Trump said the FBI found classified documents at his home because federal workers packed them. But emails Bloomberg got show boxes were already packed when movers arrived.

According to emails and documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, Donald Trump's boxes may have already been packed when he lost the election.

One of the reasons the FBI found classified documents at Mar-A-Lago was that federal workers had packed the boxes.

In late September, Trump said they packed them.

The US General Services Administration workers packed boxes on a radio show just days after the FBI executed the search warrant, according to a former defense official for Trump.

The GSA is the one that packed up and moved the documents. It's not like President Trump put him in his briefcase and boarded Air Force One and said, "Okay." "I'll see you guys later, I said on the show."

The email correspondence between the GSA and Trump's operations team shows a different story according to the report.

—Jason Leopold (@JasonLeopold) October 5, 2022

The guidelines for the use of Mar-A-Lago as a "temporary office space" for President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence were laid out by MarkMeadows when he was the chief of staff. The documents show that the agreement allotted $2 million for Trump and $520,000 for the vice president.

The National Archives needed at least 100 boxes at a time to process and appraise gifts, so Trump aides used kitchen space and resort rooms at Mar-A-Lago and the GSA's office space in Arlington, Virginia.

According to the documents, the correspondence director for the Office of Donald Trump asked the GSA if it worked with a contractor for interstate shipping. We have a portrait of President Trump that needs to be shipped to FL, but it's in a crate and weighs 300 lbs.

The painting was not eligible to be shipped using taxpayer dollars because it was deemed to be personal property, according to the documents.

The GSA contract only covered shipping and not packing, according to another GSA spokesman. The documents show that the outgoing transition team was in charge of packing the boxes.

Thompson Sayle told the GSA that the first pallet of boxes was ready for shipment in July of 2021.

Thompson Sayle sent the GSA multiple pictures of boxes stacked on pallets and ready for shipment to Florida.

—Jason Leopold (@JasonLeopold) October 5, 2022