By Aaron Miller-
The US Justice Department claims it has uncovered efforts to obstruct its investigation into the discovery of classified documents at the former president’s Mar-a-Lago estate.
Documents stored at former President Donald Trump’s Florida home were likely to have been concealed as part of an effort to obstruct an FBI investigation, the Department of Justice officials have said.
On Monday, the department said it had already reviewed the files and only identified a “limited set of materials that potentially contain” privileged information.
In a court filing, the department of justice said efforts to conceal the documents were likely to obstruct the FBI investigation was likely taken to obstruct” the investigation into Mr Trump’s handling of classified material.
The filing was a response to Mr Trump’s request for an independent party to oversee part of the ongoing case.
The 54 pages if the filing elaborates on the necessity of the search of Trump’s property, contrary to the perception the former U.S president tried to circulate that an ulterior motive underlay the decision to search his property.
Conservative commentator George Conway, husband of Trump’s former senior adviser Kellyanne Conway, said it was “insanity” that the ex-president’s legal team had gone to a court seeking the appointment of a “special master” to oversee the inquiry, knowing it would likely reveal publicly much of what investigators knew.
“Basically they asked for the justice department to punch them in the face. And that’s what the justice department did in this in this brief,” he told CNN.
“They talk about obstruction… these documents were moved around from room to room. And they actually show us the certification. I don’t think we’ve seen that before, the certification from Trump’s lawyers that said ‘hey, there were no more documents, no more classified documents’ last year in response to a subpoena.
“They certified that’s it: ‘There’s all the responsive documents we have, and it turned out there were no documents anywhere other than in storage rooms.’
“It turned out there were documents at his office. They were documents all over the place, and tons of them. This factual recitation has him dead to rights. There’s just no question about it, and it explains a lot today about why we’re seeing Donald Trump ‘truthing out’ on his social media platform that’s failing. He was basically just freaking out all day and the reason is this.”
Top secret document found at Trump estate Image: Department of Justice
Imperative
It is imperative for US presidents transfer all of their documents and emails to the National Archives once they leave office. The FBI is investigating whether Mr Trump improperly handled records by taking them from the White House to Mar-a-Lago after he left office in January 2021.
Failed attempts by officials of the Justice Department to retrieve documents led to a National Archives team visiting Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in January and retrieving 15 boxes of White House records that contained “highly classified reports”, some of which were “intermixed with other records” and even contained Mr Trump’s “handwritten notes”.
Also included in the department’s filing was a photograph of colour-coded documents apparently taken during the search. It shows various files spread out across a carpet with some marked “Secret” and “Top Secret”.
The image, released in a court filing, showed cover pages of several paper-clip bound classified documents, some of which are marked as “top secret//sci” with bright yellow borders, spread out on the floor.
Beside them was a cardboard box filled with gold-framed pictures, including a Time Magazine cover which features Mr Trump alongside a number of other world leaders.
The filing by the department states that “government records were likely concealed or removed” from a storage room even after Mr Trump’s representatives had told officials they had thoroughly searched the property.
A photo released as part of a filing by the Justice Department of documents seized from Mar-a-Lago
“The government also developed evidence that
The FBI carried out a raid on the estate on 8 August as part of an investigation into whether Mr Trump took classified records from the White House.
Seizures
Officers seized 33 boxes containing more than 100 classified records during the search and found three confidential documents stashed in office drawers, the latest filing also revealed.
Investigators conducting the criminal probe have focused not just on why the records were stored at the estate, but also on whether the Trump team intentionally misled them about the unlawful presence of government secrets.
They also said “there were no other records stored in any private office space or other location on the premises and that all available boxes were searched”.
Lawyers have asked for the appointment to be made so there is someone responsible for looking over the documents and setting aside those protected by claims of legal privilege.
The judge has said it is her “preliminary intent” to appoint such a person, but also gave the Department of Justice an opportunity to respond.
Trump’s Legal Team Acted Insanely
Leading the criticism against Trump’s decision to ask the courts to appoint a special master to oversee the inquiry was Conservative commentator George Conway, husband of Trump’s former senior adviser Kellyanne Conway.
He said it was “insanity” that the ex-president’s legal team had gone to a court seeking the appointment of a “special master” to oversee the inquiry, knowing it would likely reveal publicly much of what investigators knew.
“Basically they asked for the justice department to punch them in the face. And that’s what the justice department did in this in this brief,” he told CNN.
“They talk about obstruction… these documents were moved around from room to room. And they actually show us the certification. I don’t think we’ve seen that before, the certification from Trump’s lawyers that said ‘hey, there were no more documents, no more classified documents’ last year in response to a subpoena.
“They certified that’s it: ‘There’s all the responsive documents we have, and it turned out there were no documents anywhere other than in storage rooms.’
“It turned out there were documents at his office. They were documents all over the place, and tons of them. This factual recitation has him dead to rights. There’s just no question about it, and it explains a lot today about why we’re seeing Donald Trump ‘truthing out’ on his social media platform that’s failing. He was basically just freaking out all day and the reason is this.”