Whatever evidence was presented, it’s damning, based on a the approval chain to execute such a search (DOJ + a federal judge). Most likely it was the National Archives. Federal law bars the removal of classified documents to unauthorized locations.
> Allows the incumbent President to dispose of records that no longer have administrative, historical, informational, or evidentiary value, once the views of the Archivist of the United States on the proposed disposal have been obtained in writing. (emphasis mine)
> Establishes that Presidential records automatically transfer into the legal custody of the Archivist as soon as the President leaves office.
https://www.archives.gov/presidential-libraries/laws/1978-ac...
I'm hesitant to entertain the idea of a chief executive who could do anything with impunity.
But the PRA [1] doesn't appear to contain any penalties. What happens when someone disobeys a law that doesn't specify a penalty?
(One section, 2209, does specify a penalty for official business conducted using non-official electronic messaging accounts, but that penalty is limited to suspension or reduction in pay, and doesn't apply to the President, only his staff.)
I suspect that all they can do based on the PRA is take the records, and we won't see any further action based on that.
> Whoever, having the custody of any such record, proceeding, map, book, document, paper, or other thing, willfully and unlawfully conceals, removes, mutilates, obliterates, falsifies, or destroys the same, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both; and shall forfeit his office and be disqualified from holding any office under the United States.
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2012-title18/html...
> U.S. federal agents were looking for documents relating to nuclear weapons when they searched former President Donald Trump's home in Florida this week, the Washington Post reported on Thursday.
Or did he somehow take them after leaving the White House?
I don't know what charges the FBI will bring in this case, but for the sake of the nation, I hope they are something more serious than just failing to write a note saying "I authorize myself to take these documents."
It honestly does not matter at this point. Remember when Trump said “I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters"? Still holds up today and he's not even running for anything. The feds can find the most damning evidence of the most heinous crimes and will still not change the minds of the MAGA crowd. We're in the post-reason context right now.