Justice has evidence Trump tried to obstruct classified documents probe

Several Donald Trump Secret Service agents have been subpoenaed to testify in the investigation of classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago as the Justice Department has obtained new evidence suggesting the former president attempted to obstruct their investigation .

The officers are expected to testify before a grand jury in Washington, D.C. – likely on Friday of this week. Fox news reported.

In addition, new evidence shows that after the subpoena for the documents was delivered, Trump personally searched some boxes, The Washington Post reported, apparently out of a desire to keep certain items.

Trump’s lawyers turned over some documents for his presidential records after a May 2022 subpoena, but the August raid on the former president’s Palm Beach home revealed more documents — including classified ones — that had not been turned over.

Intent is key in the Justice Department case, led by Special Counsel Jack Smith. Prosecutors must be able to demonstrate that any actions taken were made to attempt to obstruct or block an investigation.

The additional evidence suggests Trump told his team in early 2022, when the National Archives and Records Administration was trying to recover Trump’s records from his presidency, to hamper efforts, the Post reported.

The former president reportedly asked his team to release false statements claiming that he had returned all requested documents. He also asked his lawyers how he could keep the data he wanted to keep in his possession and was warned that doing so could be legally risky.

It is a crime to conceal any document or tangible object “with intent to interfere with, impede, or influence the investigation or proper administration of any matter within the jurisdiction of any department or agency.”

While Trump’s actions may not be a crime, they can serve as evidence of his intentions.

And federal officials, while investigating the matter, have asked witnesses whether Trump has shown classified documents to political donors, the Post reported. It could also demonstrate the former president’s motivation to keep some of the records.

Under the Presidential Records Act, all records of a presidential administration are owned by the federal government and go to the National Archives after the end of a presidency. Trump, it has been reported, believed they were his property.

Investigators used witness testimony, security camera footage, and other evidence to build a timeline of what happened and what actions they believe Trump took:

• May 2021: National Archives realizes some documents from Trump’s presidency are missing
• December 2021: Archive requests the documents from the former president
• January 2022: Archives receive 15 boxes of material stored at Mar-a-Lago, some of which were found to contain classified material
• February 2022: The case is referred to the Ministry of Justice
• May 2022: After several back-and-forths with Trump’s legal team, the Justice Department issues a subpoena for additional records they believe are in the former president’s Florida home
• Investigators believe that after that subpoena arrived, storage boxes, including some containing classified materials, were moved from a Mar-a-Lago storage area, so Trump personally examined some of them
• June 2023: Three FBI agents and a DOJ attorney go to Mar-a-Lago to retrieve the additional material. They were given a single Redweld envelope, double-wrapped with tape, containing the documents, according to later court documents. That envelope contained 38 records with classification marks, including five documents marked confidential, 16 marked secret, and 17 marked top secret.
• August 2023: DOJ applied for a search warrant for Mar-a-Lago, citing “probable cause” that additional presidential documents and classified information documents were left in Trump’s Florida home. Court documents show that the original search warrant application showed that officers believed “evidence of obstruction will be found at the property.”
• August 8, 2023: FBI agents raid Mar-a-Lago: They recover 18 documents marked top secret, 54 marked secret, 31 marked confidential, and 11,179 government documents or photos that had no classification marks.

Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said The Washington PostThe witch hunts against President Trump have no basis in fact or law. The deranged special counsel and the Justice Department have now resorted to prosecutorial misconduct by illegally leaking information to corrupt the legal process and arming the justice system to manipulate public opinion and engage in election interference, as they are clearly about lose the whole line.’

But federal officials have new testimony in their investigation.

Walt Nauta, Trump’s valet, testified that he moved boxes to Mar-a-Lago at Trump’s direction after the subpoena was issued. There is video surveillance footage that corroborates his story.

In addition, investigators have retrieved the emails and text messages from Molly Michael, a Trump aide who followed him from the White House to Florida before she left that job last year.

Those emails and text messages have given the researchers detailed insight into daily activities at Mar-a-Lago during the critical moments.

In addition, investigators have asked witnesses whether Trump showed a particular interest in material related to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley.

Trump appointed Milley to the position, but fell out with him after reports showed that Milley tried to rein him in during his term. Milley also expressed regret for walking with Trump to St. John’s Episcopal Church across the street from Lafayette Park for a photo op during the June 2021 Black Lives Matter protests. Milley also testified before the January 6 congressional committee which examined Trump’s role in the uprising.

At least two dozen people — including Mar-a-Lago personnel and those in Trump’s current inner circle — have been subpoenaed in the investigation over classified documents, CNN reported last month.

Trump communications assistant Margo Martin, who worked at the White House and followed him to Florida, appeared before the grand jury in Washington, DC.

Housekeeper and restaurant clerks have also spoken to the federal grand jury, while investigators are talking to people who may have seen or heard things during their day-to-day duties at Trump’s Florida home, which is also a private club.

“They cast an extremely wide net — anyone and everyone who could have seen anything,” a source told CNN of the subpoenas.

The Justice Department has been investigating possible misuse of classified material by Trump for about a year.

Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Smith as special counsel on November 18.

Smith’s team has presented witnesses and evidence to a Washington grand jury investigating the Mar-a-Lago investigation.

In the same courthouse, a separate federal grand jury is hearing evidence in a separate federal investigation related to efforts to block the results of the 2020 election.

In New York, Trump is expected to be indicted Tuesday on charges of hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels. And in Georgia, a grand jury is hearing evidence of an attempt to alter the results of that state’s 2020 presidential election.