According to court filings released on Monday, the FBI code-named its investigation into former President Trump’s handling of classified documents ‘Plasmic Echo.’ This code name was mentioned in a filing connected to the former president’s case involving classified documents. An electronic FBI communication included in the court documents lists a case ID (redacted) followed by ‘PLASMIC ECHO; Mishandling of Classified or National Defense Information.’ The FBI’s summary of the initial review of documents received from the National Archives is included in the file, which is dated Feb. 22, 2024. It found classified documents in 12 of the 15 boxes Trump returned to the Archives that year. The summary was part of hundreds of pages of evidence presented by Trump’s legal team on Monday to detail his efforts to acquire additional records from the federal government for the case. The FBI and Department of Justice have been contacted by The Hill for further comment. After leaving the White House in 2021, the former president was charged with 40 offenses, including mishandling classified documents and attempting to hinder the government’s retrieval of these documents. Prosecutors claim the documents contained national defense and weapons information, including some marked top secret. The FBI investigation included a search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property in August 2022, which resulted in the recovery of over 300 classified records. Last week, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon rejected the former president’s attempt to dismiss the case, arguing that the documents could be considered personal records. Trump claimed to have designated the disputed documents as personal under the Presidential Records Act before leaving the White House. However, Cannon ruled that the Presidential Records Act does not provide a ‘pre-trial basis to dismiss.’ The main charges against Trump relate to the Espionage Act, which prohibits the willful retention of national defense information. He is also accused of obstructing justice by attempting to conceal the records from authorities after they demanded their return. Prosecutors have argued that the PRA does not affect Trump’s ability to retain the documents, which will be a key focus of the prosecution’s case.
FBI Code Name for Trump Classified Documents Probe: ‘Plasmic Echo’
