Trump’s lawyers indicated that it was “expected” that among the presidential documents that Trump took from the White House there was material classified precisely because of the nature of the position he held.
The lawyers of former United States President Donald Trump (2017-2021) indicated this Wednesday before the judge handling the case that the classified documents found in his mansion in Mar-a-Lago (Florida, USA) were in a safe place.
In a brief presented before the magistrate, the lawyers indicated that it was “expected” that among the presidential documents that Trump took from the White House there was material classified precisely because of the nature of the position he held.
Judge Aileen Cannon summoned lawyers for Trump and the US Department of Justice to a hearing in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Thursday to deal with the demand made by the former president for an independent expert to supervise the case originated by the search carried out by the FBI in his Florida mansion in search of official documents.
Trump has also requested a more detailed receipt of what was seized and the return of anything that was not included in the court order that authorized the search.
Judge Cannon has been willing to appoint an expert to supervise the search of Mar-a-Largo , Trump’s mansion and private club in Palm Beach, where he has his legal address, but before making a decision, he will listen to the parties. .
The hearing in the federal courts of West Palm Beach will take place two days after the Department of Justice (DOJ) communicated to the judge the possible commission of a crime of “obstruction” for the handling of classified documents in Mar-a -Lake.
According to the DOJ, some of the documents found in a search conducted on August 8 were “likely hidden and removed” from a warehouse.
The US government had repeatedly required Trump to hand them over if he had taken classified documents from the White House, but the former president’s entourage responded evasively.
In the search , FBI agents found more than 100 classified documents that Trump had not turned over to authorities despite requests.
The more than 50-page document (including exhibits) presented by the DOJ to Judge Cannon on Tuesday night provides a timeline of the handling of material then seized since Trump left the White House in January 2021.
According to the letter, the storage of these documents is not protected by the figure of the Executive Privilege that would correspond to him as president, but they should have been stored as required by law in the National Archives.