WASHINGTON, Aug 30 (Reuters) – The U.S. Justice Department said it had evidence that classified documents were deliberately withheld by the FBI when it tried to retrieve them in June from former President Donald Trump’s Florida estate, prompting an unprecedented investigation into his house. In a 54-page filing, prosecutors on Tuesday presented their evidence of obstruction of justice, publicly alleging for the first time that both Trump aides falsely certified in June that the former president had returned all government records he had stored at home of then leaving the White House in January 2021. It also revealed that Trump’s lawyers “expressly prohibited government personnel from opening or looking inside any of the boxes” inside a warehouse when FBI agents first traveled to his Palm Beach Mar-a-Lago resort in June to recover the files. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSign up “The government has also developed evidence that government records may have been concealed and removed from the Storage Room and that efforts may have been made to obstruct the government’s investigation,” the department said in a filing in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida. . He released a photo of some of the classified documents found inside Trump’s home, some of which refer to confidential human sources. The Justice Department filings come ahead of a court hearing Thursday before U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon in West Palm Beach. He is weighing Trump’s request to appoint a special master to conduct a privileged review of documents seized from Mar-a-Lago on Aug. 8, many of which are classified. A special master is an independent third party who is sometimes appointed by a court in sensitive cases to review materials potentially covered by the attorney-client privilege to ensure that investigators are not looking at them properly. A special master was appointed, for example, to search the homes and offices of two of Trump’s former lawyers: Rudy Giuliani and Michael Cohen. In Trump’s original request to the court, his lawyers argued that the former president wanted to protect materials subject to a legal doctrine known as executive privilege, which can shield certain presidential communications. Legal experts disputed that argument, saying it was absurd for a former president to claim he wanted to claim executive privilege over the executive branch itself. Trump’s legal team later narrowed its request, asking for a review of the privileges without specifically citing executive privilege. The Justice Department on Tuesday said it opposes the appointment of a special master. Trump, prosecutors argued, has no standing in the case because the files “do not belong to him.” The Aug. 8 search of Trump’s home was a major escalation of one of several federal and state investigations Trump is facing. In a redacted affidavit supporting the probe released publicly by the department last week, an unnamed FBI agent said the agency reviewed and located 184 “classified” documents after Trump returned in January 15 boxes of government records that was searching the US National Archives. After the National Archives discovered the classified material, some of which involved intelligence gathering and undercover human sources, they referred the matter to the FBI. The Justice Department said Tuesday that it had tried several times to get all the records back. But eventually, he developed evidence that suggested more materials remained at Mar-a-lago and had been hidden from researchers. The FBI then seized 33 additional boxes and other items during its Aug. 8 search, some of which were marked “top secret” — the classification level reserved for the nation’s most closely held secrets. Trump’s defenses about why he kept the materials have changed, and he hasn’t given a reason why he didn’t give all the files back. He previously claimed to have declassified all records, indicating a president’s broad declassification powers. However, Tuesday’s filing by the government denied that. “When producing the documents, neither counsel nor the custodian argued that the former President had declassified the documents or that he had claimed executive privilege,” prosecutors wrote. They also noted that when Jay Bratt, the head of the Justice Department’s counterintelligence division, visited Mar-a-Lago with the three agents in June to retrieve additional records, Trump’s lawyer handed over records “in a manner that counsel believed the documents were classified’ by producing them in a ‘Redweld’ envelope that was double wrapped in tape. Inside the file, the department said, were 38 unique classified documents, 17 of which were “top secret,” 16 of which were “classified” and 5 of which were marked “confidential.” Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSign up Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch in Washington and Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles. Editing by Scott Malone and Kim Coghill Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

title: “The Us Department Of Justice Says The Trump Team May Have Moved Classified Documents Amid An Investigation Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-10-27” author: “Larry Carter”

