New York Attorney General Letitia James’ subpoenaed any of the ex-president’s records held at the Mar-a-Lago resort/residence for her case against the Trump Organization. The former POTUS’ lawyer, Alina Habba, testified that she went through 45’s private residence and home office at his Florida residence searching in the same areas as the FBI and finding none just six days later.
Habba has frequently appeared on Fox News defending Trump. The attorney also went after the FBI. She called the the DOJ’s search of Mar-a-Lago a “political attack with no basis.”
Apparently, Trump’s attorney’s search of Mar-a-Lago was “diligent,” looking everywhere. The POLITICO reported that she searched:
‘[In] all desks, drawers, nightstands, dressers, closets, etc.’
In that filing the ex-president included a sworn affidavit that read in part:
‘[Trump] authorized Alina Habba to search my private residence and personal office located at The Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida for any and all documents responsive to the Subpoena.’
But unlike the FBI agents, Habba also searched the former president’s residence at his Bedminster club. There she once again looked through the former president’s private residence and home office.
Habba’s filing to Attorney General James’ office has brought up questions regarding the Department of Justice’s own investigation into Mar-a-Lago. Primarily, did Trump’s attorney deal with any of the top-secret documents the DOJ found in Mar-a-Lago? Second, was Habba holding a security clearance high enough to clear her work?
The attorney provided the FBI with a sworn affidavit from Trump authorizing her to handle the ultra-secret documents. The FBI searched the same locations at Mar-a-Lago as she. And the documents they uncovered were clearly marked as highly classified:
‘[The documents] had colored cover sheets indicating their classification status.’
DOJ revealed in a court filing Tuesday night, also noting:
‘Classified documents were found in both the Storage Room and in the former President’s office. Three classified documents that were not located in boxes, but rather were located in the desks in the “45 Office.”‘
Habba’s statement to AG James’ people will “generate interest,” according to U.S. Attorney and part of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s group, Andrew Weissmann. He said that the DOJ would most “surely interview her.”
In the document Habba filed, she wrote that she found no records for James. However, the matter before her in the search, though, was not whether Trump took the records or stored them wrongly.
At that time, the ex-president had his staff searching for the boxes “marked classified.” There was no indication whether any of them were cleared to perform such a delicate and vital search.
Then on June 3, the past president gave investigators, according to the Justice Department:
‘[A] single Redweld envelope, double-wrapped in tape, containing the documents.’
AÂ letter from Acting National Archivist, Debra Steidel Wall on May 10 indicated that Trump’s attorneys were resisting NARA’s attempts to share documents with the DOJ. These were the ones the FBI eventually recovered.
The Department of Justice still thinks either Trump’s people or Trump himself kicked off the problem. The FBI found boxes of top secret documents in the previous president’s bedroom, storeroom, and the “45 office.” Did Habba not see them?
Maybe Trump will never go away. We can only hope.
Featured image is a screenshot via YouTube.
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