SECOND grand jury is investigating Trump’s handling of classified docs

A second grand jury is investigating Donald Trump’s possible mismanagement of classified documents, according to a new report, amid speculation that the Justice Department will soon indict the former president.

The Florida grand jury adds to a separate panel that has been meeting in Washington for months to consider charges against Trump for his possession of classified documents at his home in Mar-a-Lago and possible obstruction of the administration’s efforts to recover documents. , reports the Associated Press.

On Wednesday, Taylor Budowich, who has served as Trump’s spokesman, arrived at the federal courthouse in Miami to appear before that second grand jury.

Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into Trump’s possession of classified documents appears to be approaching its final stages of investigation.

More than a dozen witnesses — including close Trump aides and officials from his Trump organization — have testified before the grand jury in Washington over the past year.

And now witnesses are speaking to the second grand jury in Miami.

The use of a different Florida grand jury suggests prosecutors may be considering some charges in that state as well. It is possible that Trump will be charged in one jurisdiction, while others involved will be charged in another jurisdiction.

Meanwhile, Trump’s lawyers went to the Justice Department Monday morning to make their plea that the administration should not charge the former president over his possession of the documents.

Lindsey Halligan, John Rowley and James Trusty reportedly spent about two hours at the Justice Department, and their meeting also included Special Counsel Jack Smith, who heads the federal investigation. Attorney General Merrick Garland and Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco did not attend.

After the meeting, Trump took to his Truth Social platform to post a message that appeared to indicate that his lawyers had spoken to him about the possibility of him being charged.

“How on earth could DOJ sue me who did nothing wrong,” Trump wrote in capital letters.

Trump continues to deny any allegations and claims to be the victim of a politically charged investigation led by prosecutors who do not want him to run for president again.

Prosecutors have targeted Trump, his bodyman Walt Nauta and a maintenance worker who helped Nauta move boxes of classified documents before federal agents searched the property in their investigation last summer.

And, in a new twist, a Mar-a-Lago employee drained the resort’s pool last October, flooding a room where computer servers containing surveillance video logs were kept.

The Federal Prosecutor’s Office of the Department of Justice questioned at least one witness about the incident. CNN reported thatwhile obtaining surveillance footage to track how the White House documents were moved around Trump’s Palm Beach residence.

It’s unclear if the room was flooded on purpose or if it was a mistake. The maintenance worker is the person who emptied the pool, flooding the IT room where the surveillance footage was kept, CNN reported.

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 2022: 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 2022: 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, 2022: FBI agents raid Mar-a-Lago: They recover 18 documents marked top secret, 54 marked classified, 31 marked confidential, and 11,179 government documents or photos that had no classification marks.

Intent is key in the Justice Department case. Prosecutors must be able to demonstrate that any actions taken were made to attempt to obstruct or block an investigation.

SSurveillance footage from Mar-a-Lago provided to the Department of Justice showed Nauta and the maintenance worker moving document boxes around the resort around May or June 2022.

Earlier this year, Nauta testified to federal prosecutors that he moved boxes to Mar-a-Lago at Trump’s direction after the subpoena was issued and before the August Mar-a-Lago raid.

Two people helped Nauta, but did not know the details of their task, according to one of their lawyers.

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 in March.

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

Garland designated Smith as special counsel on November 18.

Smith is also investigating efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election — the subject of a similar, ongoing investigation by Atlanta prosecutors.

Prosecutors in New York charged Trump earlier this year with falsifying business records.