- The DOJ subpoenaed Trump for classified documents before approving the Mar-a-Lago raid, the NYT reported.
- NYT investigators said some of the documents were so sensitive that the DOJ decided they had no choice but to turn them over to the FBI, sources said.
- Conservative commentator and Trump supporter John Solomon first revealed the existence of the subpoena on Wednesday night.
A grand jury subpoenaed former President Donald Trump over classified documents he brought into Mar-a-Lago from the White House before the FBI took the dramatic step of searching his home.
Two people briefed on the document, some of which are classified, said investigators considered some of the material to be highly sensitive and important to national security, and therefore had no legal representation. The department told The Times it had no choice but to send FBI agents to retrieve them from March. -a-Lago.
The process of obtaining a search warrant likely began weeks ago, according to legal experts, with Trump’s 2017 appointment of FBI Director Christopher Wray and Attorney Merrick Garland after firing James Comey. It was approved by the highest levels of the Justice Department, including the Director General.
Trump’s attorney Christina Bob told news outlets that investigators seized about a dozen boxes from an underground storage room on the property during the raid.
Trump announced the raid on Monday. In his lengthy statement, he accused the Justice Department and the FBI of “prosecutorial misconduct” and “political persecution,” adding, “They even broke into my safe!”
It was initially unclear what the search warrant was for, but ABC News later cited a source as saying the 15 boxes of documents Trump took to Mar-a-Lago when he left office. He returned them to the archives in January after being told to return them, but officials told the Justice Department in February that Trump was the first to move the documents. I asked him to investigate whether he had ever broken the law.
Bob told The Washington Post that an undisclosed search warrant indicates investigators are investigating whether there were any violations of classified material laws.
Longtime federal prosecutor Gene Rossi also told Insider this week that the affidavit supporting the warrant suggests that Trump violated other laws, including laws against obstruction, riot, sedition, and other probable causes. He said he would be “shocked” if it wasn’t included.
“Searching Donald Trump’s house only takes one shot,” he said. “In my view, the Department of Justice is not going to blow their wads just by looking at the Records Act.”
Conservative commentator John Solomon, who represents Trump at the National Archives, first revealed the existence of the subpoena on his website late Wednesday.
Solomon said the subpoena was sent out in June and that Trump would “provide corroborating evidence, turn over security surveillance footage, and allow federal agents and senior Justice Department attorneys to tour his personal storage locker.” I responded by doing so,” he wrote. incident. “
After Monday’s raid, Newsweek and The Wall Street Journal reported to authorities that an informant said classified government documents may have been improperly stored at Mar-a-Lago. reported.
Trump’s longtime lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, told CNN on Thursday that Trump likely feels “trapped” and who leaked the information to the federal government. But he said he feared there might be more dirt on him.
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