The U.S. Department of Justice says it uncovered efforts to obstruct its investigation into the discovery of classified documents at former U.S. President Donald Trump’s Florida estate, saying “records were likely concealed and removed from the government” of a storage room of the property.
Key points:
- Trump’s lawyers had told the department that all the records, which included classified documents, were kept in the warehouse.
- FBI agents found classified documents in the former president’s office, some on office desks, during an Aug. 8 raid.
- The court filing is in response to a request by Trump’s legal team for a special master to review documents seized during the FBI search.
The claim was made in a court document that lays out the most detailed timeline yet of interactions between Justice Department officials and Trump representatives over the presence of the documents at Mar-a-Lago.
The department said Trump’s lawyers told them in June that all the records that came from the White House were stored in one place — a warehouse at Mar-a-Lago — and that “there were no other records stored in any private office space or other location on the premises and that all available boxes were searched.”
But in their search earlier this month, agents found classified documents in both the storage room and the former president’s office, including three classified documents found not in boxes but on office desks.
The filing is in response to a request by Trump’s legal team for a special master to review documents seized during the Aug. 8 search of Mar-a-Lago.
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon will hear arguments in the matter.
Donald Trump’s lawyers last week asked for the appointment of a special master to throw out documents protected by claims of legal privilege. (Reuters: David ‘Dee’ Delgado)
Trump’s lawyers last week asked for the appointment of a special master who would review the records taken and set aside documents protected by claims of legal privilege.
Judge Cannon said it was her “preliminary intention” to name that person, but also gave the Justice Department a chance to respond.
On Monday, the department said it had already completed its review of potentially privileged documents and identified a “limited set of materials that potentially contain inside attorney-client information.”
In a separate development, another lawyer has joined Trump’s legal team.
Chris Kise, the former Florida attorney general, has joined the team of lawyers representing Mr. Trump, according to two people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to discuss the move on his behalf and spoke under condition of anonymity.
Kise did not return messages seeking comment.
AP