WASHINGTON, Aug 30 (Reuters) – The U.S. Justice Department said it had evidence that classified documents were deliberately withheld by the FBI when it tried to retrieve them in June from former President Donald Trump’s Florida estate, prompting an unprecedented investigation into his house. In a 54-page filing, prosecutors on Tuesday presented their evidence of obstruction of justice, publicly alleging for the first time that both Trump aides falsely certified in June that the former president had returned all government records he had stored at home of then leaving the White House in January 2021. It also revealed that Trump’s lawyers “expressly prohibited government personnel from opening or looking inside any of the boxes” inside a warehouse when FBI agents first traveled to his Palm Beach Mar-a-Lago resort in June to recover the files. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSign up “The government has also developed evidence that government records may have been concealed and removed from the Storage Room and that efforts may have been made to obstruct the government’s investigation,” the department said in a filing in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida. . He released a photo of some of the classified documents found inside Trump’s home, some of which refer to confidential human sources. The Justice Department filings come ahead of a court hearing Thursday before U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon in West Palm Beach. He is weighing Trump’s request to appoint a special master to conduct a privileged review of documents seized from Mar-a-Lago on Aug. 8, many of which are classified. A special master is an independent third party who is sometimes appointed by a court in sensitive cases to review materials potentially covered by the attorney-client privilege to ensure that investigators are not looking at them properly. A special master was appointed, for example, to search the homes and offices of two of Trump’s former lawyers: Rudy Giuliani and Michael Cohen. In Trump’s original request to the court, his lawyers argued that the former president wanted to protect materials subject to a legal doctrine known as executive privilege, which can shield certain presidential communications. Legal experts disputed that argument, saying it was absurd for a former president to claim he wanted to claim executive privilege over the executive branch itself. Trump’s legal team later narrowed its request, asking for a review of the privileges without specifically citing executive privilege. The Justice Department on Tuesday said it opposes the appointment of a special master. Trump, prosecutors argued, has no standing in the case because the files “do not belong to him.” The Aug. 8 search of Trump’s home was a major escalation of one of several federal and state investigations Trump is facing. In a redacted affidavit supporting the probe released publicly by the department last week, an unnamed FBI agent said the agency reviewed and located 184 “classified” documents after Trump returned in January 15 boxes of government records that was searching the US National Archives. After the National Archives discovered the classified material, some of which involved intelligence gathering and undercover human sources, they referred the matter to the FBI. The Justice Department said Tuesday that it had tried several times to get all the records back. But eventually, he developed evidence that suggested more materials remained at Mar-a-lago and had been hidden from researchers. The FBI then seized 33 additional boxes and other items during its Aug. 8 search, some of which were marked “top secret” — the classification level reserved for the nation’s most closely held secrets. Trump’s defenses about why he kept the materials have changed, and he hasn’t given a reason why he didn’t give all the files back. He previously claimed to have declassified all records, indicating a president’s broad declassification powers. However, Tuesday’s filing by the government denied that. “When producing the documents, neither counsel nor the custodian argued that the former President had declassified the documents or that he had claimed executive privilege,” prosecutors wrote. They also noted that when Jay Bratt, the head of the Justice Department’s counterintelligence division, visited Mar-a-Lago with the three agents in June to retrieve additional records, Trump’s lawyer handed over records “in a manner that counsel believed the documents were classified’ by producing them in a ‘Redweld’ envelope that was double wrapped in tape. Inside the file, the department said, were 38 unique classified documents, 17 of which were “top secret,” 16 of which were “classified” and 5 of which were marked “confidential.” Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSign up Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch in Washington and Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles. Editing by Scott Malone and Kim Coghill Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

title: “The Us Department Of Justice Says The Trump Team May Have Moved Classified Documents Amid An Investigation Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-08” author: “Babette Washington”

WASHINGTON, Aug 30 (Reuters) – The U.S. Justice Department said it had evidence that classified documents were deliberately withheld by the FBI when it tried to retrieve them in June from former President Donald Trump’s Florida estate, prompting an unprecedented investigation into his house. In a 54-page filing, prosecutors on Tuesday presented their evidence of obstruction of justice, publicly alleging for the first time that both Trump aides falsely certified in June that the former president had returned all government records he had stored at home of then leaving the White House in January 2021. It also revealed that Trump’s lawyers “expressly prohibited government personnel from opening or looking inside any of the boxes” inside a warehouse when FBI agents first traveled to his Palm Beach Mar-a-Lago resort in June to recover the files. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSign up “The government has also developed evidence that government records may have been concealed and removed from the Storage Room and that efforts may have been made to obstruct the government’s investigation,” the department said in a filing in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida. . He released a photo of some of the classified documents found inside Trump’s home, some of which refer to confidential human sources. The Justice Department filings come ahead of a court hearing Thursday before U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon in West Palm Beach. He is weighing Trump’s request to appoint a special master to conduct a privileged review of documents seized from Mar-a-Lago on Aug. 8, many of which are classified. A special master is an independent third party who is sometimes appointed by a court in sensitive cases to review materials potentially covered by the attorney-client privilege to ensure that investigators are not looking at them properly. A special master was appointed, for example, to search the homes and offices of two of Trump’s former lawyers: Rudy Giuliani and Michael Cohen. In Trump’s original request to the court, his lawyers argued that the former president wanted to protect materials subject to a legal doctrine known as executive privilege, which can shield certain presidential communications. Legal experts disputed that argument, saying it was absurd for a former president to claim he wanted to claim executive privilege over the executive branch itself. Trump’s legal team later narrowed its request, asking for a review of the privileges without specifically citing executive privilege. The Justice Department on Tuesday said it opposes the appointment of a special master. Trump, prosecutors argued, has no standing in the case because the files “do not belong to him.” The Aug. 8 search of Trump’s home was a major escalation of one of several federal and state investigations Trump is facing. In a redacted affidavit supporting the probe released publicly by the department last week, an unnamed FBI agent said the agency reviewed and located 184 “classified” documents after Trump returned in January 15 boxes of government records that was searching the US National Archives. After the National Archives discovered the classified material, some of which involved intelligence gathering and undercover human sources, they referred the matter to the FBI. The Justice Department said Tuesday that it had tried several times to get all the records back. But eventually, he developed evidence that suggested more materials remained at Mar-a-lago and had been hidden from researchers. The FBI then seized 33 additional boxes and other items during its Aug. 8 search, some of which were marked “top secret” — the classification level reserved for the nation’s most closely held secrets. Trump’s defenses about why he kept the materials have changed, and he hasn’t given a reason why he didn’t give all the files back. He previously claimed to have declassified all records, indicating a president’s broad declassification powers. However, Tuesday’s filing by the government denied that. “When producing the documents, neither counsel nor the custodian argued that the former President had declassified the documents or that he had claimed executive privilege,” prosecutors wrote. They also noted that when Jay Bratt, the head of the Justice Department’s counterintelligence division, visited Mar-a-Lago with the three agents in June to retrieve additional records, Trump’s lawyer handed over records “in a manner that counsel believed the documents were classified’ by producing them in a ‘Redweld’ envelope that was double wrapped in tape. Inside the file, the department said, were 38 unique classified documents, 17 of which were “top secret,” 16 of which were “classified” and 5 of which were marked “confidential.” Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSign up Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch in Washington and Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles. Editing by Scott Malone and Kim Coghill Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

