Lawyers for Donald Trump turned materials over to authorities in mid-March after a federal subpoena related to a classified US military document described by the former president in a recording from 2021. However, they were unable to find the document itself, two sources told CNN .
Prosecutors issued the subpoena shortly after asking a Trump aide before a federal grand jury about the audio recording of a July 2021 meeting at Trump’s golf course in Bedminster, New Jersey.
In the recording, Trump acknowledges he kept a classified (confidential) document of the Pentagon about a possible attack on Iran.
Prosecutors sought “any and all” documents and materials related to Mark Milley, chairman of Trump’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Iran, including maps or invasion plans, the sources say. A similar subpoena was sent to at least one other meeting participant, another source told CNN .
The sources pointed out to the report that prosecutors made it clear to Donald Trump’s lawyers that they specifically wanted the document about Iran that he spoke about in the recording, as well as any material that references classified information that may still be in Trump’s possession.
This would include meeting notes, audio recordings or copies of the document.
The fact that the former president’s team did not get hold of the document underscores the challenges the administration faced in trying to retrieve classified material Trump took with him when he left the White House and in understanding the movement of government records he kept.
Throughout the Justice Department investigation, prosecutors have expressed skepticism about returning all confidential documents. The federal government recovered dozens of documents with classified marks throughout 2022.
The special counsel’s office complained late last year to a federal judge that they could not be certain that Trump had turned over all documents with classified marks in his possession, even after the FBI searched Mar-a-Lago in August. past, informed the CNN previously.
The dispute resulted in several court cases in which prosecutors tried to hold Trump in contempt, but the judge refused at the time, and the former president’s team hired two people to search his properties.
The Justice Department declined to comment.
It is unclear whether the government already has a copy of the Iran document from the boxes that Trump’s legal team returned to the National Archives last year or retrieved in the FBI’s subsequent search.
The businessman’s lawyers said that he and his team did not review in advance the materials in the boxes that the former president returned to the archives and were not informed of which documents were recovered from Mar-a-Lago.
Trump’s lawyers would not have full access to the classified documents seized in the FBI search and could only recently see the boxes he returned to the Archives in January 2022 with markers on the classified documents.
The document Trump references in the recording was created before Milley was named chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the news agency has been told. CNN and Milley was later interviewed by investigators.
The sources were unable to specify whether the former president had the document in question with him when discussing it at the 2021 meeting or was simply referencing it.
The recording, first reported by CNN is now in the hands of Special Counsel Jack Smith, who is leading the Justice Department’s investigation into Trump.
Smith has focused in recent months on the meeting as part of the criminal investigation into the former president’s handling of national security secrets.
The audio of Trump acknowledging he had a confidential document undercuts the Republican’s repeated claims that he declassified (declassified) everything he took from the White House when he left office.
On Thursday, he said he knew nothing about the summer 2021 meeting and again called the Justice Department investigation a “witch hunt” and an attempt to interfere in the 2024 presidential election.
“I don’t know anything about it. I have the right to be disqualified as president,” she stated during an interview with Fox News.
Advisers to Donald Trump and two people working on the autobiography of former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows attended the Bedminster meeting.
This autobiography includes an account of what appears to be the same meeting, where the former president recalls a “typewritten” report by Milley containing a plan to attack Iran.
The subpoenas were issued immediately after Trump adviser Margo Martin, who was at the meeting, appeared before the grand jury in the Smith investigation and was questioned about it. That’s also when the businessman’s legal team found out that promoters had the recording.
The Justice Department had access to a version of the recording before Martin’s grand jury appearance in March, according to a source. Martin’s attorney declined to comment on the case.
After receiving the subpoena, Trump’s legal team spoke with aides and collected materials, including transcripts of recordings taken by Trump aides and any other documents that mentioned Milley or Iran, the sources say.
The legal team was unable to locate the document Trump mentions in the recording, sources point out, and it remains unclear whether it was returned to the government or where it is now.
The former president’s attorney, Jim Trusty, declined to tell the CNN this week whether the document was returned to the National Archives.
Source: CNN Brasil
Bruce Belcher is a seasoned author with over 5 years of experience in world news. He writes for online news websites and provides in-depth analysis on the world stock market. Bruce is known for his insightful perspectives and commitment to keeping the public informed.
