It is a serious allegation that is being raised: For the first time, the US Department of Justice has publicly accused Donald Trump and his advisors of “probable” obstruction of justice in the investigation of secret files from the White House.
More than three weeks after the crackdown on Donald Trump, the US Department of Justice released detailed reasons for the FBI’s August 8 action. In a filing in the Palm Beach, Fla., District Court, prosecutors publicly allege for the first time that Trump’s attorneys falsely certified to investigators during a June meeting in Mar-a-Lago that the former president had read all of the government records he sought kept at his property when he left the White House in January 2021.
Trump lawyers are said to have only handed out a collection folder
When the FBI agents visited in June, they received only “a single folder, double-taped, containing the documents,” the submission said. The folder contained 38 individual documents with classification markings, including five documents marked “confidential”, 16 “secret” and 17 “top secret”.
Trump’s attorneys assured investigators that all records originating from the White House were kept in a storage room in Mar-a-Lago and that “no other records were stored in private offices or elsewhere on the premises and that all available boxes were searched”. The filing goes on to say that the attorneys “expressly prohibited government personnel from using any of the boxes [in dem Lagerraum] to open or look inside”.
However, the Justice Department later found “evidence that government records were likely hidden and removed from storage and that efforts were likely made to obstruct the government investigation.” The court papers do not name who may have moved or hidden the boxes.
During the raid, the agents then discovered classified information in both the storage room and in Trump’s office – including three that were not in boxes but on desks. “The fact that the FBI, in a matter of hours, found twice as many classified documents as the former President’s attorney and other officials did in their ‘diligent search’, which they had weeks to do, provides the evidence contained in the June 3 attestation seriously questions the assurances given and casts doubt on the extent of cooperation on this matter,” the Justice Department wrote in its submission.
Trump faces severe penalties if he obstructs justice
In its paper, the Justice Department makes it clear that the search of Trump’s residence came after other efforts to obtain the records had failed. A photo published by the ministry of some of the confiscated documents also refutes the claim by some Trump supporters that the ex-president could not even tell that the files he took with him were classified information. The documents shown in the photo are clearly marked with classifications.
The Justice Department’s release puts even more pressure on Trump in the classified affairs affair, because of the three possible charges — violating the anti-espionage law, embezzling documents, and obstructing justice — the allegation of obstruction of justice carries by far the most severe punishment : If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison.
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Source: Stern
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