The US Department of Justice has said it has evidence that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) deliberately hid classified documents f...
The US Department of Justice has said it has evidence that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) deliberately hid classified documents from former President Donald Trump's Florida estate in June. which led to an extraordinary search of his house.
In a 54-page filing, prosecutors presented evidence of obstruction of justice and publicly alleged for the first time that aides to Donald Trump falsely certified in June that former The president has returned all official records he stored at his home when he left the White House last year.
It also revealed that inside the storage room, when FBI agents first traveled to his Palm Beach Mar-a-Lago resort in June to obtain records, Trump's lawyers had 'noted any government officials. Also clearly prohibited to open the box or look inside'.
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"The government also obtained evidence that government records were possibly hidden and removed from storage rooms and attempted to obstruct the government's investigation," the department said in a filing in Florida district court. was.'
He also released images of some classified records found inside Trump's home, some of which refer to confidential human sources.
The Justice Department filing comes ahead of Thursday's court hearing before Judge Elaine Cannon in West Palm Beach.
Judge Elaine Cannon is considering Trump's request to appoint a special master to review the privilege of documents seized from Mar-a-Lago on Aug. 8, many of which are labeled classified. was done.
Read More: 700 Secret Documents Revealed From Trump's Residence
A special master is an independent third party who is sometimes appointed by the court in sensitive cases to review material potentially covered by the attorney-client privilege to ensure that investigators do not misuse it. Do not look from
For example, a special master was appointed to search the homes and offices of two of Trump's former attorneys, Rudy Giuliani and Michael Cohen.
In Trump's initial court filing, his lawyers contended that the former president wanted to protect the material, which is subject to a legal doctrine called executive privilege, which could protect some presidential correspondence.
Legal experts questioned the argument, saying it was illogical for a former president to claim that he wanted to assert executive privilege against the executive branch itself.
Also Read: Trump Shreds Official Documents During Presidency, Exposed In Toilet Revealed
Donald Trump's legal team later narrowed its request and asked for a privilege review without explicitly mentioning executive privilege.
The Justice Department said it opposed the appointment of a special master.
The Aug. 8 search of Trump's home was one of several federal and state investigations Trump is facing.
Secret classification
In an amended affidavit based on the search released publicly by the department last week, an unnamed FBI agent said the agency had obtained official records requested by Trump from the US National Archives in January. After returning the 15 boxes, 184 documents with 'secret marks' were examined and identified.
After the National Archives discovered classified material, some of which related to intelligence gathering and confidential human sources, it referred the matter to the FBI.
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