The Correspondence between the North Korean President and the Secretary of State of the United States, whose correspondence disappeared from public release during the August Mar-a-Lago search

The original correspondence between the President and the North Korean leader was never returned, even though it was put in a binder for the President prior to the end of the Administration.

Stern added that the Obama letter was also missing, noting that the Archives’ presidential libraries of other presidents maintain copies of similar letters. It is necessary for this one to be given to us as well.

But the Archives withheld the vast majority of correspondence from public release – more than 1,000 pages worth – citing exemptions to FOIA, including ongoing Justice Department investigations and the Archives’ own deliberations with Trump’s representatives.

The Department of Justice has previously alleged that classified documents at the resort were “likely concealed and removed” from a storage room at Mar-a-Lago as part of an effort to “obstruct” the FBI’s investigation into Trump’s potential mishandling of classified materials.

The former Trump Organization attorney, Alex Cannon, had been working with Archives representatives since 2021 to facilitate the return of records that had been taken to Trump’s Florida residence at the end of his presidency.

In numerous court filings, prosecutors indicated they had concerns that classified records were possibly still missing. The empty envelopes with classified banners that were seized during the August Mar-a-Lago search was described by the Justice Department as a need to determine if other classified records still hadn’t been collected.

Justice Department officials have demanded in recent weeks to former President Donald Trump’s attorneys that he return any outstanding documents marked as classified, making clear they do not believe he has returned all materials taken when he left the White House, a person familiar with the outreach told CNN.

Dearie’s discussion on Tuesday and previous orders set a timeline for him to make decisions on the privacy of documents by mid-December. The Justice Department is separately already working through about 100 records marked as classified that were seized at Mar-a-Lago and split out from Dearie’s work, and the agency is also challenging at a federal appeals court the special master process on the whole.

The person said that Bobb is not involved in the Mar-a-Lago case, even though he was on location when FBI searched his property.

The sworn statement that Bobb submitted to the Justice Department included a caveat that she was making the certification “based upon the information that has been provided to me.”

In emails throughout 2021, however, career officials at the GSA outlined to Trump’s aides what could and could not be included in the shipments GSA would send to Florida – underscoring that the federal agency was relying on Trump’s aides to assess the contents being shipped.

The environment around the time the plan was signed was described as chaotic and unsure, with a President more focused on his 2020 reelection than on starting his next chapter. These circumstances lead to a transition that is delayed and disorganized.

A spokesman for Trump tells Fox News that the GSA is responsible for the documents being at Trump’s Florida home on August 12, 2012

In an interview on Fox News on August 12, four days after the FBI search, former Trump defense official Kash Patel claimed the GSA was responsible for the documents being at Trump’s Florida home.

A spokesman for Trump did not directly address how these emails dispute claims made by the former president and allies, and instead attacked the Biden administration.

The process has been used to intimidate and silence those who support President Trump and his agenda, according to a spokesman for the president. “Why? Democrats are left scrambling to have a new witch-hunt to distract from their failures, because they have already done nothing to benefit the American people.

If the item is considered property of the former president, it shouldn’t be shipped using Transition Funds. If the item is considered property of the Federal Government then it should go to NARA or GSA,” Kathy Geisler wrote in an email and attached the guidance on gifts. “I just wanted to make sure we had an understanding of what you are allowed to ship using Transition funds.”

In the email exchange, Trump’s director of correspondence Desiree Thompson Sayle asked Geisler to point out where in the federal code she was referring to. “I want to ensure that we are in compliance, and the attached appears to be general guidance on what gifts (foreign and domestic) can be accepted by a government employee or elected official,” she wrote.

“Working with NARA and GSA, I am in full compliance with the final disposition of gifts. So much so, we are loading the large portrait received after the 21st on a Penske truck to transport to my house so I can put it on my moving van,” Sayle added.

