Will Trump risk revealing some of the government’s documents to test whether he might have declassified some of them (with his mind). He just loves boxes.
Michael Popok of Legal AF reports on new breaking developments with the Special Prosecutor’s office filing its motion for protective order with Judge Cannon in the Trump Mar a Lago criminal case against Trump, requiring that Trump not review any of the material unless supervised by his counsel, and that he not disseminate any of the government’s documents or information to any one else by social media or otherwise or face severe consequences.
The contents of those boxes — and Mr. Trump’s insistence on hanging onto them — are now at the heart of a 38-count indictment against the former president and his personal aide, Walt Nauta. Prosecutors have accused Mr. Trump of obstructing their investigation into his possession of classified material after leaving office and putting national security secrets at risk.
New revelations. The 49-page indictment against Donald Trump and a personal aide, Walt Nauta, revealed a host of potentially devastating new details in the Justice Department’s inquiry into the former president’s mishandling of classified documents. Here are some of the most significant allegations:
- There was a stunning pattern of obstruction. Prosecutors say Trump willfully ignored a May 2022 subpoena requiring him to return the documents — and took extraordinary steps to obstruct investigators. The indictment details how Nauta, at Trump’s direction, moved 64 boxes of documents so that Trump’s lawyer could not find them.
- Boxes of documents were stored in a bathroom. In April 2021, Trump’s employees needed to move dozens of boxes from a ballroom at his Mar-a-Lago estate. “There is still a little room in the shower where his other stuff is,” one aide texted another. The boxes were hauled to a small bathroom and piled up nearly to the tiny chandelier next to the toilet.
- Documents were stored sloppily. The indictment shows a picture of a box of top secret national security documents that in 2021 had spilled onto the floor of a Mar-a-Lago storage room accessible to many of the resort’s employees.
- Trump made a “plucking motion.” The indictment recounts how Trump and his lawyer discussed what to do with a folder of 38 documents with classification markings. The lawyer said Trump made a “plucking motion” that implied, “why don’t you take them with you to your hotel room and if there’s anything really bad in there, like, you know, pluck it out.”
- Trump was recorded sharing secrets. The indictment says Trump was recorded at his golf club in Bedminster, N.J., showing off secret U.S. battle plans to a writer. Trump described the material as “highly confidential” and “secret,” while admitting it had not been declassified.
- Trump showed a secret map to a staff member. In August or September 2021, Trump shared a top secret military map with a staff member at his political action committee who did not have a security clearance; he warned the person not to “get too close.”
- One of Trump’s lawyers is a key witness. Some of the most potentially damning evidence against the former president came from notes made by one of his lawyers, M. Evan Corcoran. The lawyer’s notes essentially gave prosecutors a road map to building their case.
When one employee asked the other if some could be moved to storage, the second employee, identified by multiple people as Mr. Trump’s former assistant Molly Michael, replied, “Woah!! Ok so potus specifically asked Walt for those boxes to be in the business center because they are his ‘papers.’”
At another point, she used the phrase “the beautiful mind paper boxes” in a text message, the indictment says.
www.nytimes.com/...