SEE THE PHOTOS: Unsealed Motions in Trump’s Florida Case Suggest New Evidence of Possible Obstruction
May 22 2024, Published 9:05 a.m. ET
Special Counsel Jack Smith suspected Donald Trump of launching additional efforts to obstruct the government's investigation into his handling of classified documents, according to a newly unsealed court filing.
RadarOnline.com has learned that the filing, which was unsealed and released on Tuesday as an exhibit in response to Trump's attempts to dismiss the case, shed light on Trump's alleged actions to hinder Smith’s probe.
The events in question dated back to June 2023 when Trump pleaded not guilty to 37 criminal counts related to the mishandling of classified materials following his presidency.
Prosecutors claimed that Trump repeatedly refused to return hundreds of documents containing sensitive information and took further steps to impede the government's retrieval efforts.
Similarly, Trump aide Walt Nauta also pleaded not guilty to related charges.
Prosecutors pressed for testimony from Trump's attorney, Evan Corcoran, in March 2023 and presented a theory of obstruction steps taken by Trump and his associates.
Allegations suggested that Trump – upon learning of a government subpoena for video footage from his Mar-a-Lago club – instructed aides to return boxes from a storage room to avoid detection.
The newly unsealed opinion by D.C. District Judge Beryl Howell on Tuesday highlighted Trump's actions following the subpoena.
The opinion detailed a scramble by Nauta – said to be prompted by Trump – to fly to Florida. That move raised further suspicions about the deletion of Mar-a-Lago surveillance footage.
Judge Howell also acknowledged the government's claims that Trump ordered associates to evade surveillance cameras linked to the classified documents probe.
"The government urged that this scramble to Mar-a-Lago in the wake of the June 24, 2022 phone call reflects the former president's realization that the removal of the boxes from the storage room before [redacted] search was captured on camera – and his attempts to ensure that any subsequent movement of the boxes back to the storage room could occur off camera," Howell wrote in the court filing unsealed on Tuesday, according to the Washington Post.
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"This theory draws support from the curious absence of any video footage showing the return of the remaining boxes to the storage room, which necessarily occurred at some point between June 3, 2022 – when the room had approximately [redacted] boxes, according to FBI agents and [redacted] – and the execution of the search warrant on August 8, 2022 – when agents counted 73 boxes," Howell added.
As RadarOnline.com previously reported, the court filings unsealed on Tuesday also revealed that Trump's attorneys uncovered additional classified records at Mar-a-Lago after the FBI raid in August – including at least four classified documents in Trump's bedroom.
“Notably,” Howell wrote, “no excuse is provided as to how the former president could miss the classified-marked documents found in his own bedroom at Mar-a-Lago.”
The court filings – and new evidence like the photos of Nauta moving boxes believed to contain classified materials – likely strengthened Smith’s ongoing classified documents case against Trump and Trump’s co-defendants in Florida.