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☆ Unanswered in Indictment’s Details on Trump’s Hoarding of Documents: Why?
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-10 | by ( Maggie Haberman | Alan Feuer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Mr. Trump’s motive for having thousands of presidential records — including more than 300 classified documents — at Mar-a-Lago, his combination residence and members-only club in Palm Beach, Fla., was not addressed directly in the 49-page indictment filed on Thursday in Miami. The charging document did not establish that Mr. Trump had a broader goal beyond simply possessing the material. While finding a motive could certainly be useful for prosecutors should Mr. Trump end up at trial, it may not be necessary in proving the legal elements of the case against him. Nonetheless, why Mr. Trump held onto an extensive collection of highly confidential documents and then, prosecutors say, schemed to avoid returning them remains an unanswered question — even after nearly 15 months of investigation by the Justice Department. In a recording of the meeting, Mr. Trump can be heard rustling paper and telling those around him that the document in question proved that he was right in his dispute with General Milley.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, —, Mark, General Milley Organizations: Justice Department, Joint Chiefs, Staff Locations: Mar, Palm Beach, Fla, Miami, Iran, Bedminster, New Jersey

☆ Donald Trump, the Presidential Records Act and ‘Clinton's sock drawer’ defense
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-09 | by ( Alison Frankel | Thomson Reuters | Alison Frankel Has Covered High-Stakes Commercial Litigation As A Columnist For Reuters Since A Dartmouth College Graduate | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

“The [Presidential Records Act] does not confer any mandatory or even discretional authority on the archivist,” wrote U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson in that 2012 ruling. “These are not presidential records,” he added. The Presidential Records Act, Trump’s brief said, gave Trump the sole authority to decide how to categorize his records. Fitton told me he explained his Presidential Records Act theory to the Washington, D.C., grand jury in the Trump document case last winter. Fitton, for instance, accused the Justice Department of flipping its position on presidential discretion under the Presidential Record Act to go after Trump.

Persons: Donald Trump, Bill Clinton’s, Clinton, Taylor Branch, Clinton “ squirreled, ”, Amy Berman Jackson, Trump, Jason Baron, Bradley Moss, Mark S, Zaid, Moss, Baron, “, Todd Blanche, Tom Fitton, ” Fitton, Fitton, Jack Smith, Margaret Kwoka of Organizations: Reuters, Watch, GQ, Branch, National Archives, Records Administration, Presidential, Judicial, Archives, “, Justice Department, Mar, University of Maryland, Trump, Trump –, Presidential Records, Circuit, Records, D.C, Margaret Kwoka of Ohio State University, Thomson Locations: Mar, United States, U.S, Washington

☆ Trump waved classified military documents in front of a writer and a member of his PAC, and said 'it is like, highly confidential', feds allege
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-09 | by ( Paul Squire | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Donald Trump knew he wasn't supposed to share classified docs, prosecutors allege in an indictment. But he showed off a classified battle plan after he was president, saying "Look what I found," feds allege. He also showed a classified map to a member of his political team at Mar-A-Lago, the indictment says. Look, look at this." Trump also claimed — as his lawyers have in previous media interviews — that he always had the ability to declassify documents.

Persons: Donald Trump, —, Trump, official's, NICHOLAS KAMM, Biden, Jack Smith, Smith, I'm, Sean Hannity Organizations: feds, Mar, Service, White, Getty, PAC, Justice Department of, Records, Fox News, Trump Locations: Lago, Florida, Bedminster , New Jersey, Palm Beach , Florida, Mar

☆ The indictment against Donald Trump quotes his own 2016 campaign promises slamming Hillary Clinton's emails
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-09 | by ( Rhea Mahbubani | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

In a federal indictment, prosecutors displayed Trump's own campaign promises about handling classified information. "In my administration I'm going to enforce all laws concerning the protection of classified information," he said in August 2016. According to the federal indictment, Trump said on August 18, 2016: "In my administration, I'm going to enforce all laws concerning the protection of classified information. A screenshot of a federal indictment unsealed on Friday features Trump's own public statements about how classified information should be handled under the law. The damning indictment also says Trump praised Clinton's lawyers for deleting some of her emails and helping to keep her out of trouble.

