Former President Donald J. Trump stored classified documents not only in a storage room, but also in a shower, an office, a bedroom and a ballroom, according to the indictment unsealed on Friday. It describes how Mr. Trump moved dozens of boxes containing sensitive documents out of the White House and into Mar-a-Lago, his home and private club in Palm Beach, Fla.
Trump family suite
and Pine Hall
White and Gold
Ballroom
Federal prosecutors charged Mr. Trump with 37 counts, including 31 counts of withholding national defense information and five counts related to concealing classified documents.
The indictment notes that in the time between Mr. Trump’s departure from the White House and the recovery of the documents in August 2022, Mar-a-Lago held more than 150 social events, attended by “tens of thousands of guests.”
In April 2021, Mr. Trump’s employees moved dozens of boxes from an area at Mar-a-Lago referred to in the indictment as the business center to a bathroom in what is known as the Lake Room.
“There is still a little room in the shower where his other stuff is,” one employee texted another, according to the indictment.
A three-dimensional illustration shows the location of the Lake Room within Mar-a-Lago. With the illustration is a photograph of a bathroom inside the Lake Room. The bathroom is full of cardboard boxes and is illuminated by a large chandelier.
Boxes of documents were stored in a bathroom in the so-called Lake Room at Mar-a-Lago. via Department of Justice
In May 2021, according to the indictment, Mr. Trump directed his employees to clear space in a storage room to keep the boxes of documents he took from the White House. In June, boxes stored in the Lake Room were moved into the storage room, bringing the total number of boxes in that room to more than 80.
The hallway leading to the storage room was connected to a pool patio, where Mar-a-Lago club members had access, via “a doorway that was often kept open,” prosecutors said.
In December 2021, Walt Nauta, a personal aide who was indicted along with Mr. Trump, texted one of Mr. Trump’s employees a photograph of documents, including at least one bearing a classification marking, spilled onto the floor of the storage room. “Oh no oh no,” the employee replied.
A three-dimensional illustration shows the location of the White and Gold Ballroom, Mr. Trump’s office, the Trump family suite and Pine Hall within Mar-a-Lago. With the illustration is a photograph of a stage inside the White and Gold Ballroom. The stage is full of cardboard boxes piled high before a beige curtain backdrop.
Photographs show documents kept in a storage room at Mar-a-Lago. In one, sent by Mr. Trump’s personal aide to another of his employees, documents can be seen spilled on the floor. At least one bears a classification marking. via Department of Justice
For about two months, between January and March 2021, some documents were stored on a stage in the White and Gold Ballroom — a lavish event space rented out for weddings and private events — before being reshuffled to the business center and storage room.
In November 2021, Mr. Trump ordered that some boxes be brought from the storage room up to his residence for him to review. Some of these were kept in Pine Hall, an entry room to the Trump family suite.
When F.B.I. officials searched Mar-a-Lago in August 2022, they found 27 classified documents in Mr. Trump’s office, including six with the highest level of classification.
A three-dimensional illustration shows the location of a ground-floor storage room within Mar-a-Lago. With the illustration is a series of photographs of the storage room, which is stuffed full of boxes of papers.
Trump family suite
and Pine Hall
White and Gold
Ballroom
After the documents were first taken from the White House, some boxes were kept on a stage in the White and Gold Ballroom. via Department of Justice
Mr. Trump also took boxes of documents to his golf club in Bedminster, N.J., according to the indictment. It was there that Mr. Trump was recorded saying he knew he had a classified document.