{"id":162939,"date":"2022-08-31T05:27:52","date_gmt":"2022-08-31T05:27:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/?p=162939"},"modified":"2022-08-31T05:27:52","modified_gmt":"2022-08-31T05:27:52","slug":"documents-at-mar-a-lago-were-moved-and-hidden-as-u-s-sought-them-filing-suggests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/politics\/documents-at-mar-a-lago-were-moved-and-hidden-as-u-s-sought-them-filing-suggests\/","title":{"rendered":"Documents at Mar-a-Lago Were Moved and Hidden as U.S. Sought Them, Filing Suggests"},"content":{"rendered":"

The filing by the Justice Department paints the clearest picture to date of its efforts to retrieve documents from the former president\u2019s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.<\/p>\n

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By <\/span>Glenn Thrush,\u00a0<\/span>Charlie Savage,\u00a0<\/span>Alan Feuer<\/span> and Maggie Haberman<\/span><\/p>\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 The Justice Department sought a search warrant for former President Donald J. Trump\u2019s residence in Florida after obtaining evidence that highly classified documents were likely moved around and concealed and that Mr. Trump\u2019s representatives had falsely claimed all sensitive material had been returned, according to a court filing by the department on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The filing, which came in response to Mr. Trump\u2019s request for an independent review of materials seized from his home, Mar-a-Lago, paints the clearest picture yet of the department\u2019s exhaustive effort to retrieve the documents before taking the extraordinary step of searching a former president\u2019s private property on Aug. 8.<\/p>\n

Among the new disclosures in the 36-page filing were that the search yielded three classified documents in desks located inside Mr. Trump\u2019s office, with more than 100 documents in 13 boxes or containers with classification markings in the residence, including some at the most restrictive levels.<\/p>\n

That was twice the number of classified documents the former president\u2019s lawyers turned over voluntarily while swearing an oath that they had returned all the material demanded by the government.<\/p>\n

The investigation into Mr. Trump\u2019s retention of government documents began as a relatively straightforward attempt in 2021 to recover materials that officials with the National Archives had spent months trying to retrieve. Tuesday\u2019s filing made clear that prosecutors are now unmistakably focused on the possibility that Mr. Trump and those around him took potentially criminal steps to obstruct their investigation.<\/p>\n

Investigators developed evidence that \u201cgovernment records were likely concealed and removed\u201d from the storage room at Mar-a-Lago \u201cand that efforts were likely undertaken to obstruct the government\u2019s investigation,\u201d prosecutors wrote in the filing.<\/p>\n

It included one striking visual aid \u2014 a photograph of at least five yellow folders recovered from Mr. Trump\u2019s resort and residence marked \u201cTop Secret\u201d and another red one labeled \u201cSecret.\u201d<\/p>\n

But department officials are not close to filing charges, if they ever will. And it remains unclear what specific materials the government recovered in the search \u2014 or what actual risk to national security was posed by Mr. Trump\u2019s decision to retain the materials.<\/p>\n

While the contents of the filing provide important new information about the timeline of the investigation, much of the information was referenced, in less detail, in the affidavit used to obtain the warrant, which was unsealed by a federal magistrate judge last week.<\/p>\n

Takeaways From the Affidavit Used in the Mar-a-Lago Search<\/h2>\n\n

Takeaways From the Affidavit Used in the Mar-a-Lago Search<\/h2>\n\n

The release on Aug. 26\u00a0of a partly redacted affidavit used by the Justice Department to justify its search of former President Donald J. Trump\u2019s Florida residence included information that provides greater insight into the ongoing investigation into how he handled documents he took with him from the White House. Here are the key takeaways:<\/span><\/p>\n

Takeaways From the Affidavit Used in the Mar-a-Lago Search<\/h2>\n\n

The government tried to retrieve the documents for more than a year. <\/strong>The affidavit showed that the National Archives asked Mr. Trump as early as May 2021 for files\u00a0that needed to be returned. In January, the agency was\u00a0able to collect 15 boxes of documents.\u00a0The affidavit included a letter from May 2022 showing that Trump\u2019s lawyers knew that he might be in possession of classified materials\u00a0and that the Justice Department was investigating the matter.<\/span><\/p>\n

