The Department of Justice is now expanding its probe into former President Donald Trump’s potential mishandling of classified documents, adding allegations of “obstruction of justice” in a newly released court filing.
In the court filing late Tuesday, the Justice Department said it has evidence that documents were “likely concealed and removed” before the FBI’s search to retrieve them.
Criminal trial lawyer and constitutional attorney Page Pate, who is not associated with this case, says the 36-page document explains in detail the steps the federal government took before ultimately deciding to search Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
“The Department of Justice basically laid out its case, this is how we tried to get the documents, this is how Trump and his team failed to comply, so this is what we had to do,” Pate said, referring to the government’s response to Trump’s lawyers who requested a special master to oversee future proceedings.
The report lays out in chronological order the strained interactions that led up to the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago.
The DOJ also released a photo of some of the classified documents that FBI agents received on Aug. 8, confiscating 33 boxes containing more than 100 classified records. On the floor are six piles of documents, labeled secrete, top secret, limited access and confidential.
According to the DOJ:
- In January, the National Archives initially sought access to 15 boxes of classified information at Mar-a-Lago.
- In February, Trump’s lawyers asked for an extension.
- On May 16, 15 boxes of classified documents were turned over to the FBI.
- But an FBI investigation indicates dozens of additional boxes remained.
According to the new court filing, Trump’s attorneys assured DOJ officials that the former president wasn’t in possession of any more classified documents. And it’s at this point that federal investigators say the obstructive conduct occurred.
“The conversations with Trump’s legal team become very important now because that could be evidence of the separate crime of either making a false statement or obstructing justice,” Pate said. “So not only do they have the problem about should they have these documents and what did they do with them, but now there’s the separate potential crime of obstruction of the investigation.”
The former president on Wednesday took to social media in his own defense, writing, “Terrible the way the FBI, during the raid of Mar-a-Lago, threw documents haphazardly all over the floor (perhaps pretending it was me that did it!) and then started taking pictures of them for the public to see. Thought they wanted to keep them secret? Luckily I Declassified!”
Trump has said the search of his home is one of the most egregious assaults, stoking outrage from many of his supporters, some of whom have threatened violence against federal agents.
“I actually think that’s Trump’s strategy here as far as how this is going to play out is probably his best strategy,” Pate said. “He does not have a good legal defense, he doesn’t have a good defense on the facts or the law, so what he’s doing is basically making the Justice Department realize how difficult this may be politically for them to pursue, how difficult it may be to actually get the case in a courtroom and find a jury that’s going to convict him, either in Florida or in Washington, D.C.”
Some of the documents retrieved from Mar-a-Lago were so sensitive that FBI agents needed special clearance to look at them. What remains unclear is whether Attorney General Merrick Garland will prosecute this case. It’s also unknown why the former president continued to store those documents in his home.