Key Trump Attorney Testifying In Mar-A-Lago Case Friday—Here’s Why It Could Be A Big Deal

Topline

Trump attorney Evan Corcoran testified Friday in the Mar-A-Lago classified documents case, after he was ordered to share information with the grand jury that would otherwise be shielded under attorney-client privilege—a development that could have damaging implications for former President Donald Trump.

M. Evan Corcoran, an attorney for former President Donald Trump, arrives at federal court in … [+] Washington, D.C., on March 24.

Key Facts

Corcoran was ordered to provide further testimony and records to the grand jury after he initially declined to answer questions when he first appeared in February, as courts ruled a “crime-fraud exception” applied that overrules attorney-client privilege—meaning there’s evidence to suggest those communications were used to help Trump commit a crime.

The Justice Department is investigating Trump after federal investigators recovered hundreds of classified White House documents from Mar-A-Lago, both to determine whether Trump violated federal statutes around the handling of government documents and if he obstructed the government’s investigation by concealing the documents from the government, even after he was subpoenaed to turn them over.

Corcoran drafted a letter in June, 2022, saying the documents Trump had turned over to the government were all the remaining classified documents at Mar-A-Lago, which was later proven false, as investigators later recovered an additional 100 markings when they searched Mar-A-Lago the following month.

The government has reportedly argued there’s evidence that Trump “intentionally concealed” additional classified documents from Corcoran, leading the attorney to deceive the government, sources told ABC News.

Prosecutors want to ask Corcoran about his June letter — and what Trump knew about it — as well as his interactions with Trump involving the subpoena, CNN and the New York Times report.

Prosecutors also want to ask Corcoran about a phone call he had with Trump on the day the Trump Organization was subpoenaed for surveillance footage of Mar-A-Lago, which was later found to show workers moving boxes out of a secure room where documents were being stored, according to CNN—noting that witnesses have testified the boxes were moved at Trump’s direction.

Crucial Quote

“This could be opening the door to Mr. Corcoran giving direct evidence with respect to the former president obstructing [the Mar-A-Lago] investigation,” former FBI general counsel Andrew Weissmann said on MSNBC about the court ruling ordering Corcoran to testify.

Chief Critic

Trump and his attorneys have heavily criticized the government’s effort to get around Corcoran’s attorney-client privilege and force him to testify. “There is no factual or legal basis or substance to any case against President Trump,” a Trump spokesperson told ABC News. “The real story here is that prosecutors only attack lawyers when they have no case whatsoever.”

Tangent

The records Corcoran has been asked to turn over in the investigation—which ABC reports include “handwritten notes, invoices, and transcriptions of personal audio recordings”—could also prove damaging to Trump, legal experts have speculated. “Think about what those transcriptions could reveal about an apparently unaware Trump,” former U.S. attorney Harry Litman said on Twitter. “Could be the smoking gun that brings him down.”

Surprising Fact

Legal experts were shocked by the surprising speed with which the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit shot down Trump’s appeal to shield Corcoran’s testimony, after a district court judge ordered the crime-fraud exception applied. The appeals court ordered Trump’s attorneys to submit their argument for the appeal by midnight Wednesday, March 22, and for the government to respond by 6 a.m. the same day, before striking down the appeal Wednesday afternoon, Politico reports. Scott Anderson, an attorney and senior fellow at Columbia University’s National Security Law Program, speculated on Twitter the speed may indicate the DOJ “thinks there is still classified information in the wild and Corcoran can lead them to it.”

Key Background

The Justice Department has been investigating Trump’s handling of the Mar-A-Lago documents since February 2022, after Trump voluntarily turned over some documents to the National Archives in January and the government discovered the ex-president had brought classified materials back to his Florida estate. The government has so far recovered more than 300 classified documents from Mar-A-Lago, including ones with the most top-secret designations, and more than 11,000 non-classified ones. In addition to obstruction, court filings have indicated the government is probing whether Trump violated four federal statutes related to the handling of government documents, including the Espionage Act that bars unauthorized possession of materials related to national security. Corcoran’s testimony comes as Trump has already been facing potentially imminent criminal charges in multiple other investigations. The Manhattan district attorney is expected to bring charges against Trump as soon as next week stemming from “hush money” payments made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. The district attorney in Fulton County, Georgia, may also soon indict Trump for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. The Justice Department is also conducting a separate investigation into Trump and his allies’ post-election efforts in addition to the Mar-A-Lago probe.