A New Investigation of a Post-Presidential Life in the Post-White House: The Case of Donald J. Nauta

It wasn’t until mid-January – just nine days before President Joe Biden’s inauguration – that Trump’s staff began setting up a post presidential life for the former President following a plan signed off on by former chief of staff Mark Meadows. Following the same pattern of past presidential transitions, GSA would provide the funds and support to help with the transition and setting up a post-presidential office.

The chaotic environment continued after Trump vacated the White House. In July of 2016 a flurry of late-night emails show staff trying to get boxes sent off on the final night of their shift, but being unable to use transition funds to assist them.

Sayle wrote to the GSA that his intern would be flying back to DC tomorrow and would be able to pack the pallets in Crystal City. “Before I send him to pick up a roll of shrink wrap from Uhaul and plan to head over, can you tell me if there is AC on the 12th floor?”CORRECTION: This story has been updated to correctly reference the General Services Administration.

The source said that the employee of the Trump Organization initially denied handling sensitive documents or boxes. The witness had originally said that Trump had given instructions to move them, but new evidence from the FBI forced them back to their original story.

The witness account of the actions Trump took after a subpoena was served and the video that was shown to him could be significant for the federal criminal investigation that is looking into a range of potential crimes.

The four searches overseen by Trump’s legal team came amid lingering concerns from the Justice Department that not all documents had been returned to the federal government.

The footage showed Walt Nauta, a former military aide who left the White House and then went to work for Mr. Trump at Mar-a-Lago, moving boxes from a storage room that became a focus of the Justice Department’s investigation, according to the people briefed on the matter. The inquiry has centered on whether Mr. Trump improperly kept national security records after he left the White House and obstructed the government’s repeated efforts to get them back.

One of the people told them that the Justice Department had interview Mr. Nauta. The interviews started before the F.B.I. carted off more than 11,000 documents, some of which bore classification markings. The investigation of Mr. Trump’s handling of the documents is not being co operated with by Mr. Nauta.

The House January 6 committee voted to subpoena him after laying bare his depraved efforts to overthrow the 2020 election and his dereliction of duty as his mob invaded the US Capitol.

The dramatic effort to get Trump to testify was a mic drop moment that gave the committee a warning about Trump in January 2021, and it probably wasn’t worth it.

But the developments that could hurt Trump the most happened off stage. The distance between now and when the ex President will be charged with a crime is an extraordinary legal thicket and a reflection of the presidency that tested the rule of law.

As the midterm election draws closer and Trump grapples with his next political move, he and allies are eager for some relief from his web of legal troubles.

As the House select committee hearing went on, the Supreme Court sent word from across the road that it’s got no interest in getting sucked into Trump’s bid to derail a Justice Department probe into classified material he kept at Mar-a-Lago.

The court turned down his emergency request to intervene, which could have delayed the case, without explaining why. Conservative justices who Trump elevated to the bench and whom he feels owe him a debt of loyalty were not dissented.

The ex- President could face grave legal problems if the Justice Department launches a new investigation into him on January 6. Unlike the House’s version, the DOJ’s criminal probe has the power to draw up indictments.

In recent weeks, prosecutors secured grand jury testimony from the two people hired to search Trump’s properties last fall and have been pursuing answers from his lawyers.

The FBI searched Mar-a-Lago in August, according to the Trump lawyers. As they threatened to hold Trump in contempt, the Justice Department demanded that Trump lawyers also do another search of the property.

The details of what took place at Mar-a-Lago did not amount to obstruction of justice according to David Schoen, Trump’s defense lawyer in his second impeachment.

The former President may be at risk of being sued if he mishandled classified documents after leaving the White House, because of compliance with the grand jury subpoena. In earlier court filed, prosecutors claimed that Trump had likely tried to obstruct the government’s investigation because his team had not complied with a subpoena.

On Thursday morning, New York Attorney General Letitia James asked a state court to block the Trump Organization from moving assets and continuing to perpetrate what she has alleged in a civil lawsuit is a decades-long fraud.

James filed a motion for a preliminary injunction against Trump and his children, claiming they’ll engage in similar fraudulent conduct until the case is decided.

