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A nearly 40-page document from the U.S. Department of Justice late last night suggests that Donald Trump and his legal team attempted to hide and delete sensitive government documents at the former president’s Florida residence, “probably” in an attempt to “obstruct a government investigation.” ” in his work with hundreds of papers that he took with him after leaving office.
On June 3, one of Trump’s lawyers signed a letter indicating that all materials stored in the former president’s Mar-a-Lago home had been handed over to federal law enforcement.
After a grand jury was subpoenaed in May to return dozens of documents, the letter confirmed that “without exception” the documents had been taken into account.
It is believed that this document was signed under oath by Christina Bobb, who met with the FBI agents when they arrived in Mar-a-Lago on August 8, and then signed a receipt for property seized during the execution of the FBI search warrant.
Ms. Bobb is a former host of the far-right, apparently pro-Trump news network One America News Network, whose coverage was central to debunking baseless election fraud conspiracy theories — Fox News host said Laura Ingram, a few days after the search, the former president’s team “turned everything we found that we had.”
Investigators in Mar-a-Lago have unearthed more than 320 classified documents, according to the Justice Department. During the search on August 8, 28 boxes and 100 documents were seized.
Mr. Trump and his legal team have repeatedly said in court documents and media appearances that they cooperated fully with the Justice Department in its months-long investigation. Speaking to far-right media in the days following the search, Ms Bobb insisted that there was “nothing” in what was found.
But the latest federal prosecutor’s document alleges that Mr. Trump’s team prevented agents from verifying what Ms. Bobb gave under oath under oath.
“An adviser to the former president expressly forbade government officials to open or look inside any of the boxes left in the vault, preventing the government from confirming that no classified documents were left,” they wrote.
They also noted that the folder from that June meeting contained 38 top secret documents and added that Mr. Trump’s lawyers “failed to explain why crates of government documents, including 38 documents classified premises … almost a year and a half after the end of the board.
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Who is Christina Bobb?
Ms. Bobb served in the US Marine Corps as a Judge Advocate before joining the US Department of Homeland Security under then-President Trump.
She is best known for her appearances at One America News, where she covered—and worked closely with, raising money for and seeking to shut down media coverage—of the partisan “audit” of the 2020 presidential election results in Maricopa County, Arizona.
Ms. Bobb promoted election-related conspiracy theories online and raised more than $600,000 through her non-profit organization for an Arizona Republican county review by the now-defunct firm Cyber Ninjas.
The final report found no such evidence of widespread fraud, and instead found that Mr. Biden won by a slightly larger margin than the initial results.
She also joined Mr Trump’s legal team in a bogus attempt to cancel the entire 2020 election along with lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Ellis, including promoting a bogus “alternative voter” conspiracy, according to New York Times.
Ms. Bobb left the OAN in March to work for Save America, a political organization associated with Mr. Trump.
She is also part of a group of lawyers working for the former president who were subpoenaed by a House select committee investigating the attack on the US Capitol, fueled in part by Trump’s unsubstantiated account of election fraud.
On June 3, Jay Bratt, head of counterintelligence at the Department of Justice’s Homeland Security Division, met with two of Trump’s attorneys, including Ms. Bobb, in Mar-a-Lago to collect any remaining classified material on the property. New York Times as well as Washington Post.
Mr. Bratt and other officials received a set of documents, and Trump’s attorney, Evan Corcoran, drafted a statement that was signed by Ms. Bobb, the custodian of the documents. Timeto claim that all classified materials have been returned.
The 38-page document, filed Aug. 30, was in response to Trump’s request for a so-called “special master” to review documents seized by the FBI on Aug. 8. The prosecutor’s office argued that the former president “has no right to seek judicial protection or supervision … because these records do not belong to him.”
Prosecutors also said the so-called “filter team” had already reviewed the files for any material that could be considered protected under attorney-client privilege, and stressed that Mr. Trump is no longer protected by executive privilege because he is not is the president.