BREAKING NEWS: FBI RAIDS TRUMP RESIDENCE IN MAR-A-LAGO FOR CLASSIFIED NUCLEAR DOCUMENTS, AMONG OTHERS

[bilateralrope]

He'll just do what he did at his last deposition.
5th.
5th.
5th.

If he's SMART, he'll do that. If he's well-coached by his Lawyers, he'll do that.
But if Pelosi is able to get him worked up, Trump will suddenly have diarrhea of the mouth and either self-incriminate or say enough shit that gets him jailed for Contempt anyway.
After all, he's not Clinton, able to take 8hrs of questioning with no emotion.

I can't see him being directly convicted for anything he says under oath here. Maybe some referrals, but I doubt anyone is going to go after him for perjury or contempt. Too much of a risk of looking too political and not much to gain with everything else he's facing.

But you can be sure that anyone going after him in civil/criminal proceedings will make sure to get hold of the transcripts. Just in case he said something that later proves useful, like cutting off a possible defense. Or reminding him of what he said should he claim he can't recall something.

[bobalot]

This entire raid and it's aftermath is an example of the power of money and reluctance of American society to deal with law breaking by the Republican party and it's base.

Anybody else would already be in jail.

It's also a case of the law taking its time to make sure it's got it's ass covered before hitting them.

I certainly hope so but one would wonder at the speed if this were Hillary Clinton or Barrack Obama being raided.

[Solauren]

But you can be sure that anyone going after him in civil/criminal proceedings will make sure to get hold of the transcripts. Just in case he said something that later proves useful, like cutting off a possible defense. Or reminding him of what he said should he claim he can't recall something.

That would also give ammo for claim against Trumps mental health if he tries to run again in 2024.

With dates of events, you can show "he did this in 2020, talked about it in 2023, and now can't remember? Clearly, his mind is slipping."

[Ralin]

Because his supporters will care?

[Solauren]

I was more thinking of 'Fence sitters' and 'stay at home and not voters'.

[bilateralrope]

Top Trump adviser granted immunity for testifying in Mar-a-Lago papers case

Kash Patel will receive limited protection from prosecution for his testimony on how and if the documents were ‘declassified’

Hugo Lowell
Wed 2 Nov 2022 23.56 GMT

Federal prosecutors examining Donald Trump’s unauthorized retention of highly sensitive government documents at his Mar-a-Lago property will obtain testimony from top adviser Kash Patel after granting him limited immunity from prosecution, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

The immunity – a powerful tool that forces witnesses to testify on the promise that they will not be prosecuted for their statements or information derived from their statements – takes effect on 2 November and signals the importance of his testimony to the criminal investigation.

The justice department’s interest with Patel centers on his claims that the documents found at Mar-a-Lago were declassified, how the documents came to end up at the property, and how Trump’s aides and lawyers responded to requests for their return, the sources said.

The status of the documents is important because if prosecutors can prove that those seized by the FBI in August were not declassified, it could strengthen a potential obstruction case contending that Trump used the claims as an excuse for why he did not return records that had been subpoenaed.

Trump and advisers like Patel have claimed repeatedly since the Mar-a-Lago search that the seized documents were declassified, though no such evidence has emerged and Trump’s lawyers have not repeated the assertions in court filings, where they could face penalties for lying.

But the justice department’s focus on the declassification suggests federal prosecutors consider it relevant to the inquiry into Trump’s retention of documents at the Florida property, as well as whether Patel himself wanted to impede or obstruct the investigation if his claims were false.

As Patel is a close adviser to Trump – he maintains a personal relationship with the former president – who was also appointed as one of his representatives to the National Archives, the justice department is expected to ask Patel about the circumstances behind the documents at Mar-a-Lago.

The Guardian first reported that the justice department was considering granting Patel use immunity on Wednesday morning. The immunity order, confirmed by the Wall Street Journal, was transmitted to Patel’s lawyers hours later.

