After the FBI searched Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence last week, the former president’s passports were given to him, a Justice Department official told NBC News on Monday.
The day after Trump claimed on his social media platform that FBI officials who carried out the search on August 8 had taken the passports, the FBI admitted having them.
Agents “stole my three Passports (one expired), along with everything else,” according to a posting by Trump on Truth Social.
He didn’t give any more information or say whether the travel documents were official or personal pass. Diplomatic passports are given to presidents when they take office.
In fact, it was reported that the pass had been returned and were not in the FBI’s hands hours after he had proclaimed their confiscation.
Soon after, the former president’s spokesperson released an email from government officials confirming that the passports were being returned and that Trump had made a mistake in his post: not one, but two of the three passports were expired.
The former president’s passports, according to a Justice Department official, have been given back.
A property receipt from the FBI search of the former president’s Florida resort revealed that federal agents seized a large number of top secret and other highly classified documents, but it made no mention of any passports.
Investigators said in court records made available along with the property receipt that they were looking for proof of crimes including concealing “any government and/or Presidential Records” during the former president’s time in office.
