Over 700 pages of classified docs found at Mar-a-Lago, letter reveals – follow live

The US National Archives discovered more than 700 pages of classified documents at Donald Trump’s Florida home in addition to material seized this month by FBI agents, according to a newly disclosed May letter the records agency sent to the former president’s attorney.

The large quantity of classified material in 15 boxes recovered in January by the National Archives and Records Administration, some marked as “top secret,” provides more insight into what led to the FBI’s court-authorised 8 August search of Mr Trump’s residence at the Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach.

The 10 May letter was sent by Acting US archivist Debra Steidel Wall to Mr Trump’s attorney Evan Corcoran. It was released late on Monday by John Solomon, a conservative journalist who Mr Trump authorised in June to access his presidential records.

The National Archives posted a copy on its website yesterday. The agency is responsible for preserving government records.

Ex-President Donald Trump’s son-in-law is reigniting his feud with Steve Bannon in his new book, Breaking History.

Jared Kushner famously clashed with the ex-Breitbart chief before the latter was ousted from the White House in summer 2017.

Read more in The Independent from John Bowden:

Marco Rubio appeared on Fox News this week in the wake of a poll showing him trailing his Democratic challenger while donations to Val Demings continue to pour in.

The GOP senator was one of many Republicans who staunchly opposed Donald Trump in 2016 before coming to terms with his dominance of the party over the next four-plus years.

Read more from The Independent’s Abe Asher:

Far-right activist Laura Loomer, famous for chaining herself to the door of Twitter’s headquarters in protest of her ban from the company’s platform, was narrowly defeated on Tuesday in the race to represent Florida’s 11th congressional district.

Ms Loomer rallied online far-right communities to support her campaign in the heavily Republican district that includes The Villages, but was defeated by Rep Daniel Webster, the incumbent congressman for the district.

In a speech Tuesday evening after the race was called she vowed to fight on and raised baseless claims of fraud.

Read more from Eric Garcia in The Independent:

Important primary races are being decided in two of the largest states in the country tonight.

In Florida, two Democrats are competing for the chance to compete against Republican incumbent Governor Ron DeSantis, whom Democrats hope to knock off or at least weaken as he weighs a 2024 White House run.

New York’s primaries are far more chaotic. Earlier this year, Democrats in the state legislature tried to draw a more gerrymandered map, but the state Supreme Court rejected the map.

Donald Trump continues to spread conspiracy theories about the men who are accused of planning to kidnap Michigan’s Democratic governor, Gretchen Whitmer, even after two more men were found guilty by a jury this week.

He previously referred to the plot as a “fake deal” during a speech to supporters at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). In a new post on Truth Social, he again suggests that the crime was in fact a “sting” set up by the FBI.

Read more from The Independent’s Josh Marcus:

The documents taken by FBI agents under a search warrant from Mar-a-Lago earlier this month will now undergo a review by the Justice Department’s so-called “filter team”.

It’s a timely, but necessary process used to protect the rights of accused persons during the investigative process.

The Independent’s Andrew Feinberg delves into what the next stages of one of the most important investigations in the history of the US will look like:

Gisele Fetterman, wife of Pennsylvania Lieutenant Gov John Fetterman, responded on Tuesday shortly after a spokesperson for the Oz campaign made a vicious remark about her husband’s recent stroke.

In a tweet, she called the statement “grotesque” and told her followers that “decency” was at stake in her husband’s race against the Donald Trump-endorsed Dr Mehmet Oz.

Read more from The Independent’s Eric Garcia:

Dr Mehmet Oz’s campaign has finally had enough of the mockery over his trip to the grocery store, it seems.

In a statement on Tuesday that abandoned any pretense of congeniality or respect for one’s opponent, a spokesperson for the celebrity TV doc suggested that the reason Mr Fetterman had suffered a stroke was due to him never having had “eaten a vegetable in his life”.

The eyebrow-raising comment drew derision on Twitter, as many suggested that it was indicative of the Oz campaign’s poor management.

Read more from Eric Garcia in The Independent:

An Atlanta-based political analyst has been fired from a local news station after referring to Donald Trump as having an “orange face” on air.

“I offered that it is part of Democratic Party strategy to keep President Trump’s fantasy of a stolen election in play, as well as to keep his orange face looming large as a Bogeyman to increase Democratic voter turnout, even though Donald Trump is NOT on the ballot anywhere in 2022,” Bill Crane said in a statement explaining his comment.

The remark was apparently seen as offensive by supporters of former President Donald Trump, whose skin sometimes appears to have an orange tint due to his tanning regimen.

Read more from Sravasti Dasgupta in The Independent: