Donald Trump Kept Classified Documents in Trump Tower, Lawyers Reveal

Donald Trump held classified documents at both Trump Tower and his New Jersey estate, his lawyers have revealed in court documents.

Trump held the documents there, as well as in his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, even before his inauguration in 2017, according to the filings. The contents of the classified documents remain unclear.

Trump is facing trial in Florida for allegedly retaining classified documents from his presidency, keeping them in various parts of Mar-a-Lago—including a bathroom—and obstructing federal officials' attempt to retrieve them.

The location of Trump's classified documents beyond the Florida resort had been redacted in previous court filings.

The locations were revealed in proposed jury instructions filed by Trump's lawyers to U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon on Tuesday.

Newsweek sought email comment from Trump's attorney on Wednesday but did not immediately receive a response.

The new information appears to confirm revelations by Trump's former valet, Brian Butler, that he helped load boxes of presidential records onto the Trump private plane in Florida while the former president and his family were flying to their Bedminster, N.J., mansion for the summer two years ago.

Butler told CNN last month that the plane was loaded on June 3, 2022, which was the same day Trump and his lawyer met with the Justice Department at Mar-a-Lago to discuss the missing classified documents.

Butler said he later realized that the white boxes of documents were at the center of the federal indictment against Trump.

Until he went public, Butler had only been known as "Trump Employee 5" in court documents filed to Cannon.

Butler is expected to testify against Trump in the Florida trial. His version of events may have been bolstered by the latest filing in the case.

Cannon has been criticized by chief prosecutor Jack Smith for suggesting that the jury may be allowed to consider that Trump had held presidential records as his personal belongings that he was allowed to keep after leaving the White House.

Trump's claim that he designated presidential files as personal items before leaving the White House is a fundamental part of his defense in the classified documents case.

In supporting Cannon's proposed jury instruction, Trump's lawyers revealed more about where Trump had kept classified documents.

Trump's legal team has suggested that Cannon tell the jury:

"You may consider evidence that government officials discussed classified information with President Trump and provided classified briefings and documents to President Trump before and during his Presidency—including inside President Trump's private offices and residences, such as at Bedminster, New Jersey, and Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach, Florida, as well as at Trump Tower in New York City," their proposed jury instruction states.

They then suggested the jury be told that Trump had the legal power to convert these documents from presidential records to his personal belongings.

"You may also consider ... that President Trump acted as an 'original classification authority' while he was President of the United States, which means that all classification decisions during his term as President were based on his authority, and that he also had absolute and unreviewable authority to declassify documents and information," the proposed jury instruction states.

"Finally, you may also consider, as I explained earlier, evidence relating to former Presidents, Vice Presidents, and other public officials being authorized to possess documents containing classified information without criminal prosecution by the government after they left their positions."