The push to secure Patel’s testimony intensified after he was summoned earlier this month to testify before a federal grand jury in Washington hearing evidence about Trump’s mishandling of government documents and potential obstruction when he resisted returning certain records.

Patel asserted his fifth amendment right against self-incrimination to an array of questions, the sources said, though the basis for some was not clear; even if the documents were not declassified, making false public statements would likely not be a crime.

In the obstruction investigation examining Trump by the former special counsel Robert Mueller, for instance, prosecutors concluded that the former president’s false statements about his campaign’s ties to Russia could only be considered criminal if he made them to Congress or the FBI.

But after chief US district court judge Beryl Howell in Washington agreed that Patel could justifiably believe he had reason to assert the fifth, the justice department applied for an order giving him limited immunity from prosecution that was granted late last week, the sources said.

Trump has only doubled down in recent weeks on the claim that all of the documents in his possession were declassified, while his office has said Trump issued a standing order that records taken to the White House residence were automatically declassified.

Trump also claimed to Fox News host Sean Hannity, when asked what procedures he used to declassify the documents, that presidents had the authority to declassify documents by the power of thought.

“Different people say different things but as I understand it, if you’re the president of the United States, you can declassify just by saying it’s declassified, even by thinking about it,” Trump told Hannity.

But the justice department’s willingness to grant use immunity to Patel underscores how important they consider his testimony as prosecutors continue to collect evidence against Trump through his current and former aides.

Prosecutors only grant immunity to witnesses as a last resort, especially in high-profile cases, since it makes potentially prosecuting them in the future much more difficult, and the move requires internal approval at the highest levels of the justice department.

The justice department has also pressured Trump’s valet Walt Nauta to sit for an additional interview to answer questions about how Trump instructed him to remove boxes from a storage room at Mar-a-Lago where documents marked classified were stashed, one of the sources said.

Nauta has resisted having another interview with prosecutors – on the advice of his lawyer, who also represents Patel – after they indicated they were skeptical of an initial account he gave about moving documents from the storage room and raised the prospect of charging him with obstruction.

Looks like the DOJ really want to know the details of Trump's psychic declassification claims before they indict Trump. Just so there are no surprises.

[bobalot]

With the Midterms over, I suspect this investigation and indictment will be going into full speed.

[bilateralrope]

There is still that one runoff in December. Which means the DOJ has plenty of time to get that special master dealt with and then go through all the documents before their rules allow them to indict Trump.

Though it also gives Trump time to announce his 2024 run because he seems to think that will protect him from criminal investigations.

[bilateralrope]

US attorney general names special counsel to weigh charges against Trump

Hugo Lowell and David Smith in Washington
Fri 18 Nov 2022 21.02 GMT

‘Extraordinary circumstances’ require appointment of Jack Smith to determine whether charges should be brought, Garland says

Merrick Garland, the US attorney general, has appointed a special counsel to determine whether Donald Trump, the former president, should face criminal charges stemming from investigations into his alleged mishandling of national security materials and his role in the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.

The politically explosive move comes just three days after Trump announced he is running for the White House yet again, despite a disappointing Republican performance in the midterm elections, especially among candidates backed by the ex-president.

“Based on recent developments, including the former president’s announcement that he is a candidate for president in the next election, and the sitting president’s stated intention to be a candidate as well, I have concluded that it is in the public interest to appoint a special counsel,” Garland told a press conference on Friday.

Garland named Jack Smith, a veteran prosecutor, to the post, which will deal with justice department investigations into Trump’s attempt to subvert the 2020 presidential election victory for Joe Biden, and also the discovery of confidential documents at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida.

Trump attacked the appointment within hours, in an interview with Fox News’s digital arm.

“For six years I have been going through this, and I am not going to go through it any more,” Trump said. “It is not acceptable. It is so unfair. It is so political.”

The appointment of a special counsel reflects the sensitivity of the justice department overseeing the two most hazardous criminal investigations into Trump, and an increased possibility of charges being brought over either matter.

