Former US President Donald Trump, several months before the search on his Mar-a-Lago estate, clashed with law enforcement because of their desire to get acquainted with his secret documents, The Washington Post reports, citing sources.

On April 12, Trump's lawyers received an email from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) plans to study classified documents that the ex-president himself returned to government agencies in January. There were 15 boxes of documents, which were also taken to Mar-a-Lago from the White House. It is known that an official request for their study was sent by the office of the current president. In May, state archivist Debra Wall spoke of Trump's weeks of resistance as he tried to disrupt the study of documents he had sent.

The conflict eventually led to the FBI raiding the Trump estate on August 8. Two people familiar with the searches said some of the material found there was considered extremely secret. They are said to contain secrets about US intelligence collection methods.