by Trump’s attorney, James Trusty, said Sunday that there are no more classified documents at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida.
In an interview on “Meet the Press,” NBC News’ Chuck Todd asked Trusty if he can be sure there are no classified documents or copies of documents left at Mar-a-Lago. following reports that Trump’s legal team provided additional materials and a laptop to investigators.
“Yeah, sure,” Trusty replied. “And I can tell you that the leak about what happened to this additional document or multiple documents that were found on the USB stick is absurd.”
Sources had told CNN earlier this year that a Trump aide made copies of classified documents his lawyers discovered in December in boxes at Mar-a-Lago, before turning the documents over to the Justice Department.
“It has been the same mischaracterization that the media has encountered to suggest that President Trump is simply sitting on a mountain of documents. It’s not true at all,” Trusty said.
Trusty, a former Justice Department colleague of special counsel Jack Smith, who was appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate Trump’s handling of classified documents, criticized the Justice Department for what he called a “leak campaign “.
last week, the Washington Postciting people familiar with the matter, he reported that the Justice Department and the FBI gathered new evidence suggesting possible obstruction by Trump in the case of the documents.
“There has been a campaign of leaks from the Department of Justice like I’ve never seen before,” said Trusty. “I was a prosecutor for 27 years. I spent 17 in this Department of Justice. I don’t recognize him anymore.”
The FBI recovered a top-secret treasure trove and other highly classified documents when Searched at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago farm in Florida in August. Following the incident, classified materials were also found in the possession of President Joe Biden and former President Mike Pence.
Garland has appointed separate special counsel to investigate the Trump and Biden documents. She has not appointed a special attorney to review the Pence documents.
A federal judge ruled last month that Smith’s office had presented sufficient evidence to establish that Trump committed a crime through his lawyers in the investigation of classified documents, according to a source briefed on the proceedings.
US District Judge Beryl Howell of Washington did not rule on whether Trump was guilty of a crime, but did rule on whether his lawyer could be compelled to testify.
As a result, Howell ruled in favor of applying the “criminal fraud” exception, which would allow prosecutors to circumvent the protections granted to Trump attorney Evan Corcoran through attorney-client privilege. Howell also ordered Corcoran to testify before the federal grand jury.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing in the case of the classified documents, having claimed last year that he can declassify materials.”thinking about it.”