Special counsels are semi-independent prosecutors who can be installed for high-profile investigations when there are conflicts of interest, or the appearance of such conflicts, and provide a mechanism for the justice department to insulate itself from political considerations in charging decisions.

“I strongly believe that the normal processes of this department can handle all investigations with integrity,” Garland said. “And I also believe that appointing a special counsel at this time is the right thing to do. The extraordinary circumstances presented here demand it.”

The attorney general added: “I will ensure that the special counsel receives the resources to conduct this work quickly and completely. Given the work done to date and Mr Smith’s prosecutorial experience, I am confident that this appointment will not slow the completion of these investigations.”

Smith, a graduate of Harvard law school, from 2010 to 2015 served as the chief of the public integrity section at the justice department, which handles government corruption investigations, a role not dissimilar to his new position as special counsel.

Since 2018, he has been a special prosecutor to The Hague investigating war crimes in Kosovo, having joined the international criminal court from the US attorney’s office for the eastern district of New York in Brooklyn, where he helped prosecute a police brutality case that drew national attention.

During his time at the justice department in Washington, Smith oversaw the corruption cases against former Virginia governor Bob McDonnell, ex-Arizona congressman Rick Renzi and New York assembly speaker Sheldon Silver, though convictions against McDonnell and Silver were later overturned.

He oversaw the prosecution of a CIA agent for disclosing national defense information and obstructing justice – crimes that echo potential charges against Trump.

And Smith has also investigated Trump before, in the 1970s, over potential fraud charges during his tenure as a prosecutor in New York. The roughly six-month investigation ultimately yielded no charges, after which Trump complained about the investigation.

Politico reported that Smith was registered to vote as a political independent, not a Democrat or a Republican.

In a statement released by the justice department, Smith said: “I intend to conduct the assigned investigations, and any prosecutions that may result from them, independently and in the best traditions of the Department of Justice.

“The pace of the investigations will not pause or flag under my watch. I will exercise independent judgment and will move the investigations forward expeditiously and thoroughly to whatever outcome the facts and the law dictate.”

The appointment of a special counsel will be a familiar dynamic for Trump, who was the subject of Robert Mueller’s investigation shortly after he took office, examining ties between his 2016 presidential campaign and Russia. Later, Trump’s attorney general, Bill Barr, appointed special counsel John Durham to investigate allegations of FBI impropriety in the Russia investigation.

Trump has already spent months since the FBI seized 103 documents marked classified from Mar-a-Lago accusing the justice department under Joe Biden of pursuing him for political reasons – a tension likely to become more biting as the 2024 election draws nearer.

It was to allay those concerns, Garland said at the news conference, that he chose to appoint Smith to run the investigations. “Appointing a special counsel at this time is the right thing to do,” Garland said. “The extraordinary circumstances presented here demand it.”

The appointment of a special counsel could indicate that the justice department has already accumulated substantial evidence of potential criminality by Trump and his allies. Barbara McQuade, a University of Michigan law school professor and former US attorney, said: “One thing that is significant is this suggests that they think there’s a very real possibility of charges. If they were going to close the case, it would be closed by now.”

But some criticised the move as inadvertently buying Trump time and allowing an over-cautious Garland to duck responsibility. Jill Wine-Banks, a legal analyst and former Watergate prosecutor, tweeted: “Garland has named a Special Counsel to investigate Trump #MAL and parts of Jan6. I think it’s a waste of time and money, insults the prosecutors at DOJ and gains nothing. No Trump supporter will see anyone as independent or fair to Trump.”

The Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump group, tweeted: “The announcement of a special counsel to investigate Trump in light of the abundance of clear and convincing evidence of his crimes unfortunately delays accountability. However, justice will come eventually & he will not be able to evade the consequences of his actions forever.”

The White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, said Biden had not been given any advance notice of Garland’s announcement. “No, he was not aware, we were not aware,” she said at a delayed press briefing. “The department of justice makes decisions about criminal investigations independently. We are not involved.”

Jean-Pierre added: “We were not given advance notice. We were not aware of this investigation.”

