WASHINGTON — Intelligence experts expressed shock Wednesday that FBI agents found highly classified documents tucked into desk drawers at Donald Trump’s Florida estate — long after aides said he’d turned over all such materials.

“The former president has not yet explained or defended his actions in moving classified government documents to his private residence, storing them in unsecure spaces and declining to return the materials to the government when asked to do so,” said Stephen Slick, a senior director for intelligence on the National Security Council during President George W. Bush’s second term.

In a 36-page court filing late Tuesday, the Justice Department revealed that the FBI raid Aug. 8 was prompted by evidence that “government records were likely concealed and removed” from a storage room from Mar-a-Lago, the Palm Beach resort where Trump now lives.

“The government goes to extraordinary lengths to preserve the secrecy of national defense information. Safes, alarms, cameras and guards are deployed in secure spaces across Washington, D.C, including at the White House,” said Slick, a 28-year veteran of the CIA’s clandestine service who now directs the Intelligence Studies Project at the University of Texas.

A number of Texas Republicans have questioned the legitimacy of the investigation, though none has explicitly defended Trump’s handling of classified documents, or asserted that he was within his rights to take reams of official records from the White House when he left office.

“It is pretty unbelievable that the documents shown in the photograph and/or described in the court filings would not be kept secure in an appropriate facility,” former House Armed Services chairman Mac Thornberry, a West Texas Republican who also served on the intelligence committee before retiring from Congress last year, said by email. “Just when I think I can’t be surprised any more, I am.”

Under the President Records Act, a Watergate-era law, presidents must turn over all official documents to the National Archives, without exception.

Rep. Joaquin Castro, a San Antonio Democrat who’s served for six years on the House intelligence committee — the only Texan currently on that panel — called it “shocking” that Trump would have such a trove at his private estate.

“The more redactions you see there, the more highly classified all that stuff is,” said Castro. “There’s no reason why he would have top secret documents lying around at a hotel resort in Florida.”

Trump aides certified that they had turned over all classified material by early June. But, the Justice Department stated, “the FBI, in a matter of hours, recovered twice as many documents with classification markings as the ‘diligent search’” purportedly undertaken by Trump aides.

“There are a lot of questions about what the former president did with those documents, who he may have allowed access to those documents, and whether anybody tried to access them independently, even without Donald Trump’s knowledge,” said Castro.

When members of the intelligence committee get access to classified material, they’re not allowed to have a cellphone or other electronics.

“It’s in a bunker basically,” and if anyone walked out “with a pile of documents, and refused to give it back, you would expect to be put in handcuffs,” Castro said. “Nobody would bat an eye if the FBI arrested them … but because it’s Donald Trump, and because he’s got such a hold on the Republican Party, people make all kinds of excuses.”

‘Unbelievable’

Former CIA operative Will Hurd, a San Antonio Republican who also served on the intelligence committee during his three terms in the House, called Trump’s handling of highly sensitive material a violation of the trust that spies and their assets rely on.

“It’s unbelievable to me,” Hurd told CNN on Monday night. “Instead of Donald Trump whining about there being a witch hunt against him, he should be talking about who had access to these rooms, or this information, so that we can get a proper damage assessment.”

Hurd noted that the FBI found documents labeled NOFORN to indicate they were too sensitive to share with foreign governments, even allies. There were also documents that could expose individuals who spied for the United States — “super-sensitive information.”

Republicans allied with Trump have shrugged off such alarms.

“I didn’t really see anything in the affidavit that justified what still seems like an extreme approach by the FBI and the Department of Justice to retrieve those documents if in fact they were classified,” John Ratcliffe, a former Dallas-area congressman and U.S. attorney appointed by Trump as director of national intelligence, said on CBS News last week.

Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Tyler, denounced the FBI’s “Gestapo-like tactics.” On Fox Business, he asserted Wednesday that Trump’s rights were violated by “unelected bureaucrats” because in the search warrant affidavit “they didn’t bother to identify specific documents, because they were on a witch hunt.”

Redaction marks hide some of those specifics, though. And in any case, former presidents are forbidden under the Presidential Records Act from taking any records after leaving office, classified or not.

Sen. John Cornyn shared a Wall St. Journal editorial Monday, with the assertion that “Democrats and the FBI created the Hillary Clinton standard for non-prosecution of mishandling classified information. Will Donald Trump be held to a different standard?”

Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Amarillo, tweeted that “President Trump’s rights are being trampled on by the CORRUPT DOJ and FBI.”

Hurd says those attacking federal investigators are “trying to obfuscate” Trump’s misdeeds.

Red flags

The government’s affidavit seeking a warrant to search Mar-a-Lago was heavily redacted.

Some Republicans have used that to question the validity of the allegations against Trump.

Rep. Michael Cloud, R-Victoria, posted a tweet alluding to the redactions, using blacked out words to reveal a message labeling the Justice Department “corrupt.”

For intelligence experts, though, the redactions explain the urgency of retrieving the materials from Trump.

The redactions reflect “the high level of classification and sensitivity of information in the documents,” said Slick, adding that it may never be possible to determine “whether our enemies in fact gained access to the information and whether fragile sources and collection methods were lost.”

At minimum, he said, the way Trump handled this material “will complicate the work of our intelligence agencies that rely on the trust of foreign sources and security counterparts.”

Castro also sees a bright red flag in the thick black ink blots.

Castro, a House prosecutor at Trump’s impeachment trial on charges stemming from the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on Congress, sees no reason for him to escape prosecution if there’s sufficient evidence.

“If they would prosecute another American — which I believe they would, for having top secret documents at their home, and refusing to return them when requested — then yes, Donald Trump should absolutely be prosecuted,” Castro said.