Feds Reportedly Find New Evidence In Mar-A-Lago Case As Trump Faces N.Y. Charges

Topline

A federal probe into former President Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents has reportedly advanced since last year’s FBI search of Mar-A-Lago, with officials finding evidence Trump may have obstructed their investigation, the Washington Post reported Sunday—a new legal hurdle for Trump days after his unprecedented indictment in New York.

Former US President Donald Trump speaks during a 2024 election campaign rally in Waco, Texas, March … [+] 25, 2023.

AFP via Getty Images

Key Facts

Department of Justice investigators have new evidence that after Trump received a subpoena last May demanding he return sensitive government documents held at Mar-A-Lago, the former president personally looked through boxes of classified records in an apparent move to keep some of them, people familiar with the investigation told the Post.

The government’s evidence is reportedly based on statements from witnesses and security camera footage, and investigators have viewed text messages and email correspondences of a former Trump aide that provide detailed accounts of day-to-day happenings at Mar-a-Lago during this period, sources told the Post.

Evidence has also been discovered that Trump directed others to mislead government officials about the documents before the subpoena was issued, ignored advice to return the documents to the National Archives and Records Administration and sought advice on how to keep certain records, sources told the Post.

Much of special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation has reportedly focused on possible obstruction, including events that occurred since the May subpoena.

Smith is trying to determine if Trump or his associates mishandled the sensitive documents, or if there is enough evidence to charge him with obstructing the investigation, according to the Post.

Contra

A spokesperson for Trump told the Post the investigation is a “witch hunt” that has “no basis in facts or law” and accused Smith and the Department of Justice of “prosecutorial misconduct” by leaking information about the investigation. Forbes has reached out to Trump’s team for comment.

Key Background

After the federal subpoena was issued to Trump last year, his team complied—but hundreds more documents were discovered months later in an FBI raid at Mar-A-Lago. The former president and 2024 hopeful has said that all the documents he took when he left office in 2021 were declassified, though there is no evidence of this. Last week, a federal judge overseeing the legal issues between Trump and the DOJ said there is enough evidence to show Trump “intentionally concealed” his knowledge of the classified documents in his possession from his legal team.

Tangent

The classified documents probe is one of the many legal issues Trump is facing. On Thursday, he was indicted in New York over hush money payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels, making him the first former president in history to face criminal charges. He is also facing a state criminal investigation into his attempts to reverse the 2020 election results in Georgia, and a separate DOJ probe into his behavior during the insurrection on January 6, 2021.

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