DOJ grants Kash Patel immunity to force his testimony about Mar-a-Lago docs
One of Donald Trump's official representatives to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has been granted criminal immunity and is set to "soon testify" before the federal grand jury investigating the Mar-a-Lago documents, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.
Kash Patel, a former Devin Nunes aide who worked in the Trump administration, reportedly invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination when he testified before the grand jury in October.
"A federal judge recently decided the Justice Department couldn’t force Mr. Patel to testify without such protection against his statements being used against him in some future prosecution," the newspaper reported. "That ruling, the people said, opens the door for Mr. Patel, who says Mr. Trump broadly declassified White House documents while still president, to answer questions."
Trump announced Patel as one of his NARA representatives in June.
"The immunity grant leaves the government only able to charge Mr. Patel, if at all, using information obtained independently of his immunized testimony," the newspaper reported. "Other Trump associates involved in the Mar-a-Lago documents matter also have been offered some form of immunity, people familiar with the matter said, including one of Mr. Trump’s lawyers, Christina Bobb, who declined, saying she didn’t need it."
Eleven days after the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago, Trump's Save America PAC paid Patel's consulting firm $7,500.
Read the full report.