The federal criminal investigation into Donald Trumps potential mishandling of classified documents has escalated with additional charges against the former president . The investigation led by Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith revolves around sensitive government papers that Trump held onto after his White House term ended in January . The missing documents include some of Trumps correspondence with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as well as the map of Hurricane Dorian that Trump infamously altered with a sharpie pen . Trump has denied all wrongdoing and claims the investigation is a politically motivated sham intended to derail his ongoing campaign to win the Republican nomination and return to the White House . The former president initially faced counts including counts of willful retention of national defense information according to the indictment . Then the special counsel brought three new charges against him including one additional count of willful retaining of national defence information and two additional obstruction counts . The special counsel has also been charged in the case . The FBI found dozens of classified records during a court-approved search of his MaraLago home last summer and has recovered more than classified documents from Trump . He has voluntarily given back some materials his lawyers turned over additional files after a subpoena and the FBI has given them back some of them back to NARA after a subpoenas and a subpoena . Trump lawyers say they are rejecting their claims that they are making a protective assertion of executive privilege and that they want to examine the documents to see if anything is privileged. The FBI has refused to give them back. The investigation has also refused to provide them back . The federal prosecutors have declined to provide the documents. Trump has declined to comment. The federal authorities have refused to comment to Nara’s request. The National Archives and Records and Records Administration has said that they have declined. They have declined