DOJ Claims Classified Mar-a-Lago Docs May Have Been Concealed to Obstruct Investigation

The Justice Department claims it has evidence the classified Mar-a-Lago documents were deliberately concealed in an effort to obstruct the investigation.

Summary

The Justice Department claims it has evidence the classified Mar-a-Lago documents were deliberately concealed in an effort to obstruct the investigation.

• Former President Donald Trump has claimed the search of Mar-a-Lago was unnecessary because he was cooperating with the government probe, but the Department of Justice strongly disputes those claims in Tuesday’s court filing.
• Prosecutors alleged on Tuesday that Trump aides falsely certified that the former President returned all government records after leaving office and prohibited government officials from looking inside any boxes stored at Mar-a-Lago.
• After the National Archives found classified materials at Mar-a-Lago in January, DOJ found evidence more documents remained at Trump’s Florida home. In June, FBI agents tried to retrieve the materials but were “explicitly prohibited” from searching the storage room.
• According to Tuesday’s court filing, the August FBI raid on the property uncovered more than a hundred classified documents, casting doubt on the “diligent search” that Trump’s team claimed found no more government materials at Mar-a-Lago.

• The New York Times reported the 100-plus documents found in the August raid were “twice the number of classified documents the former president’s lawyers turned over voluntarily while swearing an oath that they had returned all the material demanded by the government.”
• CNN observed more than 320 classified documents were recovered from Mar-a-Lago between the January National Archives, the June voluntary-but-incomplete disclosures from Trump’s attorneys, and the August FBI raid.
• The Washington Post noted the filing portrays Trump attorneys Evan Corcoran and Christina Bobb as “so uncooperative as to lead agents to suspect the Trump team might be obstructing the investigation.”

• The Wall Street Journal observed neither of Trump’s attorneys argued that Trump had declassified documents or claimed executive privilege at the June Mar-a-Lago meeting, casting doubt on the Trump team’s claims that the documents were declassified or belonged to the former President.
• FOX News noted DOJ opposes Trump’s request for a special master to review the seized documents as “unnecessary” and would “harm national security interests” while Trump would not “suffer any injury without an injunction.”
• The Washington Examiner published a photo of classified and top secret documents on the floor of Mar-a-Lago that the DOJ included in the court filing.

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© Dominic Moore, 2022