The ever-paranoid Donald Trump has been doing his best to ferret out the “traitor” who is working for him. But this time even the paranoiac is right. There is someone or several someones at Mar-a-Lago who are talking to the feds about the ex-president’s stolen top secret files.
The FBI has been talking to one Trump employee about moving boxes containing the top-secret files. This was after the former president received a subpoena for “any classified documents” he had at his resort home. The man was simply following orders directly from the titular head of the Republican party, according to The Washington Post.
The prosecutors explained that it was probably a given that Trump had the stolen documents moved from the basement storage locker to elsewhere on the premises prior to the FBI search. Conversely, his attorneys were just trying to fulfill their obligation under the subpoena. The prosecutors wrote:
“The government also developed evidence that government records were likely concealed and removed from the Storage Room and that efforts were likely taken to obstruct the government’s investigation.This included evidence indicating that boxes formerly in the Storage Room were not returned prior to counsel’s review.’
The FBI has also retrieved surveillance videos that showed this employee moving boxes to Trump’s private quarters. When the FBI searched that area, they found files in and on the previous president’s desk and even in his bedroom closet, CNN reported Wednesday.
The employee’s witness account and the video the FBI collected, could give the agency enough evidence to indict Trump. The crimes he would likely be charged with included:
- ‘Obstruction,
- Destruction of government records, and
- Mishandling of classified information.’
When the FBI entered Mar-a-Lago on the August search warrant, the agency discovered and removed 300 classified documents and reams of pages from other files filling 27 good-sized boxes. The search warrant also contained a provision for obtaining the Trump Organization’s surveillance videos at the resort, too.
In the first FBI interview with Trump’s employee, he said that he did not touch top secret documents or the boxes. But after moving deeper into the case, the agency returned to the employee. This time, the Mar-a-Lago worker changed his story and admitted to moving the boxes.
The way the Depart of Justice (DOJ) spoke about the classified materials was generic. It said Trump “likely concealed and removed” documents from the storage locker. This fell under the crimes of obstruction and mishandling top secret files.
Initially, the former resident of the White House gave the National Archives 15 boxes in January. But the keeper of presidential records informed the DOJ that Trump had more documents. In May, DOJ served Trump his first subpoena.
The previous POTUS claimed that he had told his staff members to look for any additional classified documents, according to the lawsuit.
The FBI still had not found all of the documents from the resort. The pre-tend president had one of his attorneys sign documents to that effect in June. So in August, the agency obtained a search warrant to physically search for the missing materials. It still believes there are additional hidden files. Trump’s New York bar has one of the file folders attached to its wall.
Featured image is a screenshot via YouTube.
Christie writes Gloria Christie Reports & Three White Lions Substack newsletters and a Three White Lions podcast available on Apple, Spotify, etc. She is a political journalist for the liberal online newspaper The Bipartisan Report. Written in her own unique style with a twist of humor. Christie’s Mueller Report Adventures In Bite-Sizes a real-life compelling spy mystery (in progress). Find her here on Facebook. Or at Three White Lions her book on Amazon Kindle Vella and the Gloria Christie Three White Lions podcast on Apple, Spotify, etc.