Takeaways From the Affidavit Used in the Mar-a-Lago Search<\/h2>\n\n

The material included highly classified documents. <\/strong>The F.B.I. said it had examined the 15 boxes Mr. Trump had returned to the National Archives in January and that\u00a0all but one of them\u00a0contained documents that were marked classified. The markings suggested that some documents\u00a0could compromise human intelligence sources\u00a0and that others were related to foreign intercepts collected under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.<\/span><\/p>\n

Takeaways From the Affidavit Used in the Mar-a-Lago Search<\/h2>\n\n

Prosecutors are concerned about obstruction and witness intimidation. <\/strong>To obtain the search warrant, the Justice Department had to lay out possible crimes to a judge, and obstruction of justice was among them. In a supporting document, the Justice Department said it had \u201cwell-founded concerns that steps may be taken to frustrate or otherwise interfere with this investigation if facts in the affidavit were prematurely disclosed.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The most important disclosures concerned the actions of Mr. Trump\u2019s legal team at his behest.<\/p>\n

The Justice Department effort began in May, after the F.B.I. examined 15 boxes of documents the National Archives had previously retrieved from Mar-a-Lago after months of asking Mr. Trump\u2019s representatives to return missing records. The bureau found 184 classified documents in that initial tranche.<\/p>\n

On May 11, the department lawyers obtained a subpoena to retrieve all materials marked as classified that were not turned over by the former president.<\/p>\n

On June 3, his team presented F.B.I. agents with 38 additional documents with classified markings, including 17 labeled top secret; they also provided the department\u2019s national security division with a written statement by one of Mr. Trump\u2019s lawyers on behalf of his office who was serving as the formal \u201ccustodian\u201d of the files. While that person\u2019s name has been redacted in government filings, multiple people have identified her as Christina Bobb.<\/p>\n

Ms. Bobb\u2019s statement was attached to the department\u2019s filing on Tuesday. In it, the lawyer wrote that \u201cbased upon the information that has been provided to me,\u201d there had been a \u201cdiligent\u201d search and all responsive documents to the subpoena were being returned.<\/p>\n

But law enforcement officials soon developed evidence that statement was untrue \u2014 and said their investigation cast serious doubt on the sworn statement.<\/p>\n

The F.B.I. \u201cuncovered multiple sources of evidence indicating that the response to the May 11 grand jury subpoena was incomplete and that classified documents remained at the premises, notwithstanding the sworn certification made to the government on June 3,\u201d the Justice Department filing said. \u201cIn particular, the government developed evidence that a search limited to the storage room would not have uncovered all the classified documents at the premises.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Justice Department obtained further subpoenas for surveillance videos of Mar-a-Lago, and the search warrant affidavit revealed that it had been working with multiple civilian witnesses. The result was the search warrant executed on August 8.<\/p>\n

Source: Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The filing by the Justice Department paints<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":162938,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23055],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nDocuments at Mar-a-Lago Were Moved and Hidden as U.S. Sought Them, Filing Suggests - Pre Coin News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/politics\/documents-at-mar-a-lago-were-moved-and-hidden-as-u-s-sought-them-filing-suggests\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Documents at Mar-a-Lago Were Moved and Hidden as U.S. Sought Them, Filing Suggests - Pre Coin News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The filing by the Justice Department paints\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/politics\/documents-at-mar-a-lago-were-moved-and-hidden-as-u-s-sought-them-filing-suggests\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pre Coin News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-08-31T05:27:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"mediabest\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Documents-at-Mar-a-Lago-Were-Moved-and-Hidden-as-U.S.-Sought-Them-Filing-Suggests.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"mediabest\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/politics\/documents-at-mar-a-lago-were-moved-and-hidden-as-u-s-sought-them-filing-suggests\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/politics\/documents-at-mar-a-lago-were-moved-and-hidden-as-u-s-sought-them-filing-suggests\/\",\"name\":\"Documents at Mar-a-Lago Were Moved and Hidden as U.S. Sought Them, Filing Suggests - 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