<span>Photograph: Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images</span>
Photograph: Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images

There are two folders marked as containing correspondence with the National Archives that Donald Trump wants to keep from the justice department.

The former US president's claims of privilege over the folders, which appear to have relevance to the criminal investigation into whether he retained national defense information and obstructed justice, are significant as they represent an effort to exclude the items from the inquiry.

A review of the court filing indicated that Trump claimed privilege over the contents of one red folder marked as containingNARA letters and other copies and a second manilla folder marked as containingNARA letters one top sheet + 3 signing sheets.

The former president claimed privilege over 35 pages of documents titled "The President's Calls" that included the presidential seal in the upper left corner and had handwritten names, numbers, notes about messages and four blank pages, according to the filing.

The same thing happened over an unsigned letter concerning former special counsel Robert Muller, pages of an email about election fraud lawsuits in Fulton County, Georgia, and deliberations about clemency to a certain person.

All Mar-a-Lago records were not reported by the lawyer.

A request for comment was not responded to by a Trump spokesman.

After a Friday ruling by the special master, it was clear that the documents the former president was trying to hide were executive or attorney-client privilege.

The unique numbers for documents for which Trump is not claiming privilege were made public in the three-page order.

Normally, the nature of the documents being claimed as protected is not public. The justice department's "filter team" identified the seized materials as potentially privileged after an apparent docketing error by the court.

The US justice department said that Trump didn't turn over all the documents.

The Guardian was able to identify which documents the former president was trying to keep from the department by comparing the unique numbers for which he was not claiming privilege.

The special master ordered thefilter team to transfer the documents not deemed to be privileged by Trump to the case team.

After the documents are transferred, the special master wrote, Trump's lawyers and the department should try to resolve any disputes about executive privilege over the remaining records before 20 October.