It would be highly unusual for the Justice Department to observe searches that aren’t conducted by law enforcement. The department declined to comment. Steven Cheung, a spokesman for Trump, said the former president and his counsel “continue to be cooperative and transparent.”

Those aren’t even the only probes connected to Trump. It’s also worth mentioning that the ex President and his allies are under investigation in Georgia over attempts to overturn the election in 2020 in a crucial swing state.

The Unselect Committee is a Total ‘BUST’: Why Did Trump Defend the Subpoena Before the January 6 Elections?

One of those days, when the seriousness of a crisis can be gauged by the vehemence of the rhetoric he uses, Trump came out fighting on Thursday.

Taylor Budowich was Trump’s spokesman and ridiculed the vote to subpoena the former President.

Pres. Trump will not be intimidated by their rhetoric or actions. Trump-endorsed candidates will sweep the Midterms, and America First leadership & solutions will be restored,” Budowich wrote on Twitter.

Then the former President weighed in on his Truth Social network with another post that failed to answer the accusations against him, but that was clearly designed to stir a political reaction from his supporters.

“Why didn’t the Unselect Committee ask me to testify months ago? The final moments of their last meeting, why did they wait? Because the Committee is a total ‘BUST,’” Donald Trump wrote.

Given the ex-President’s history of obstructing efforts to examine his tumultuous presidency, it would be a surprise if he does not fight the subpoena, although there might be part of him that would relish a primetime spot in a live hearing.

The subpoena could also give the bipartisan committee some cover from pro-Trump Republicans who claim that it is a politicized attempt to impugn Trump that has not allowed cross-examination of witnesses. If it wished to enforce a subpoena, the committee would have to seek a contempt of Congress referral to the Justice Department from the full House. It took such a step with Trump’s political guru, Steve Bannon, who was found guilty on two counts of contempt of Congress and soon faces a sentencing hearing.

It will take months for any effort to follow a similar path if Trump doesn’t testify. It’s unclear whether the Justice Department would consider this a good investment, especially given the advanced state of its own January 6 probe. And there’s a good chance the committee will be swept into history anyway, with Republicans favored to take over the House majority following the midterm elections.

Given the slim chance of Trump complying with a congressional subpoena then, many observers will see the dramatic vote to target the ex-President as yet another theatrical flourish in a set of slickly produced hearings that often resembled a television courtroom drama.

The investigation was not only about January 6 but also about the future, said Liz Cheney, the Republican vice chair.

“With every effort to excuse or justify the conduct of the former President, we chip away at the foundation of our Republic,” said the Wyoming lawmaker, who won’t be returning to Congress after losing her primary this summer to a Trump-backed challenger.

Where Are the Beef? Comment on a High-Sensitivity Response to the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals to Trump’s Florida Estate

The records were called extraordinarily sensitive by the Justice Department and it wanted the court to stay out of the dispute.

The judges of the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals agreed to freeze portions of the orders when asked by the Justice Department.

“The Eleventh Circuit lacked jurisdiction to review, much less stay, an interlocutory order of the District Court providing for the Special Master to review materials seized from President Trump’s home,” Trump told the Supreme Court last week.

According to Trump’s team, Raymond Dearie, the senior US judge that was appointed as special master, will be profoundly affected by the appeals court order.

The filing stated that the review of materials seized in the extraordinary raid of a President’s home erodes public confidence in our system.

The Justice Department is appealing that decision in the lower courts, as well as the appointment of a special master by Trump, according to the US Solicitor General.

The DOJ, in its filing, argued that the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals found that Cannon “abused her discretion” and inflicted “a serious and unwarranted intrusion on the Executive Branch’s authority to control the use and distribution of extraordinarily sensitive government records.”

A court-appointed special master expressed frustration on Tuesday with the limited information he’s getting from the Justice Department and from defense lawyers for former President Donald Trump about disputes over documents seized from Mar-a-Lago.