It's possible that Trump thought that announcing his 2024 run would shield him from the criminal investigations. A special counsel is how the DOJ gets around that issue.

[LadyTevar]

Wow.
Prosecuted War Crimes in Kosovo? There was a hot-button.

I look forward to seeing where this leads.

[GrosseAdmiralFox]

Well, a certain scene in The Wire about the rabbit hole that following the money applies here...

[DaZergRock54444]

And the special master is sent home - the 11th Circuit has told Trump to go fuck himself.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A unanimous federal appeals court on Thursday ended an independent review of documents seized from former President Donald Trump’s Florida estate, removing a hurdle the Justice Department said had delayed its criminal investigation into the retention of top-secret government information.

The decision by the three-judge panel represents a significant win for federal prosecutors, clearing the way for them to use as part of their investigation the entire tranche of documents seized during an Aug. 8 FBI search of Mar-a-Lago. It also amounts to a sharp repudiation of arguments by Trump’s lawyers, who for months had said that the former president was entitled to have a so-called “special master” conduct a neutral review of the thousands of documents taken from the property.

The ruling from the Atlanta-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit had been expected given the skeptical questions the judges directed at a Trump lawyer during arguments last week, and because two of the three judges on the panel had already ruled in favor of the Justice Department in an earlier dispute over the special master.

The decision was a unanimous opinion from the three-judge panel of Republican appointees, including two who were selected by Trump. In it, the court rejected each argument by Trump and his attorneys for why a special master was necessary, including his claims that the seized records were protected by attorney-client privilege or executive privilege.

“It is indeed extraordinary for a warrant to be executed at the home of a former president — but not in a way that affects our legal analysis or otherwise gives the judiciary license to interfere in an ongoing investigation,” the judges wrote.

The special master litigation has played out alongside an ongoing investigation examining the potential criminal mishandling of national defense information as well as efforts to possibly obstruct that probe. Attorney General Merrick Garland last month appointed Jack Smith, a veteran public corruption prosecutor, to serve as special counsel overseeing that investigation.

It remains unclear how much longer the investigation will last, or who, if anyone, might be charged. But the probe has shown signs of intensifying, with investigators questioning multiple Trump associates about the documents and granting one key ally immunity to ensure his testimony before a federal grand jury. And the appeals court decision is likely to speed the investigation along by cutting short the outside review of the records.

The conflict over the special master began just weeks after the FBI’s search, when Trump sued in federal court in Florida seeking the appointment of an independent arbiter to review the roughly 13,000 documents the Justice Department says were taken from the home.

A federal judge, Aileen Cannon, granted the Trump team’s request, naming veteran Brooklyn judge Raymond Dearie to serve as special master and tasking him with reviewing the seized records and filtering out from the criminal investigation any documents that might be covered by claims of executive privilege or attorney-client privilege.

She also barred the Justice Department from using in its criminal investigation any of the seized records, including the roughly 100 with classification markings, until Dearie completed his work.

The Justice Department objected to the appointment, saying it was an unnecessary hindrance to its criminal investigation and saying Trump had no credible basis to invoke either attorney-client privilege or executive privilege to shield the records from investigators.

It sought, as a first step, to regain access to the classified documents. A federal appeals panel sided with prosecutors in September, permitting the Justice Department to resume its review of the documents with classification markings. Two of the judges on that panel — Andrew Brasher and Britt Grant, both Trump appointees — were part of Thursday’s ruling as well.

The department also pressed for unfettered access to the much larger trove of unclassified documents, saying such records could contain important evidence for their investigation.

In its ruling Thursday, the court directed Cannon to dismiss the lawsuit that gave rise to Dearie’s appointment and suggested Trump had no legal basis to challenge the search in the first place.

“The law is clear. We cannot write a rule that allows any subject of a search warrant to block government investigations after the execution of the warrant. Nor can we write a rule that allows only former presidents to do so,” the judges wrote.