Persons: Trump, —, Donald Trump's, Hillary Clinton, Trump's, I'm Organizations: Service, Oval, Department of Justice, Records Locations: Government, Mar

☆ Exclusive: Former White House official told federal prosecutors Trump knew of proper declassification process and followed it while in office
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( Zachary Cohen Paula Reid | Zachary Cohen | Paula Reid | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

During those voluntary interviews, the former official told CNN there was a distinct difference in the line of questioning from prosecutors in the two probes. Speaking to CNN on condition of anonymity, the former official said he told federal prosecutors that Trump knew the proper process for declassifying documents and followed it correctly at times while in office. Sources previously told CNN that Trump’s team returned some materials but not the document pertaining to Iran. “Nothing approaching an order that foolish was ever given,” Kelly told CNN. Most recently, Trump told CNN at a town hall that materials were “automatically declassified” when he took them.

Persons: Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Trump, Biden, Trump’s, ‘, John Eisenberg, Eisenberg, “, Don McGahn, John Kelly, McGahn, Jack Smith, Donald Trump's Mar, Kelly, ” Kelly, Mark Meadows, Jack Smith’s, Meadows, Robert O’Brien, O’Brien, National Intelligence Richard Grenell, Robert Hur, Hur, Kathy Chung, empaneled, Mike Pence’s Organizations: Washington CNN, White House, CNN, Trump, Obama, Mar, The Justice Department, National Security Council, White, National Archives, Department of Justice, Trump’s, Trump’s Mar, Prosecutors, National Intelligence, Biden Locations: Delaware, Russia, Iran, Lago

☆ Here are some of the charges Trump faces.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( Charlie Savage | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Each such charged document would be a separate offense, so it is possible that prosecutors have brought as many as five counts of this offense by citing five different records. A conviction would be theoretically subject to 10 years in prison for each count, although defendants in other Espionage Act cases have received significantly less than the maximum. Prosecutors would need to show that Mr. Trump and some other person had a meeting of the minds about committing a specific crime and that one of them took some step toward that goal. ObstructionIt is a crime to conceal records to obstruct an official effort. Prosecutors would need to show several things, including that Mr. Trump knew he still had files that were subject to the efforts by the National Archives and Records Administration to take custody of presidential records.

Persons: Trump Organizations: Mar, Prosecutors, National Archives, Records Administration Locations: United States

☆ Fact check: Seven of Trump’s false or unsupported claims on the documents investigation
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( Daniel Dale | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +18 min

Here is a fact check of seven of the claims Trump has made about the investigation since the FBI raided his Mar-a-Lago resort and residence in August 2022. The Presidential Records Act says that, the moment a president leaves office, NARA gets custody and control of all presidential records from his administration. Bush all took millions of documents; he repeated the claim that Obama took documents at the CNN town hall in May. In Trump’s case, the presidential documents found in haphazard amateur storage at Mar-a-Lago, including documents marked classified, were in Trump’s possession despite numerous attempts by both NARA and the Justice Department to get them back. The claim that Biden has been “totally uncooperative” with the investigation into his handling of official documents is transparently false.

Persons: Donald Trump, Trump, –, you’re, “, Trump’s, ” Jason R, Biden, ” Timothy Naftali, Richard Nixon, ”, Naftali, Obama, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, George W, Bush, George H.W, Ronald Reagan, Clinton, Reagan, ’, Christina Bobb, John Solomon, Trump “, don’t, ’ Trump, Joe Biden Organizations: CNN, FBI, Presidential Records, National Archives, Records Administration, Fox, Presidential, NARA, Trump Administration, Mar, New York University, Richard Nixon Presidential, Trump, Society of, Obama, Justice Department, ASK, Department, Oval, ”, White, White House, Intel Community, DoD, Intel, Armed, Senate, University of Delaware Locations: Lago, United States, Mar, Delaware, Washington

☆ Grand Jury in Florida Hears Testimony in Trump Documents Case
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-07 | by ( Alan Feuer | Maggie Haberman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Among those who appeared for questions was Taylor Budowich, a former spokesman to Mr. Trump who now is a top adviser at the super PAC supporting Mr. Trump’s presidential candidacy. Mr. Budowich was Mr. Trump’s spokesman at the time. The statement that Mr. Trump initially wanted to send, according to two people briefed on the matter, said that he had returned all the presidential material he had. A draft of the statement was put together, according to the people familiar with the matter. Prosecutors have that draft statement and have asked witnesses about emails sent among aides about it, according to the people briefed on the matter.