“Where’s the beef? The third-party reviewer of seized documents asked for some beef during a conference call with attorneys from both sides.

On Tuesday, Dearie pointed, for instance, to a letter that’s already in dispute as potentially private in the collection of documents taken from Trump’s Florida estate. The unsigned letter found in Mar-a-Lago was addressed to the Justice Department. The Justice Department hadn’t said if the agency had received it.

Dearie asked why the two sides can’t determine among themselves if the letter was sent, which would be a crucial fact to help the judge decide if it should be kept confidential.

“I don’t want to be dealing with nonsense objections, nonsense assertions, especially when I have one month to deal with who knows how many assertions,” said Dearie of the Eastern District of New York.

There is certain incongruity there if I am wrong and I have been wrong before. Perhaps the plaintiffs’ counsel will address that in a submission,” Dearie said.

The Trump-Lagrange Document Discovery Challenge Revisited: Do I Want My Documents Back? Comment on Trump’s Dispute with the Florida Solicitor General Chris Kise

The parties have not said how many of the seized pages are in disputes or how they will be decided by the master.

The idea of allowing federal officials to return to Trump’s property with his lawyers present is one option being considered by the team to protect him from potential legal jeopardy. No firm decisions have been made while sources familiar with the situation say Trump’s legal team is continuing to weigh how accommodating or adversarial they should be toward the Justice Department.

In the throes of multiple legal battles and hoping to alleviate some of the pressure he is facing, Trump has recently signaled to aides and allies that he is open to a less adversarial approach toward the Justice Department – one that might swiftly resolve the records issue after weeks of contentious court proceedings, according to people familiar with the situation.

A person associated with Donald Trump said that the former president wants to move forward and that the general belief is that this is much ado about nothing.

At least some of the battle to secure their return has been playing out behind the scenes in a court proceeding that is under seal, according to people familiar with the situation. One potential resolution could involve the Justice Department asking a judge to issue an order compelling the Trump team to work with DOJ to arrange for another search.

Sources close to Trump said that the former President has become more amenable to the cooperative approach being advocated by some of his more experienced lawyers, including former Florida Solicitor General Chris Kise, who joined his legal team following the FBI search in August. Kise had been hampered by Trump and some of his advisers.

Trump has never substantiated his claim that federal investigators planted evidence during a search at Mar-a-Lago.

The document dispute has been complicated by Trumps personal views. He initially claimed that his team had been fully cooperative with investigators and insisted on social media “ALL THEY HAD TO DO WAS ASK,” for documents to be returned. Trump has since argued, on social media and in court filings, that the Mar-a-Lago documents are his property. I would like my documents back! The former President spoke about it in early October.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/19/politics/trump-mar-a-lago-second-search/index.html

A search for a special counsel in the FBI investigating the 2020 election: Boris Epshteyn, a third Trump lawyer, testified in court

Corcoran has insisted to colleagues that he does not believe he faces any legal risk and has not hired a lawyer, according to sources familiar with his situation.

Boris Epshteyn, a third Trump lawyer, had his cellphone seized by the FBI and testified in front of a grand jury investigating attempts to overturn the 2020 election.

The letter, filed on Thursday by the Justice Department, describes disputes over ownership and executive privilege claims involving a batch of 15 records that have undergone early review. In August, F.B.I. agents raided Mr. Trump’s club and residence, taking thousands of documents and other materials.

The materials from the initial tranche that Mr. Trump maintains belong to him include six packages submitted to him when he was president supporting requests that he grant clemency to pardon-seekers; two documents related to his administration’s immigration policies; and an email addressed to him from a person at a military academy, it said.

Two documents with classified markings were found in a Florida storage unit during a search by a team hired by former President Donald Trump’s lawyers, a person familiar with the situation told CNN.

The search at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement was part of an FBI “assessment” that the DOJ described in a timeline of events it released earlier this month, according to the official. In relaying that timeline earlier this month, Attorney General Merrick Garland said: “On November 9, the FBI commenced an assessment, consistent with standard protocols, to understand whether classified information had been mishandled in violation of federal law.”

