Special counsel Jack Smith’s team probed an “astonishing” lapse that saw FBI agents miss a “hidden room” in their search of Mar-a-Lago, the social club where former President Donald Trump stands accused of storing top secret official documents, a new report shows.
Multiple witnesses were questioned about a secret space off the former president’s bedroom, hidden behind a large dresser and a big television set, that FBI agents did not check when they searched Trump’s Florida estate in August 2022, anonymous sources told ABC News Thursday.
Former Justice department security official Jordan Strauss called the alleged lapse "a bit astonishing," according to the report.
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"You're searching a former president's house,” Strauss told ABC News. “You get it right the first time.”
FBI agents seized more than 100 classified documents found in a Mar-a-Lago ballroom, bathroom, shower, bedroom and office space, court records show.
But sources told ABC News that investigators now wish they’d checked a locked closet and the hidden room, as it remains unclear if Trump stored classified documents in either space.
Maintenance workers sometimes went into the "hidden room," to access cables, sources reportedly said.
“The FBI didn't even know the so-called ‘hidden room’ existed until after they left Mar-a-Lago,” sources told ABC News.
Trump has denied wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty to criminal charges levied by Smith in Florida’s federal court.
A Trump spokesperson did not respond to ABC’s comment request.
Read the full report here.
