America First Legal released Thursday what it says is a newly unearthed memo from the Obama administration. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
The executive action was made public at the time. However, America First Legal said it obtained a never-before-seen memo confirming the Department of Defense has been "operating and maintaining the information resources and information systems provided to the President, Vice President, and Executive Office of the President."
The memo could mean that the federal government has stored and retained Executive Office of the President documents, including "a substantial amount, if not all, of President Trump’s classified documents," AFL said in its press release.
Trump's classified documents case also opened the doors to investigations regarding classified documents in the possession of President Biden. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)
America First Legal obtained the documents through litigation against the Department of Defense, the press release said.
The DOD told Fox News Digital on Thursday that the department has "nothing to offer" when asked about the memo. The White House and DOJ did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's requests for comment.
TRUMP’S LAWYERS PUSH FOR DISMISSAL OF CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS CASE, ARGUING ‘PRESIDENTIAL IMMUNITY’
The FBI agents seized 33 boxes of documents in August 2022 from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, spurring another legal battle that Trump has called a "scam." The investigation is overseen by special prosecutor Jack Smith, whom Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed to the job, and has charged Trump with 40 felony counts, including allegedly violating the Espionage Act, making false statements to investigators and conspiracy to obstruct justice.
This image, contained in the indictment against former President Trump, shows boxes of records stored in a bathroom and shower in the Lake Room at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach. (Justice Department via AP)
Trump's classified documents case also opened the doors to investigations regarding classified documents in the possession of President Biden and former Vice President Mike Pence. Special Counsel Robert Hur announced in February that he would not recommend criminal charges against Biden for possessing classified materials after his vice presidency, citing that Biden is "a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory."
Former President Trump in New York City following the FBI raid at his Mar-a-Lago home. (Felipe Ramales/Fox News Digital)
FEDERAL JUDGE POSTPONES TRUMP'S CLASSIFIED RECORDS TRIAL WITH NO NEW DATE
"Based on our direct interactions with and observations of him, he is someone from whom many jurors will want to identify reasonable doubt. It would be difficult to convince a jury that they should convict him – by then a former president well into his eighties – of a serious felony that requires a mental state of willfulness," Hur wrote in his report.
The findings sparked widespread outrage that Biden was effectively deemed too cognitively impaired to be charged with a crime but could serve as president. Trump has meanwhile slammed the disparity in charges as a reflection of a "sick and corrupt, two-tiered system of justice in our country."
Earlier this month, the White House asserted executive privilege over audio and video recordings related to Hur's interviews with Biden, sparking condemnation from Republicans. Biden met with Hur for about five hours last year, when he was grilled about his handling of the classified documents.
Republican House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., responded to the executive privilege by arguing there's "a five-alarm fire at the White House."
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"Clearly President Biden and his advisers fear releasing the audio recordings of his interview because it will again reaffirm to the American people that President Biden’s mental state is in decline. The House Oversight Committee requires these recordings as part of our investigation of President Biden’s mishandling of classified documents," Comer told Fox News Digital last week.
"The White House is asserting executive privilege over the recordings, but it has already waived privilege by releasing the transcript of the interview. Today’s Hail Mary from the White House changes nothing for our committee. The House Oversight Committee will move forward with its markup of a resolution and report recommending to the House of Representatives that Attorney General Garland be held in contempt of Congress for defying a lawful subpoena."
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