Persons: Donald J, Taylor Budowich, Trump, Trump’s, Budowich Organizations: National, Prosecutors Locations: Miami, Florida

The precise contents of the document referred to by Mr. Trump during the recorded meeting remain unclear. The federal prosecutors under Mr. Smith have been examining whether Mr. Trump — the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination — obstructed the government’s efforts and whether he violated other laws regarding the handling of national defense information and government documents. Mr. Smith is also overseeing a parallel investigation into Mr. Trump’s efforts to remain in office after his defeat at the polls in 2020. After months of back-and-forth with the National Archives, Mr. Trump eventually turned over 15 boxes of material in January of last year. They turned out to include nearly 200 documents marked as classified.

Persons: Trump, Smith Organizations: White, Presidential, National Archives, Justice Department

☆ Trump was recorded acknowledging he kept classified doc after leaving White House
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Kevin Breuninger | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

A recording of former President Donald Trump shows him acknowledging a document he kept after leaving the White House was classified, NBC News reported Thursday, citing a source directly familiar with the matter. Trump's remarks on that tape, recorded in 2021, indicate the document was related to Iran, NBC reported. CNN first reported Wednesday that federal prosecutors had acquired audio of Trump acknowledging he had held onto a classified document about a possible attack on Iran. A spokesman for Trump said of CNN's report, "Leaks from radical partisans behind this political persecution are designed to inflame tensions and continue the media's harassment of President Trump and his supporters." Trump is also embroiled in a Fulton County prosecutor's investigation of potential criminal interference in Georgia's 2020 election.

Persons: Donald Trump, LIV Golf, Trump, Mark Meadows, President Trump, Jack Smith, General Merrick Garland, Smith Organizations: U.S, Trump National Golf Club, D.C, White, NBC, National Archives, Records Administration, FBI, CNN, Trump, White House, U.S . Department of Justice, Republican Locations: Washington, Sterling , Virginia, Iran, Trump's Mar, Florida, Trump's Florida, Bedminster , New Jersey, Manhattan, Fulton County

But the focus on the tapes is the latest effort by Mr. Smith to determine whether Mr. Trump or his aides engaged in any sort of obstructive behavior. There is no indication that Mr. Taveras is a subject of Mr. Smith’s investigation. All three men — Mr. Taveras, Mr. Deoliveira and Mr. Nauta — have been questioned extensively by prosecutors over their roles in handling the boxes and the tapes. Nonetheless, one person briefed on the events said the interactions concerning the security tapes were enough to arouse suspicion among Mr. Smith’s investigators. Moreover, people briefed on witness interviews say, it has become clear that Mr. Smith views a number of people connected to Mr. Trump with skepticism.

Persons: Mr, Taveras, Smith, Trump, Trump’s, Stanley Woodward Jr, Deoliveira’s, John Irving, Deoliveira, Nauta Organizations: Justice Department, National Archives, Mr

The recording indicates Trump understood he retained classified material after leaving the White House, according to multiple sources familiar with the investigation. Meadows didn’t attend the meeting, sources said. The revelation that the former president and commander-in-chief has been captured on tape discussing a classified document could raise his legal exposure as he continues his third bid for the White House. On the recording and in response to the story, Trump brings up the document, which he says came from Milley. However, there’s no indication Trump followed the legally mandated declassification process, and his attorneys have avoided saying so far in court whether Trump declassified records he kept.

Persons: Donald Trump, Trump, Jack Smith, Mark Milley, Trump’s, Mark Meadows, Margo Martin, Meadows, Trump “, ”, Dave Butler, Martin, Olivier Douliery, Susan Glasser, Milley, Glasser, ” Milley, Honig, They’ve Organizations: CNN, Federal, White, Justice Department, Trump, Prosecutors, Joint Chiefs, Staff, Milley, Capitol, Getty, Yorker, National Archives, Records Administration, The Justice, Lago, Office, Fox News Locations: Iran, Bedminster , New Jersey, Washington ,, AFP, New, Milley, Lago, Florida, Bedminster, Trump

Washington CNN —Timothy Parlatore, an attorney for Donald Trump who played a key role in the Mar-a-Lago documents investigation and once testified before the grand jury, is leaving the former president’s legal team, two sources familiar with the exit tell CNN. The high-profile departure comes as special counsel Jack Smith appears to be in the final stretch of investigations into the possible mishandling of classified documents and efforts to obstruct the 2020 election. The former president’s legal team has been rife with infighting for several months as his attorneys have dealt with the multiple investigations facing him amid his third run for office. Trump has privately expressed unhappiness with his large legal bills and asked why the investigations, namely the documents one, have not yet gone away. Everybody knew we were taking those boxes.”When asked if he had ever shown classified documents to anyone after leaving the White House, he said, “Not really.

