Donald Trump expressed concerns that returning classified docs he stored at Mar-a-Lago after being served a subpoena could result in criminal charges, according to audio notes taken by his lawyers at the time.
Donald Trump privately expressed concerns that turning over potentially classified documents after a May 2022 subpoena could result in criminal charges, according to transcripts of audio notes reviewed by ABC News. https://t.co/uNf2TQs0Xv pic.twitter.com/o0z96yRHv1
— ABC News (@ABC) June 25, 2024
From ABC News:
Prosecutors allege that rather than comply with the subpoena, Trump opted to hide dozens of classified documents from his own lawyers, and federal agents eventually seized 102 classified documents — including 17 top secret documents — after they executed a search warrant at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in August 2022.
Two months before agents searched Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s former lead attorney Evan Corcoran’s notes — which prosecutors have used to bolster their case against the former president — describe that Trump repeatedly blamed his legal troubles on his “political enemies,” was reluctant to allow the review of boxes that prosecutors say contained dozens of classified documents, and engaged in conduct that prosecutors believe was an effort to “corrupt” his attorneys by concealing Trump’s alleged retention of classified documents.
“He raised a question as to, if we gave them additional documents now, would they, would they, the Department of Justice, come back and say well, why did you withhold them and try to use that as a basis for criminal liability or to make him look bad in the press,” according to Corcoran’s notes about what Trump asked his attorneys in May 2022 after prosecutors subpoenaed the former president to turn over any classified documents in his possession, records reviewed by ABC News say.
Trump reportedly suggested to his attorneys at the time, “Well look, isn’t it better if there are no documents?” Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee overseeing the documents case, is considering tossing out the lawyers’ notes. Here’s the full report from ABC News:
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