“Either approach,” they added, “would be a radical reordering of our caselaw limiting the federal courts’ involvement in criminal investigations. And both would violate bedrock separation-of-powers limitations.”

---
Follow Eric Tucker on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/etucker

[bilateralrope]

It sounded like a race between the Special Master finishing his review and the appeals court removing the Special Master. He was

Though removing him should limit what other BS Judge Cannon can try next.

[Formless]

More documents have been found and turned in to the FBI.

Items with classified markings found at Trump storage unit in Florida

The former president’s lawyers have told federal authorities no classified material was found in additional searches of Trump Tower in New York and his golf club in Bedminster, N.J.

By Jacqueline Alemany, Josh Dawsey, Spencer S. Hsu, Devlin Barrett and Rosalind S. Helderman

Updated December 7, 2022 at 1:05 p.m. EST|Published December 7, 2022 at 5:00 a.m. EST

Lawyers for Donald Trump found at least two items marked classified after an outside team hired by Trump searched a storage unit in West Palm Beach, Fla., used by the former president, according to people familiar with the matter.

Those items were immediately turned over to the FBI, according to those people, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

The search was one of at least three searches for classified materials conducted by an outside team at Trump properties in recent weeks, after Trump’s legal team was pressed by a federal judge to attest that it had fully complied with a May grand jury subpoena to turn over all materials bearing classified markings, according to people familiar with the matter.

There has been a lengthy and fierce battle between Trump’s attorneys and the Justice Department in a Washington federal court in recent weeks, according to people familiar with the matter. Much of the legal wrangling remains under seal by a federal judge, but people familiar with the matter say the Justice Department has raised concerns about what prosecutors view as a long-standing failure to fully comply with the May subpoena by Trump’s team.

Emails released by the General Services Administration, which assists former presidents during their transition to private life, show that the government agency helped rent the storage unit at a private facility in West Palm Beach on July 21, 2021. The unit was needed to store items that had been held at an office in Northern Virginia used by Trump staffers in the months just after he left office.

The emails show that the GSA and Trump staffers worked together to arrange to ship several pallets of boxes and other items weighing more than 3,000 pounds from Northern Virginia to the Florida storage unit in September 2021.

A person familiar with the matter said the storage unit had a mix of boxes, gifts, suits and clothes, among other things. “It was suits and swords and wrestling belts and all sorts of things,” this person said. “To my knowledge, he has never even been to that storage unit. I don’t think anyone in Trump World could tell you what’s in that storage unit.”

There was no cataloguing of what was put in the storage unit, Trump advisers said — just as there was no cataloguing of what classified documents were taken to a room underneath Mar-a-Lago.

The Washington Post could not immediately determine specifically what was in the items marked classified. A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment. The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The ultimate significance of the classified material in the storage unit is not immediately clear, but its presence there indicates Mar-a-Lago was not the only place where Trump kept classified material. It also provides further evidence that Trump and his team did not fully comply with a May grand jury subpoena that sought all documents marked classified still in possession of the post-presidential office.

n addition to the storage unit, the team hired an outside company to carry out the search of Trump’s golf club in Bedminster, N.J., and, more recently, Trump Tower in New York, according to people familiar with the matter. The outside team also searched at least one other property.

The team offered the FBI the opportunity to observe the search but the offer was declined, the people said. It would be unusual for federal agents to monitor a search of someone’s property conducted by anyone other than another law enforcement agency.

Trump’s lawyers have told the Justice Department that the outside team did not turn up any new classified information during their search of Bedminster and Trump Tower, according to people familiar with the process, and have said they utilized a firm that had expertise in searching for documents.

“President Trump and his counsel continue to be cooperative and transparent,” Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said, accusing the Justice Department of committing an “unprecedented” and “unwarranted attack” against Trump and his family.

Chief U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell told Trump’s legal team to continue to search for documents after the Justice Department expressed concerns that the team had not fully complied with a subpoena earlier this year. Howell, according to people familiar with the matter, did not give specific orders on how a search should be done.

