As recapped in a new article from The Washington Post, available signs point to the federal criminal investigation into Donald Trump harboring classified documents from his time in office soon ending, meaning criminal charges could be emerging very soon.
Those charged could include Trump himself, considering a federal judge previously concluded that prosecutors had established sufficient evidence to suggest he took what was essentially obstructive action in response to some of the government’s investigative moves. Even if Trump pretends otherwise, as he likes to do, obstruction is considered a very serious crime under U.S. law, whether a federal investigation or proceeding, like the January 6 Congressional gatherings to certify election results, is targeted.
“People familiar with the classified documents probe say Smith’s team has concluded the bulk of its investigative work and believes it has uncovered a handful of distinct episodes of obstructionist conduct,” the Post said, though the publication specified that it’s unclear whether there will be criminal charges in connection to these circumstances isolated in the investigation. It’s very routine for the investigators conducting these probes to make hardly any public statements about the progress of their work, if they even say anything at all.
News reports have outlined a series of situations that could fit the bill of “episodes” constituting apparent obstruction. In one example, Trump’s lawyer Evan Corcoran apparently encountered push-back at the prospect of him searching a personal office for Trump at Mar-a-Lago while he was conducting a search for classified documents shortly before Justice Department personnel showed up to retrieve the files. (This was separate from and before the FBI raid.) Was Trump involved in that, and was there something the ex-president was intentionally hiding?
There have also been odd reports of what were basically rehearsals at Mar-a-Lago for keeping certain documents on hand despite government efforts to retrieve the materials. And other people besides Trump could also be implicated, considering aide Walt Nauta and a worker at the resort moved boxes into the storage area at Mar-a-Lago shortly before that visit from federal officials. In theory, items could have been removed from the boxes and left with Trump with the aim of evading investigators. Prosecutors have also asked questions about interest from that other worker in the status of surveillance footage for the property, including how long it was kept viable, though this other individual — who has not been named in news reports — has claimed his interest was innocent.
