Except that pesky 4th Amendment doesn't allow it to happen that fast!
Fourth Amendment
Amendment IV
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated,
and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/fourth_amendment
They may have had both NARA and possibly other entities like DOE, DOD, etc., who were aware of access to a system with such info that had a hardcopy that was made, classified, and then not returned/retrieved after 1/20/21, and they had to do an inventory of what was returned and what wasn't, and then get explicit about what was going to be searched for and where, and then generate a specialized inventory of what was going to be seized - particularly with respect to any regular "Classified" info, let alone anything considered "Top Secret", that had to be cataloged separately and then that inventory itself classified "Top Secret" with only certain individuals authorized to retrieve/view it).
But the other thing that was apparently going on that was running under the louder news cycle about the seizure itself, was this ditty from the WSJ that I found that was referenced by the NYT -
FBI Quest for Trump Documents Started With Breezy Chats, Tour of a Crowded Closet
By Alex Leary, Aruna Viswanatha and Sadie Gurman
Aug. 10, 2022 6:09 pm ET
Around lunchtime on June 3, a senior Justice Department national security supervisor and three FBI agents arrived at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in Florida to discuss boxes with government records sitting in a basement storage room along with suits, sweaters and golf shoes. A few days later, the FBI sent a note asking that a stronger lock be installed on the storage room door, signing off: “Thank you. Very truly yours, Jay Bratt, chief of counterintelligence and export control section.”
In the following weeks, however, someone familiar with the stored papers told investigators there may be still more classified documents at the private club after the National Archives retrieved 15 boxes earlier in the year, people familiar with the matter said. And Justice Department officials had doubts that the Trump team was being truthful regarding what material remained at the property, one person said. Newsweek earlier reported on the source of the FBI’s information. Two months later, two dozen Federal Bureau of Investigation agents were back at Mar-a-Lago with a warrant predicated on convincing a federal magistrate judge that there was evidence a crime may have been committed. After hours at the property, the agents took the boxes away in a Ryder truck.
(snip)
The controversy began after Mr. Trump left office, when the National Archives and Records Administration reached out to his team to ask for what it thought were missing records. All official documents are required to be turned over under the Watergate-era Presidential Records Act. The Archives in January retrieved 15 boxes of documents and other items from Mar-a-Lago. The boxes contained some documents archives officials described only as “classified national security information,” prompting them to refer the matter to the Justice Department for investigation.
(snip)
Aides to Mr. Trump have said they had been cooperating with the department to get the matter settled. The former president even popped into the June 3 meeting at Mar-a-Lago, shaking hands. “I appreciate the job you’re doing,” he said, according to a person familiar with the exchange. “Anything you need, let us know.” Five days later, Trump attorney Evan Corcoran received an email from Mr. Bratt, the chief of the Justice Department’s counterintelligence and export control section, who oversees investigations involving classified information. “We ask that the room at Mar-a-Lago where the documents had been stored be secured and that all the boxes that were moved from the White House to Mar-a-Lago (along with any other items in that room) be preserved in that room in their current condition until further notice,” according to what was read to The Wall Street Journal over the phone. Mr. Corcoran wrote back, “Jay, thank you. I write to acknowledge receipt of this letter. With best regards, Evan.” By the next day, according to a person familiar with the events, a larger lock was placed on the door. It was the last communication between the men until Monday’s search of Mar-a-Lago, according to the person.
(snip)
—Deborah Acosta contributed to this article.
https://archive.ph/QKSD6#selection-99.5-577.44 (Wall St. Journal no paywall link)
And then the WSJ in turn, referenced a piece de resistance that was published by Newsweek -
Exclusive: An Informer Told the FBI What Docs Trump Was Hiding, and Where
By William M. Arkin On 8/10/22 at 10:03 AM EDT
The raid on Mar-a-Lago was based largely on information from an FBI confidential human source, one who was able to identify what classified documents former President Trump was still hiding and even the location of those documents, two senior government officials told Newsweek. The officials, who have direct knowledge of the FBI's deliberations and were granted anonymity in order to discuss sensitive matters, said the raid of Donald Trump's Florida residence was deliberately timed to occur when the former president was away.
FBI decision-makers in Washington and Miami thought that denying the former president a photo opportunity or a platform from which to grandstand (or to attempt to thwart the raid) would lower the profile of the event, says one of the sources, a senior Justice Department official who is a 30-year veteran of the FBI. The effort to keep the raid low-key failed: instead, it prompted a furious response from GOP leaders and Trump supporters. "What a spectacular backfire," says the Justice official.
"I know that there is much speculation out there that this is political persecution, but it is really the best and the worst of the bureaucracy in action," the official says. "They wanted to punctuate the fact that this was a routine law enforcement action, stripped of any political overtones, and yet [they] got exactly the opposite." Both senior government officials say the raid was scheduled with no political motive, the FBI solely intent on recovering highly classified documents that were illegally removed from the White House.
Preparations to conduct such an operation began weeks ago, but in planning the date and time, the FBI Miami Field Office and Washington headquarters were focused on the former president's scheduled return to Florida from his residences in New York and New Jersey. "They were seeking to avoid any media circus," says the second source, a senior intelligence official who was briefed on the investigation and the operation. "So even though everything made sense bureaucratically and the FBI feared that the documents might be destroyed, they also created the very firestorm they sought to avoid, in ignoring the fallout."
(snip)
https://www.newsweek.com/exclusive-informer-told-fbi-what-docs-trump-was-hiding-where-1732283
One might also note the big 'ole can of worms that hasn't been opened yet (publicly, if it is relevant) and that is related to the OTHER properties (e.g., Bedminister) and whether stuff is there too.
= new reply since forum marked as read