Howell’s instructions followed a breakdown in the government’s trust in Trump’s attorneys that led prosecutors in August to seek a court-authorized FBI search of Mar-a-Lago. Since that time, prosecutors have continued to question whether Trump has returned all materials with classification markings, although what steps the government might take to retrieve such materials or procedures it might require Trump’s advisers and lawyers to implement remain unclear.

Trump’s team has sought to avert another federal high-profile search of his properties, the people familiar with the matter said.

According to the people, at least one of Trump’s lawyers has previously advocated for a less combative approach toward the Justice Department investigation of Trump and his advisers for three potential crimes: mishandling of national security secrets, obstruction and destruction of government records.

That attorney, former Florida solicitor general Christopher Kise, had proposed such a search months earlier. Many of the other lawyers on Trump’s team have rebuffed Kise’s advice, and he has taken a reduced role in the classified documents case while taking a larger role in the New York investigations into the former president, the people said.

Jay Bratt, the chief of the counterintelligence and export control section at the Justice Department, communicated to Trump’s lawyers after the FBI search that the department was concerned Trump still may not have returned all the classified documents in his possession. The Post has previously reported that officials at the National Archives also believe that there may still be more records missing. Previous attempts by Trump’s attorneys to identify and return documents proved unsatisfactory to investigators.

At times in the past, Trump has misled his own lawyers as to what was in the boxes that were taken from Mar-a-Lago, The Post has reported.

For example, he told some on his team that he possessed only newspaper clippings and personal items in 2021. One of his former lawyers, Alex Cannon, declined Trump’s entreaty to tell the National Archives he had returned all items, because Cannon was not sure whether it was true, and his team in February did not release a statement dictated by Trump that claimed he had returned all materials, The Post has reported.

Trump lawyers Christina Bobb and Evan Corcoran met with investigators in June, handing over a taped-up folder of 38 documents collected from the former president’s residence in response to a May subpoena, according to court documents and people familiar with the matter. Prosecutors called the response “incomplete” in court documents and said that they collected evidence of “obstructive conduct” regarding the failure to fully comply with the subpoena.

Bobb signed a certification swearing that she had been told that “a diligent search” was conducted of boxes of records shipped from the White House to Florida when Trump left office and that the file handed over to investigators contained “all documents that are responsive to the subpoena.” Corcoran told the visiting investigators he had been advised that all available boxes placed in a storage room — and nowhere else — had been searched in response to the subpoena, The Post reported.

Soon after, investigators obtained video surveillance of the club and conducted more interviews with Trump staffers, leading them to seek a search warrant from a judge on the basis of new evidence that sensitive material still remained at Mar-a-Lago, The Post has reported. When agents executed the search warrant in August, they found additional documents with classified markings in the storage room and in Trump’s office, along with thousands of other government papers and items, according to court records.

Perry Stein contributed to this report.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

Why would Trump hire teams to search his own properties?

[Solauren]

Why would Trump hire teams to search his own properties?

To turn it over to be able to say "I'm fully co-operating, this was just a mis-understanding"

[Formless]

Because the judge was going to hold their feet to the fire if they didn't fully comply with the May subpoena. They knew full well that Trump Tower, this storage unit, and one other location might have documents, and so did everyone else, so it was hire a team or the judge might hit them with contempt or even perjury charges. Remember, they signed on paper that they had done a thorough search, and its now known that they lied. Its a damned if they did, damned if they didn't situation. They probably didn't want it to get in the news that the FBI got another search warrant for Trump's other properties. That would have gotten a lot more attention than this did.

[Lord Revan]

Anyone with even a semi-functional brains knows that Trump had no intention of complying with the May subpoena, even if proving that beyond reasonable doubt is different matter. Though it must have finally gotten thru to Trump (or at least someone in his organization) just what not complying with the subpoena actually means.

