariably treat the former president more gingerly,” revealing internal hesitation to act swiftly.
Trump’s Legal Counterattack
Recently, Trump filed administrative claims seeking $230 million in damages from the Department of Justice, citing “civil rights violations” linked to the Mar-a-Lago raid and other federal probes. MSNBC notes that these new revelations sharply contradict Trump’s insistence that he was unfairly targeted and had committed no wrongdoing.
FBI Communication Dispute
The book also recounts that after the raid, FBI spokesperson Cathy Milhoan was preparing a statement to clarify the legality of the operation, standard practice for major searches. However, she was stopped to avoid appearing “political.” FBI assistant director Alan Kohler was reportedly “stunned,” believing the silence fueled misinformation.
Threats Against FBI Agents
Following Trump’s fiery Truth Social post condemning the search, calling it an attack on his “beautiful home”, tensions escalated rapidly. According to the book, the agents who signed the Mar-a-Lago search warrant had to be “temporarily evacuated from their homes for their own safety.” Their names began circulating online, and investigators suspected Trump’s team had leaked the unredacted warrant left at Mar-a-Lago, putting agents and their families at risk.
National Security Alarms
The book underscores how some officials at the Justice Department were alarmed by the discovery’s potential impact on U.S. intelligence operations. “Some of the documents were so restricted that top Justice Department security officials reacted with surprise to the code names: they had never heard of them before,” Leonnig and Davis write. The materials were described as posing a severe risk to American operatives if they fell into the wrong hands.