title: “The Us Department Of Justice Says The Trump Team May Have Moved Classified Documents Amid An Investigation Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-10-28” author: “Barbara Lightner”

WASHINGTON, Aug 30 (Reuters) – The U.S. Justice Department said it had evidence that classified documents were deliberately withheld by the FBI when it tried to retrieve them in June from former President Donald Trump’s Florida estate, prompting an unprecedented investigation into his house. In a 54-page filing, prosecutors on Tuesday presented their evidence of obstruction of justice, publicly alleging for the first time that both Trump aides falsely certified in June that the former president had returned all government records he had stored at home of then leaving the White House in January 2021. It also revealed that Trump’s lawyers “expressly prohibited government personnel from opening or looking inside any of the boxes” inside a warehouse when FBI agents first traveled to his Palm Beach Mar-a-Lago resort in June to recover the files. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSign up “The government has also developed evidence that government records may have been concealed and removed from the Storage Room and that efforts may have been made to obstruct the government’s investigation,” the department said in a filing in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida. . He released a photo of some of the classified documents found inside Trump’s home, some of which refer to confidential human sources. The Justice Department filings come ahead of a court hearing Thursday before U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon in West Palm Beach. He is weighing Trump’s request to appoint a special master to conduct a privileged review of documents seized from Mar-a-Lago on Aug. 8, many of which are classified. A special master is an independent third party who is sometimes appointed by a court in sensitive cases to review materials potentially covered by the attorney-client privilege to ensure that investigators are not looking at them properly. A special master was appointed, for example, to search the homes and offices of two of Trump’s former lawyers: Rudy Giuliani and Michael Cohen. In Trump’s original request to the court, his lawyers argued that the former president wanted to protect materials subject to a legal doctrine known as executive privilege, which can shield certain presidential communications. Legal experts disputed that argument, saying it was absurd for a former president to claim he wanted to claim executive privilege over the executive branch itself. Trump’s legal team later narrowed its request, asking for a review of the privileges without specifically citing executive privilege. The Justice Department on Tuesday said it opposes the appointment of a special master. Trump, prosecutors argued, has no standing in the case because the files “do not belong to him.” The Aug. 8 search of Trump’s home was a major escalation of one of several federal and state investigations Trump is facing. In a redacted affidavit supporting the probe released publicly by the department last week, an unnamed FBI agent said the agency reviewed and located 184 “classified” documents after Trump returned in January 15 boxes of government records that was searching the US National Archives. After the National Archives discovered the classified material, some of which involved intelligence gathering and undercover human sources, they referred the matter to the FBI. The Justice Department said Tuesday that it had tried several times to get all the records back. But eventually, he developed evidence that suggested more materials remained at Mar-a-lago and had been hidden from researchers. The FBI then seized 33 additional boxes and other items during its Aug. 8 search, some of which were marked “top secret” — the classification level reserved for the nation’s most closely held secrets. Trump’s defenses about why he kept the materials have changed, and he hasn’t given a reason why he didn’t give all the files back. He previously claimed to have declassified all records, indicating a president’s broad declassification powers. However, Tuesday’s filing by the government denied that. “When producing the documents, neither counsel nor the custodian argued that the former President had declassified the documents or that he had claimed executive privilege,” prosecutors wrote. They also noted that when Jay Bratt, the head of the Justice Department’s counterintelligence division, visited Mar-a-Lago with the three agents in June to retrieve additional records, Trump’s lawyer handed over records “in a manner that counsel believed the documents were classified’ by producing them in a ‘Redweld’ envelope that was double wrapped in tape. Inside the file, the department said, were 38 unique classified documents, 17 of which were “top secret,” 16 of which were “classified” and 5 of which were marked “confidential.” Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSign up Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch in Washington and Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles. Editing by Scott Malone and Kim Coghill Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.