[bilateralrope]

Justice Department seeking to hold Trump in contempt over classified documents

By Katelyn Polantz, Kaitlan Collins, Evan Perez and Zachary Cohen, CNN
Updated 9:49 PM EST, Thu December 8, 2022

The Justice Department is asking a federal judge to hold Donald Trump in contempt of court for failing to comply with a subpoena issued this summer ordering the former president to turn over records marked classified, two sources familiar with the matter told CNN.

The development comes after Trump’s legal team said it conducted searches at four locations just before Thanksgiving, finding two documents with classified markings at a storage facility in Florida. The Trump team turned over those two documents to the FBI and announced to a federal judge in Washington, DC, that they believed Trump was now in compliance with a 6-month-old subpoena.

But the Justice Department disagreed. And in an escalation last week, department prosecutors told DC District Chief Judge Beryl Howell, who oversees federal grand jury proceedings there, that the searches weren’t satisfactory. The contempt proceedings before Howell are under seal.

The proceedings ratchet up the pressure on Trump as he faces possible criminal liability in the Mar-a-Lago documents investigation being conducted by special counsel Jack Smith. It also adds another chapter to the ongoing struggle for federal officials to reclaim government records – especially those that contain national security secrets – from Trump after his administration ended.

“President Trump and his counsel continue to cooperate and be transparent, despite the unprecedented, illegal, and unwarranted attacks by the weaponized Department of Justice,” Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a statement.

In January and June, the Trump team turned over boxes and an envelope of federal records, including some marked as classified. Federal agencies had been seeking their return for months, and the Justice Department issued a subpoena that asked for documents marked as classified in May.

Even after the subpoena, investigators found reason to search Mar-a-Lago, seizing 33 more boxes of records, including more than 100 documents marked classified. More recently, prosecutors have insisted that sensitive government documents are still missing and that Trump was obligated to return them.

The Justice Department has not disclosed to Trump’s legal team which materials it believes have not been returned, according to one source.

A hearing is set for Friday, when Howell will consider whether to hold Trump and his post-presidency office in contempt of court. If held in contempt, he could rack up fines. Being held in contempt over subpoenas for documents has become a feature of Trump’s court tangles since he left office.

At Friday’s hearing, the Trump legal team is expected to argue that the recent searches for classified material at the four locations, including Trump Tower, were all thorough and should prove his compliance with the subpoena, according to a source familiar with the former president’s defense strategy.

Investigators hired by the Trump team examined the locations, the source said, and in most cases did not find items of relevance. In the case of the storage unit where two documents marked classified were found, this source said investigators encountered unopened boxes that had to be opened with a knife. The source noted that the state of those boxes indicated they had not been opened since Trump left office.

The source also said that the Trump team’s outsourced search was intended in part to preempt federal prosecutors from seeking another search warrant for the former president’s other properties.

I wonder if the DOJ can use this contempt to get search warrants for all of Trump's properties.

[Solauren]

I wonder if the DOJ can use this contempt to get search warrants for all of Trump's properties.

Missing Classified documents is enough to do that.

Hell, it's enough to get search warrants on his families properties and businesses, and their closest associates as well.

[Rogue 9]

The judge has refused the request to hold Trump's attorneys in contempt.

[LadyTevar]

The judge has refused the request to hold Trump's attorneys in contempt.

Probably to forestall Trump firing them and trying to find new lawyers, and attempting to do all of this again?

[Formless]

Apparently it's so they can talk it out some more with the DOJ. Contempt charges are still on the table depending on how that goes. I'm sure we can take a guess how that will go.

[Rogue 9]

Or the judge wants them to do what they should have done already and indict them for obstruction of justice rather than relying on the courts to slap them around with contempt. If any of us had stolen classified documents they would not be fucking around like this.

[The_Saint]

Per the last linked news article:

The Justice Department has not disclosed to Trump’s legal team which materials it believes have not been returned, according to one source.

What's the likely chances that the DOJ knows of the existence of some documents that Trump has but shouldn't have.... whether this is to provide time for the Trump team to dig their own hole (how is it not dep enough already?) or more likely just regardless of what the Trump team says they just doubt everything has been searched/found/turned over.