Things are complicated for former President Donald Trump on his legal fronts. Awaiting Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s decision on whether to face charges of making irregular payments to a porn actress, courts in Washington took a step Wednesday that brings the possibility of another indictment a little closer. This is in case the tycoon is prosecuted for handling secret documents.
A federal appeals court in Washington has ruled that Trump attorneys Evan Corcoran and Jennifer Little must testify before a grand jury and produce documents related to their client. With that decision, the court agreed with Special Counsel Jack Smith, who was investigating the case, and dismissed the arguments of the former president’s representatives, who asked that the attorney not be coerced into testifying. Corcoran could appear before the grand jury this Friday, according to CNN.
The case involves thousands of classified documents related to the Trump presidency that the former president had in his possession after his term ended. US law requires presidents to preserve the official documents they handle in the performance of their duties and to turn them over to the national archives for safekeeping after they leave office.
Trump, on the other hand, was left with a significant amount of official papers, including hundreds with the seal declaring them secret. Last year, his lawyers voluntarily turned over a dozen boxes, including about 200 confidential documents, to the National Archives. In May, prosecutors issued an official order for the return of classified material that may have been in the former president’s possession. In June, Corcoran turned over another set of official papers and a formal statement to the judiciary that a search of Trump’s Florida home, Mar-a-Lago, found no other objectionable material. But in August, FBI agents authorized by court order searched Mar-a-Lago. 32 boxes of documents were confiscated.
The investigation, conducted by Special Counsel Jack Smith on behalf of the Justice Department, seeks to determine whether Trump knowingly kept these boxes and whether the former president or those related to him obstructed justice by failing to comply with requirements.
Smith had asked that Corcoran turn over a series of documents about the former president’s handling of the confidential material in his possession and that he testify before the grand jury examining the case. US law protects confidentiality between a lawyer and his client, but provides an exception where there is a suspicion that this relationship could be used for criminal purposes.
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Last Friday, Washington District Judge Beryl Howell ruled that Corcoran should testify before the grand jury a second time. The first time, the lawyer accepted the principle of confidentiality and refused to answer several questions put to him by the prosecutors. This time, Howell felt prosecutors had shown that there was enough evidence to overturn that principle. According to ABC, which first reported the events, the judge believes Trump knowingly did not tell his attorney that he had kept more confidential material.
Trump’s lawyers appealed in what has been a difficult few days for the former president. This weekend, the president announced on social media that he would be charged and jailed on Tuesday in the case being pursued by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg for paying $130,000 to magnate Michael Cohen’s former personal attorney and factotum She had silenced porn film actress Stormy Daniels in the middle of the 2016 presidential campaign. It is not yet known if charges will finally be brought against him on this legal front and the former White House tenant will become the first indicted ex-president in the history of the country.
From there, everything has moved at unprecedented speed in Washington and in the federal courts. On Tuesday, a three-person appeals court in the US capital urged the parties — the special counsel and Trump’s attorneys — to present their arguments within hours. The term expired this Tuesday at 6 a.m. local time.
they kept it. The former president’s legal representatives delivered their arguments in a 6,455-word file. But on Wednesday afternoon, the appeals court announced its decision: It did not accept the arguments of Trump’s lawyers. Therefore, those of the Justice Department prosecutors were retained. The principle of confidentiality was lifted: Corcoran and Little had to testify before the grand jury and show their documents and photographs.
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