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Documents likely concealed at Donald Trump's Florida home - officials

Documents stored at former President Donald Trump's Florida home were likely concealed as part of an effort to obstruct an FBI investigation, Department of Justice officials say.

In a court filing, the department said "efforts were likely taken to obstruct" the investigation into Mr Trump's handling of classified material.

Upon leaving office, US presidents must transfer all of their documents and emails to the National Archives. The FBI is investigating whether Mr Trump improperly handled records by taking them from the White House to Mar-a-Lago after he left office in January 2021.

In the filing released on Tuesday, the Justice Department's counterintelligence chief, Jay Bratt, gave the clearest picture so far of the department's attempts to retrieve documents from the former president.

In its 54 pages, it attempts to knock down allegations by the former president that the Mar-a-Lago search wasn't just unnecessary but part of a political vendetta.

It details government efforts to convince Mr Trump and his lawyers to provide relevant documents voluntarily and the growing concern that they were being less than forthcoming. Suspicions were confirmed, the government said, by the ease with which the FBI found additional classified material.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-62732836