Legal experts are calling on authorities to search Donald Trump’s property in Bedminster, New Jersey, after the former president asked his Mar-a-Lago staff to move classified documents before they could be retrieved by the FBI .
Washington Post It was reported Thursday that the former president asked staff at his Florida resort to move boxes of documents to a Mar-a-Lago storage room in June 2022, just as the FBI is scheduled to arrive to retrieve the material. was, for which he sought a summons, issued last May.
John Irving, an attorney representing one of the two employees who moved the box, said they were unaware of what was inside and were only helping valet driver Walt Nauta. Post It was previously reported that Nauta was ordered by Trump to move boxes of documents to a storage room at Mar-a-Lago after the former president received a government subpoena to return classified materials.
The next day, Irving said that one of the employees reportedly helped Nauta pack up an SUV “when former President Trump left for Bedminster for the summer,” Post informed of,
Donald Trump speaks during a press conference announcing a class action lawsuit against big tech companies at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster on July 7, 2021 in Bedminster, New Jersey. Trump remains mired in legal matters.
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
When the FBI arrived to retrieve the classified documents in June 2022, Trump’s legal team was alleged to have “obviously restrained” federal agents inside a storage room at Mar-a-Lago. The FBI raided Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in August 2022 and seized more than 100 classified and top secret documents, including some found in a storage room.
Trump has denied all wrongdoing in connection with the investigation of classified documents, his spokesman has called of post Reporting a “targeted, politically motivated witch hunt”.
Legal experts have now suggested Trump may have moved some classified documents to his golf resort in Bedminster, claiming Mar-a-Lago workers packed an SUV before the former president moved there last summer Was.
“It’s easy to say ‘If the DOJ believed the docs were in Bedminster, they would have already searched there.’ No. Sometimes a very promising angle in a case gets stuck in a holding pattern,” tweeted Tristan Snell, an attorney and former assistant attorney general for the state of New York.
“Also: The news about SUVs we’re hearing about now may also be a relatively recent revelation for the Fed – who may still be following it. In other words – yes, the Fed may still be searching.” Bedminster. It may still be on their to-do list. These things take time,” Snell said.
In a series of tweets, former Defense Department special counsel Ryan Goodman suggested that the charges Trump is facing in connection with the investigation of classified documents would be considered “much more egregious” if he were to receive them during the FBI’s investigation into another was taken to the location. trying to recover them. Goodman also noted an “interesting detail” about Bedminster. Postreporting.
Other social media users pointed to recent comments from Trump’s former lawyer Tim Parlatore, who told CNN that Trump’s fellow lawyer Boris Epshtein organized a search of Trump’s property in Bedminster for classified documents prior to the president’s legal team. was refused. A spokesman for Trump called the claims “baseless and patently false”.
Last September, footage emerged of Trump and several others loading boxes onto a plane as the former president made his way from Florida to Bedminster in May 2022. The footage was filmed just days after Trump received a federal subpoena requesting the return of all classified material. National Archives and Records Administration.
“Better investigate Bedminster,” former FBI officer Peter Strzok tweeted at the time, sharing a still image of the footage.
The clip has been shared again on Twitter in the wake of the latest allegations.
Mar-a-Lago Express:
May 6, 2021 – National Archives informs Trump that high-profile presidential records are missing
May 9, 2021 – Trump takes private plane from Palm Beach to Bedminster, with document boxes loaded onto plane
— Tristan Snell (@TristanSnell) May 25, 2023
Others have dismissed suggestions that the DOJ should now be searching Bedminster at this stage of the investigation. wall street journal It was recently reported that Special Counsel Jack Smith is “closing” the classified documents case and that indictments may be forthcoming.
“It’s amazing how many non-serious people on this site think they can make themselves look smarter and brash than the DOJ by shouting ‘Search Bedminster!’ As if the DOJ hasn’t already considered that course of action and played it to the end one way or the other,” tweeted Bill Palmer of the left-wing political blog The Palmer Report.
“Either the DOJ has discovered Bedminster without us knowing, or it has used other investigative tools to conclusively rule out Bedminster without finding it. One of these two things has already happened. It’s quite clear.”
In a statement, Trump spokesman Steve Cheung said: “This is nothing more than a targeted, politically motivated witch hunt against President Trump that is concocted to interfere in an election and convince the American people to keep him in the White House.” Prevents him from returning. Like all the other hoaxes thrown at President Trump, this corrupt attempt will also fail.
“During negotiations over the return of the documents, President Trump told the lead DOJ official, ‘Whatever you need from us, just tell us,’” Cheung said.
“The DOJ’s refusal of this offer of cooperation and the raid on Mar-a-Lago proves that the Biden regime has weaponized the DOJ and the FBI.”
newsweek has contacted the DOJ for comment through its website.