☆ Exclusive: Special Counsel investigating Trump set to receive 16 records showing he knew process to properly declassify documents
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Jamie Gangel Zachary Cohen Evan Perez Paula Reid | Jamie Gangel | Zachary Cohen | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Trump and his allies have insisted that as president, Trump did not have to follow a specific process to declassify documents. The 16 records may help federal investigators overcome a significant obstacle to a potential prosecution of the former president. The special counsel was also given access to other records not challenged by the Trump team. Ultimately, the special counsel identified the 16 records in question as relevant to the grand jury investigation. “You have the Presidential Records Act.

☆ Fact-checking Trump’s CNN town hall in New Hampshire
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Cnn Staff | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +26 min

CNN —CNN hosted a town hall with 2024 Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump on Wednesday night in New Hampshire. 2020 ElectionJust minutes after the town hall began, Trump claimed the 2020 election was “rigged.”Facts First: This is Trump’s regular lie. Trump claimed Wednesday that he got gas prices down to $1.87 – and “even lower” – but they increased to $7, $8 or even $9 under Biden. The Presidential Records Act says that the moment a president leaves office, the National Archives and Records Administration gets legal custody and control of all presidential records from his administration. First, there’s no provision for negotiating over Presidential records at the end of a term.

☆ Trump faces more legal threats beyond a hush money case. Here's the status of those probes
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Kevin Breuninger | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +10 min

Cohen has since become a vocal critic of his former boss and testified before the grand jury hearing evidence in Bragg's probe. The grand jury was impaneled in January 2022 to hear evidence in Fulton County DA Willis' probe. Portions of that final report, which were released in February, show the grand jury determined that at least one witness may have lied under oath. New York civil caseTrump is also embroiled in a state-level civil fraud case filed by James, the New York attorney general. (L-R) Eric Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump attend the ground breaking of the Trump International Hotel at the Old Post Office Building in Washington July 23, 2014.

☆ Trump may have looked through Mar-a-Lago documents after subpoena was delivered, new evidence suggests, pointing to a big potential difference between his documents case and Biden's: report
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( Hannah Getahun | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Donald Trump may have tried to keep documents after receiving a subpoena from DOJ. The evidence indicates a difference between Trump's investigation and the one into Biden's documents. In August, an FBI search found and seized more than 100 classified documents in Trump's Palm Beach, Florida, home — months after the initial subpoena in May. "When you find improperly stored classified documents, you immediately notify the government — and you turn it over immediately." Cheung pointed to classified documents found in Biden's home, and referenced Hillary Clinton's 2016 email investigation.

☆ Trump says 'I would do that' after Sean Hannity says he 'can't imagine' Trump taking classified records from the White House
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( Sonam Sheth | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Sean Hannity told Trump he couldn't imagine Trump taking documents from the White House. Trump corrected Hannity, saying, "I would do that" and adding that he has the right to "take stuff." "I can't imagine you ever saying, um, 'Bring me some of the boxes that we brought back from the White House, I'd like to look at them,'" Hannity told Trump during the interview that aired Monday night. According to the Justice Department, Trump did exactly that, and refused to return the records for months after leaving the White House. —nikki mccann ramírez (@NikkiMcR) March 28, 2023Trump's lawyers have repeatedly invoked the Presidential Records Act when arguing that he was justified in moving records from the White House after leaving office.

☆ Ex-Trump aide Peter Navarro ordered to turn over hundreds of emails to the National Archives
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Rebecca Shabad | Daniel Barnes | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Thursday ordered former Donald Trump aide Peter Navarro to hand the National Archives 200 to 250 emails that he sent during his time in the Trump administration using a private email account instead of his White House email. Lawyers for Navarro alleged the Justice Department was using the Presidential Records Act, which requires that official White House records be preserved, as a way to gather evidence against him in his ongoing criminal contempt of Congress case. They argued that forcing Navarro to produce the emails could violate his 5th amendment right against self-incrimination. Navarro did not copy his official White House account on the email exchanges, nor did he forward the email chains to his White House account, a violation of the Presidential Records Act, the department said. The National Archives had reached out to Navarro to ask that he turn over the records, but he did not respond, the Justice Department's complaint said.

