- The Justice Department is investigating President Donald Trump’s handling of classified White House documents.
- Officials told WaPo there may be evidence of possible interference.
- The day before the FBI raided Mar-a-Lago, WaPo said employees helped move boxes of documents.
Donald Trump and his team may have been preparing to move classified White House documents months before the FBI raided the Mar-a-Lago resort last August. According to a Washington Post report.
People familiar with the Justice Department’s investigation told the Post that aides to the former president had been trying to move the documents even before the Justice Department shared a grand jury subpoena demanding all classified records in May. He claimed that he was doing a “production rehearsal” for.
FBI agents seized thousands of government documents from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort last August, some of which were classified. The Justice Department investigation entered a new phase in March after Special Counsel Jack Smith subpoenaed dozens of Mar-a-Lago employees, but the investigation has been quiet in recent weeks. ABC News reported Smith has decided whether to press charges against the former president and may be closing the investigation.
Charges may include illegal possession of government documents and obstruction of government efforts to retrieve them.
In addition to allegations that aides were preparing to move classified documents, Trump said last June, a day before FBI agents and prosecutors met with Trump’s lawyers in Mar-a-Lago to retrieve the materials. Two of the president’s employees were moving boxes of papers, a person familiar with the matter said. director.
One of the employees, a maintenance worker at the resort, offered to help Mr. Trump’s aide, Walt Nauta, move the boxes. A person familiar with the matter told the New York Times.. The maintenance workers were unaware of the contents of the box, officials said.
Mr. Nauta was caught on security camera removing the boxes from a Mar-a-Lago warehouse before and after the Justice Department issued the subpoena in May. The Times previously reported.
Federal prosecutors also have evidence that President Trump released classified documents in his Mar-a-Lago office, sometimes showing them to others, a person familiar with the matter told the Post.
A spokeswoman for President Trump did not respond to a request for comment. He has previously denied any wrongdoing regarding the handling of classified documents.
