Federal prosecutors have evidence that Donald Trump showed classified documents to people, the Washington Post reported Thursday, citing unnamed sources as the investigation into his handling of national security material and obstruction of justice nears its conclusion.
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The development could raise the stakes for the former president as it exposes him to serious action under the Espionage Act, deliberately communicating national security materials rather than simply detaining them, which is rarely charged.
Moving boxes in and out of a storage unit at Trump’s Florida resort Mar-a-Lago was a major focus for prosecutors, as Trump’s attorney, Evan Corcoran, focused there when he searched the property for classified documents.
Corcoran found about 40 classified documents in the storage room and told the Justice Department that no more papers were left on the property. But that claim was called into question when the FBI seized 101 classified documents months later, including from the storage unit in question.
The central question for special counsel, Jack Smith, was whether Trump ensured classified documents were removed from the storage facility before Corcoran searched there, to keep them illegally, even though he had been told he couldn’t, as the Guardian reported. first did. reported.
When U.S. Chief Judge Beryl Howell forced Corcoran to testify before a grand jury, she said in an 86-page legal memo that she believed when Trump went through boxes last year to return material to the National Archives, it “apparently was a dress “. rehearsal” for the summons.
The Post attributed the “dress rehearsal” line to officials, though it was reported in March, according to Howell’s legal opinion.
More importantly, it remains unclear whether the special counsel has evidence that Trump’s response to the records was an attempt to obstruct justice.
Prosecutors have also developed evidence in recent weeks that Trump associates at Mar-a-Lago returned boxes of documents to the storage facility last year the day before Justice Department officials arrived to retrieve classified documents subpoenaed, the Post reported. .
Trump has denied wrongdoing, though his defense is based on his nearly unfettered ability as president to release documents. That argument is seen by the judiciary as a stooge, because he is actually being investigated for withholding material for national security.
This is Article 793e of the US Code, which does not state whether documents are classified. If prosecutors wanted to charge Trump with holding classified documents, as he claims, the statue in question would actually be Section 798.
A Trump spokesman previously said of the investigation: “This is nothing more than a targeted, politically motivated witch hunt against President Trump.”
Trump is not the only public figure under investigation for keeping secret documents. Joe Biden and Mike Pence, Trump’s vice president, were also found to have retained records after leaving office.
But Trump faces unprecedented legal troubles.
The clear front-runner for the Republican nomination faces 34 criminal charges related to his payment of hush money to a porn star; was held liable for sexual assault and defamation in a case brought by a writer alleging rape; faces state and federal investigations into his election subversion; is the subject of the investigation of classified documents; and is facing a civil suit from New York State over his business practices.
He denies any wrongdoing and claims to be a victim of political persecution – a stance that propelled him to a more than 30-point lead in the primary.
