The latest revelation about Donald Trump and his investigation of the subpoena at Mar-a-Lago: A source familiar with the witness account
A source familiar with the witness tells me that a Trump employee told the FBI about being ordered by the former President to move boxes out of a basement storage room to his residence at Mar-a-Lago after Donald Trump received a subpoena for any classified documents.
The witness account of Trump’s actions after the subpoena was served in May coupled with the footage could be key to the federal criminal investigation that’s looking into a range of potential crimes, including obstruction, destruction of government records and mishandling of classified information.
FBI agents executed a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago in August and seized thousands of documents, including about 100 marked as classified. The FBI also subpoenaed the Trump Organization for surveillance video from the resort.
Trump missed multiple chances to return the documents to the government. Criminal prosecutors eventually concluded that there might have been intentional efforts to hold onto the documents, and Trump is now under investigation for potential obstruction.
Two different days, investigators retrieved materials from two different locations. The material appeared to be without classified markings according to the source, but they are now being reviewed by the FBI.
The storage unit where Trump’s belongings were taken after he left the White House was one of several places where the team searched with two other people.
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. Attorney General Garland stated earlier this month that the FBI commenced an assessment on November 9 to determine if classified information was mishandled in violation of federal law.
One of Donald Trump’s lawyers said Sunday they have completed their searches for classified material at the former president’s properties and handed over what they found to the Justice Department.
The FBI examined the binders that were handed over to the Archives by the president’s campaign attorney. There were no classified materials in the binders, the source said.
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 FBI was informed by the Archives about the discovery of classified materials after they looked at four boxes of documents, according to a source.
In addition to the four boxes, the source said, the Biden team also gave the Archives possession of about three dozen boxes of unclassified materials from the Penn Biden Center office out of an abundance of caution. The Penn Biden Center gave the Archives additional boxes that contained every document left there, according to a source.
In all three cases, sensitive government materials were found in places where they shouldn’t have ended up. There are differences between each situation, like Biden, Trump and Pence’s responses to the discovery of documents and the Justice Department’s investigation.
The person followed a different path. After he left the White House, NARA realized that materials were missing. They reached out to Trump’s lawyers to negotiate the voluntary return of several boxes of important documents.
CNN reported earlier this year that some of the government papers recovered from his home were described as “lower level.” The government papers were labeled “lower level” without any markings.
Special prosecutors were brought in to investigate Biden and Trump. The Trump matter is being investigated by special counsel Jack Smith, who was appointed in November. The Biden matter is being investigated by Robert Hur, who was appointed in January.
The Trump investigation has progressed the farthest. Federal prosecutors got a subpoena, demanded the return of all classified documents and tried to hold Trump in contempt when he didn’t fully comply. Investigators also got a judge to approve a search warrant for Mar-a-Lago and CNN has reported that there is an active grand jury based in Washington, DC, that recently heard testimony from witnesses.
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.
Pence would give the FBI full access to look throughout his home, Short added, just as President Joe Biden’s legal team said he had done during a search of Biden’s home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, last week.
As CNN previously reported, Pence’s representatives have been in talks with the Justice Department over searches of his home, as well as his office in Washington. They do not believe there are any additional classified documents in either place, as they say they want to completely cooperate.
Short believes that he doesn’t hear concerns about the documents when he travels across the country. He hears encouragement as he travels.
“I think the trajectory of most candidates who get in early to Republican primaries doesn’t really fare too well, so I think there is a benefit to him waiting until the end of this process,” he said.
Trump Lawyer Timothy Parlatore: The Classified Materials that Trump Left Behind for a “Sleaky Night at Night”
Parlatore told CNN that his client was cooperative in the criminal probe even though he failed to find any incriminating evidence.
CNN reported Friday that the folder was among the items that Trump’s legal team has turned over to federal prosecutors in recent months, in addition to more materials with classified markings and a laptop belonging to an aide.
According to Parlatore, Trump had been using an empty folder as a lamp shade to block the light on his phone so he could sleep 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. So he took the manilla folder and put it over so it would keep the light down so he could sleep at night,” Parlatore said. “It’s just this folder. The classified evening summary is on it. It isn’t a classification marking. It isn’t something that is controlled. There is nothing illegal about it.”
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/12/politics/trump-lawyer-timothy-parlatore-classified-material/index.html
The White House Library at the University of Delaware – A Public Library for the President’s Time in the Senate and Joseph Biden’s Other Investigation
The DOJ can threaten people to go to jail over procedural failures that have nothing to with Donald Trump or Joe Biden, but they go into these things because they want to know what the DOJ can do.
It was suggested that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence should be asked to conduct an administrative review of the White House procedure for handling classified documents, instead of appointing special counsels.
Parlatore confirmed Sunday that Trump intends to assert executive privilege in an effort to limit the testimony of Pence and former national security adviser Robert O’Brien after both were subpoenaed in special counsel Jack Smith’s other investigation related to January 6.
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.
There are two batches of documents that they looked at: an archive of materials from Biden’s time in the US Senate, and something Biden sent to the university in recent years.
Molly Levinson, a spokeswoman for the president’s personal attorney, did not comment and referred inquiries to the Justice Department. Inquiries were referred to the Justice Department by a spokesman for the White House.