The prospect of a special counsel was worrying Trump’s attorneys who have been fighting for the investigation in court. And Trump himself has complained about the matter, likening the prospect to former special counsel Robert Mueller, who oversaw the Russia investigation.

Attorney General Merrick Garland brought on special prosecutors to investigate Biden and Trump. Jack Smith was appointed as a special counsel to investigate the Trump matter. Robert Hur was appointed in January to investigate the Biden matter.

Jack Smith investigated war crimes in Kosovo while he was chief prosecutor for the special court.

The Democrats Shouldn’t Have to Shur Down Investigations During the Presidency of Donald Trump, or Did Trump Attack on the US Capitol?

Speaking at the America First gala at Mar-a-Lago on Friday night, the former president called the special counsel appointment an “appalling announcement” and a “horrendous abuse of power.”

The former president on Friday indicated that he had believed federal investigations into him were slowing down or over until the announcement from Garland. He told the crowd at Mar-a-Lago that the investigations were political and that it would not be a fair investigation.

The Justice Department had been stymied in their investigation into the handling of government records during the presidency of Trump.

The law is clear according to the appeals court. It is impossible to create a rule that allows the subject of a search warrant to stop government investigations once they are done. Nor can we write a rule that allows only former presidents to do so.”

Both approaches would violate bedrock separation-of- powers limitations and would be a radical reordering of our caselaw, the 11th Circuit said.

The former president’s attorneys said his constitutional rights were violated, and that there may have been privileged materials seized. But in court filings, Trump did not elaborate on what exactly he hoped a special master would filter out, besides general allusions to “privileged and potentially privileged materials.”

There may be obstruction of justice, criminal handling of government records and violating the Espionage Act.

Trump lawyer Tim Parlatore talked about the referral on CNN. “The Department of Justice doesn’t have to follow it. We have dealt with an investigation for quite some time. Really what this does, If anything, it just politicizes the process.”

Parlatore was responding to the unprecedented criminal referrals that the bipartisan select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol sent to the Justice Department earlier this week. Committee members said they believed Trump was guilty of at least four federal crimes, including conspiracy and obstructing a joint session of Congress.

The January 6 committee reached those conclusions after unearthing evidence from witnesses indicating that Trump was warned that some of his post-election schemes to overturn the results were illegal – but he tried them anyway. This included Trump’s relentless pressure campaign against Vice President Mike Pence, whom Trump hoped would interfere with the electoral vote count during the joint session on January 6, 2021.

“It doesn’t have anything to do with our defense as of right now, it’s political noise, but it does have something to do with the investigations at Mar-a-Lago and the potential mishandling of government documents,” said Parlatore.

CNN spoke to Parlatore on Saturday and he said that there were no more records with classification markings still at Mar-a-Lago.

The FBI and Justice Department are looking into the case of Trump, the president, and the search for Mar-a-Lago: A joint FBI-Jacobi investigation

The DOJ was trying to hold Trump and his office in contempt for not complying with a subpoena after the search of Mar-a-Lago.

The Justice Department argued that grand jury proceedings should be kept under wraps, after media organizations asked for access to more of what is happening behind closed doors.

The two individuals who were hired to search four of Trump’s properties last fall were each interviewed for about three hours in separate appearances last week.

By pushing for access to computers, investigators are trying to determine if there is an electronic paper trail regarding the classified documents, another source said.

The Biden and Pence situations have been markedly different. While they also highlight sloppiness around the tracking of classified papers, both Biden’s and Pence’s teams have readily handed them back to intelligence officials.

Special counsel Jack Smith and prosecutors who now work for him have used the federal grand jury nearly weekly to question witnesses in the Mar-a-Lago investigation.

The FBI first looked at the classified documents at the National Archives, and the other materials from the Penn Biden Center, CNN reports one of the sources as saying. The source said that the only FBI visit was to examine the documents.