☆ Exclusive: Trump lawyer hires own attorney in classified documents probe
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Andrew Goudsward | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Levy was hired by Corcoran's law firm, Silverman Thompson Slutkin & White, to represent Corcoran in the probe, according to one of the people. Levy, a principal at the Washington law firm Ellerman Enzinna Levy, declined to comment. Corcoran has appeared before a grand jury in connection with U.S. Special Counsel Jack Smith's investigation into classified documents taken to Mar-a-Lago following Trump's term in office and possible attempts to obstruct that probe. Another Trump lawyer, Christina Bobb, signed a certification that all classified documents had been returned before the FBI found about 100 additional classified documents during an August 2022 search, according to prosecutors. Trump has denied wrongdoing and claimed, without offering evidence, that all documents at his residence had been declassified.

☆ A folder marked 'classified' Trump kept at Mar-a-Lago was empty and just used to cover up a light that bothered him, his lawyer claimed
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( Sophia Ankel | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Trump's lawyer said they turned over a folder marked "classified" to the DOJThe empty folder had been used by Trump in his Mar-A-Lago home, Timothy Parlatore told CNN. Trump used it to block a blue light on a landline telephone next to his bed, Parlatore said. Timothy Parlatore was responding to reports last week that claimed Trump's lawyers turned over an empty manilla folder marked "Classified Evening Briefing" to the Department of Justice last month. He added, however, that it was empty and had been used by Trump as a way to block light in his bedroom. So he took the manilla folder and put it over so it would keep the light down so he could sleep at night," Parlatore told CNN.

On other pages, they said he memorialized in writing some of his experiences or thoughts as vice president at the time. The number of notebooks Biden kept is large, according to the person familiar with the investigation, but they did not know the precise number. Trump and Biden’s possession of classified documents is the subject of separate special counsel investigations. Attorney General Merrick Garland has so far not named a special counsel to investigate Pence’s handling of classified documents. On Friday, Pence apologized for having classified documents in his possession and said he takes full responsibility for it.

WASHINGTON — The National Archives and Records Administration on Thursday requested that former presidents and vice presidents "conduct an assessment" to determine if they have any classified materials in their possession. Under the Presidential Records Act, all presidential and vice presidential records - including any classified documents - must be turned over to Archives by the end of their terms. A spokesperson for the Archives declined to comment on the letter, which was sent after classified documents were found at the homes of former Vice Presidents Joe Biden and Mike Pence, as well as an office Biden previously used. On Thursday, Bush's office responded to the Archives letter by saying, "Thank you for your note. Former Vice President Dan Quayle’s office said Thursday: “We have not received an inquiry from the National Archives.

☆ National Archives asks former U.S. presidents, VPs to check for classified documents- CNN
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON, Jan 26 (Reuters) - The National Archives asked former U.S. presidents and vice presidents on Thursday to re-check their personal records for any classified documents or other presidential records after the discovery of such documents in the possession of former President Donald Trump, President Joe Biden and former Vice President Mike Pence, CNN reported. The National Archives and Records Administration, or NARA, sent a letter to representatives of former presidents and vice presidents from the last six presidential administrations covered by the Presidential Records Act (PRA), the report added. A spokesman for former President Barack Obama told Reuters when asked about possible classified documents that his office had been given a "clean bill of health" by the National Archives. Former President Jimmy Carter did not receive a letter from the National Archives, since the Presidential Records Act took effect after he left office. The National Archives has come under criticism from Republicans who say it has not been transparent in the documents cases.

☆ The National Archives wants former presidents and vice presidents to see if they have any classified documents stashed anywhere
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Natalie Musumeci | Nicole Gaudiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The NARA has reportedly reached out to representatives of former presidents and vice presidents. NARA wants them to check their records for classified information, according to a letter seen by CNN. Reps for Obama, George W. Bush, and Clinton have told Insider they don't have classified documents. The request comes after classified documents were found in recent months at the homes and offices of President Joe Biden, former President Donald Trump, and former Vice President Mike Pence. Bush and Ronald Reagan, and former Vice Presidents Mike Pence, Biden, Dick Cheney, Al Gore and Dan Quayle, CNN reported.

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