Is it your experience that these cover sheets are attached with paper clips or are they stapled several times to the main documents?
Could it be that the FBI brought a stack of these cover sheets and simply clipped them to whatever documents they found to give the appearance of a cache of top secret documents?
Otherwise, why the paper clips and not permanent staples unless they didn't want any documents that were returned to President Trump to have alterations like staple holes in them?
-PJ
I didnt handle them as long as OP but, despite some stupid claims Ive seen made about clips vs staples, the answer was neither.
The cover sheets aren’t permanently attached. I’ve seen staples and paper clips used, I’ve seen them used in casually bound booklets, I’ve seen them slapped and held on documents to move them from place to place in a facility. The full markings are on the documents themselves. The cover sheets are just to alert you to the contents. They are all unclassified when not with the documents. I could easily stage the same scene in my grandkids’ rooms, with coversheets, drawings, and toys all around. It doesn’t prove anything.