This latest revelation raises additional questions about how transparent the White House and Biden’s legal team have been about the government’s investigation into the president’s handling of classified documents, which is now being overseen by special counsel Robert Hur.

The purpose of the visit was likely to ensure that nothing was left in the office and assess how the documents were stored, according to a former Justice Department official.

The team from the Penn Biden Center gave the Archives at least four boxes of unclassified materials and about three dozen boxes of classified materials from their office, according to a source. The additional boxes, which included every document left at the Penn Biden Center, were given to the Archives on November 8, the source said.

Some of Biden’s papers were labeled as “top secret”, the highest level of classification. Some of those documents had an “SCI” designation, which stands for “sensitive compartmented information” and refers to extremely sensitive material gleaned from US intelligence sources.

The FBI and Justice Department are looking into how the documents ended up at his house, as reported by CNN. This is not a full-blown criminal investigation.

The furthest away the Trump investigation has progressed. Federal prosecutors tried to hold Trump in contempt of court when they tried to get all the classified documents back, but he did not comply. CNN is reporting that a grand jury based in Washington, DC, heard testimony recently from witnesses, and that investigators got a judge’s approval to execute a search warrant for Mar-a-Lago.

There haven’t been any known subpoenas or search warrants in the Biden inquiry, though the FBI has conducted voluntary interviews with some of the people on Biden’s team who handled documents.

Parlatore said that whenever he found something, he immediately turned it over to the criminal investigators.

He also said that a folder with a classified evening summary was found in the former president’s bedroom after Trump’s team gave it to the DOJ.

According to Parlatore, Trump had been using an empty folder as a lamp shade to block a light on his phone that was keeping him up at night.

“He has one of those landline telephones next to his bed, and it has a blue light on it, and it keeps him up at night. He put the manilla folder over to keep the light off so he could sleep. It is only this folder. There is a summary on it. It’s not a classification marking. It isn’t anything that is controlled. There is no illegal thing about it.

Searches for classified materials at the end of the presidential term: prosecutors say she didn’t notice there were a box of Donald Trump documents

The DOJ will threaten people to go to jail over procedural failures and institutional failures that have nothing to do with any of these people, even though they’re a part of the criminal process.

Parlatore said the DOJ should be “benched” on matters related to classified material and, instead of appointing special counsels, it should be left up to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to conduct an administrative review of the White House’s procedure for handling such documents at the end of each presidency.

After Robert O’Brien, former national security adviser to Mike Pence, was subpoenaed in Jack Smith’s other investigation regarding January 6, Trump intends to assert executive privilege to limit his testimony.

The library at the University of Delaware, Biden’s alma mater, is home to an extensive collection of papers from the president’s time in the Senate, according to its website.

They examined two separate batches of documents during the searches: an archive of materials from Biden’s time in the US Senate and documents that Biden sent to the university in recent years.

The president’s personal attorney, Molly Levinson, did not comment and referred inquiries to the Justice Department. A spokesman for the White House referred inquiries to the Justice Department.

Investigators working for special counsel Jack Smith in recent weeks have interviewed a Trump aide who copied classified materials found in the box using her phone to put them onto a laptop. After a voluntary interview with the aide, prosecutors subpoenaed the password to the laptop, which she provided, according to one of the sources.

One person who described the box’s movements and the special counsel’s inquiry into it described federal investigators as suspecting a “shell game with classified documents.” A person said that Trump instructions to staff and his daily movements are important questions for prosecutors to ask.

As she worked through the thousands of pages over several days, she didn’t notice there were classified documents among the presidential records, the people said.

Donald Trump versus the FBI: When the FBI discovered the box in November 2021, the press conference was held in Palm Beach, Florida, April 21, 2020

In November 2021, after the contents in the box were scanned, the box was moved to an office in downtown Palm Beach funded by the General Services Administration, the people said.

Trump’s team had hoped their searches in November – and assertions in writing that they’ve scoured Trump’s properties and handed over all classified records – put to rest prosecutors’ concerns.