Former Trump employee tells FBI Trump ordered Mar-a-Lago boxes to be moved -report

[October 13, 2022]   By Sarah N. Lynch and Kanishka Singh
 
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A former employee of Donald Trump has told federal agents the former president asked for boxes of records to be moved within his Florida residence after receiving a government subpoena demanding their return, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump holds a rally ahead of the midterm elections, in Mesa, Arizona, U.S., October 9, 2022. REUTERS/Brian Snyder

The testimony of the key witness, coupled with surveillance footage the Justice Department also obtained, represent some of the strongest known evidence to date of possible obstruction of justice by the former Republican president.

The FBI conducted a court-approved search on Aug. 8 at Trump's home at the Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, seizing more than 11,000 documents including about 100 marked as classified.

The employee who was working at Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida was cooperating with the Justice Department and has been interviewed multiple times by federal agents, the newspaper reported, citing people familiar with the situation. The witness initially denied handling sensitive documents and in subsequent conversations with agents admitted to moving boxes at Trump’s request, the newspaper reported.

The Justice Department declined to comment.

A Trump spokesperson said the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden had "weaponized law enforcement."

"Every other President has been given time and deference regarding the administration of documents, as the President has the ultimate authority to categorize records, and what materials should be classified," Trump spokesperson Taylor Budowich told the newspaper.

Budowich accused the Justice Department of leaking "misleading and false information" to the media.

The document investigation is one of several legal woes Trump is facing as he considers whether to run again for president in 2024.

New York state's attorney general recently filed a civil lawsuit accusing Trump and three of his adult children of fraud and misrepresentation in preparing financial statements from the family real estate company.

The Trump Organization also is set to go on trial on Oct. 24 on New York state criminal tax fraud charges.

Separately in Georgia, a grand jury in the Fulton County is probing efforts by Trump to overturn the former president's 2020 election defeat.

(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch and Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Lincoln Feast)

[© 2022 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2022 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.