CNN –
Two Donald Trump associates transported boxes of papers in Mar-a-Lago a day before the Justice Department visited the former president’s residence to pick up classified documents, the Washington Post reported Thursday.
The Post, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that investigators are looking at the timing — just before FBI agents and a prosecutor visited the Florida resort to retrieve documents sought under a subpoena — as a possible sign of disability.
Investigators have evidence that the former president kept secret documents prominently in his office and showed them to others, the newspaper reported. According to the report, he and his team also conducted “a ‘dress rehearsal’ for the transport of sensitive papers” before they were summoned in May 2022.
CNN previously reported that following the May 2022 subpoena – which the former president sought to oppose – federal prosecutors held a meeting in Mar-a-Lago in June where they were shown documents that had been kept in a basement room. Trump attorneys delivered an envelope containing 28 classified documents at the meeting, according to a breakdown by CNN.
The June meeting was followed later in August by a court-authorized FBI search of the property, in part because investigators uncovered evidence that classified documents may have remained at the home, a source previously told CNN.
An attorney for one of Trump’s associates told the Post his client was trying to help Trump’s adviser Walt Nauta and didn’t know what was in the boxes. “He was seen on Mar-a-Lago security video helping Walt Nauta move boxes to a storage area on June 2, 2022. My client saw Mr Nauta moving the boxes and volunteered to help him,” attorney John Irving told the Post.
Prosecutors have been pushing for answers as to why Nauta could be seen on surveillance footage of Mar-a-Lago moving boxes from the storage room before and after the May subpoena he said was in an interview with investigators done on Trump’s orders.
The latest revelations come after Special Counsel Jack Smith, who is investigating Trump’s handling of classified documents and possible obstructions to justice, recently obtained new evidence that could undermine Trump’s defense in the document case.
CNN reported exclusively last week that the National Archives planned to release 16 records showing Trump and his advisers were aware of the correct declassification process, debunking persistent claims by Trump and his allies that he did not have to follow any specific process. could undermine release documents.
Trump told CNN during a Republican presidential event earlier this month that he had declassified documents simply by removing them from the White House.
“I had every right to it under the Presidential Records Act,” Trump told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, adding, “You have the Presidential Records Act.” I’ve been there and I took what I took and it’s being released. ”
However, under the law, the National Archives becomes the legal custodian of the President’s records when a President leaves office.