DOJ warrant cites fresh evidence Trump may have moved his documents around to hide them after FBI searches
The Washington Post reported Sunday afternoon that more evidence might have become available to prove obstructions of justice for the theft of the government documents taken back to Mar-a-Lago.
Trump refused to turn the documents over for nearly a year when the Justice Department and FBI got involved. The FBI was then given an envelope with additional documents, but that still wasn't everything. Ultimately, the DOJ got a search warrant and went to Mar-a-Lago to get the documents.
According to the fresh evidence, there is more that has been discovered pointing to former President Donald Trump's obstructions of justice, those familiar told the Post.
"The additional evidence comes as investigators have used emails and text messages from a former Trump aide to help understand key moments last year," the report explained, citing the sources.
Special counsel Jack Smith is at work on the documents case as well as anything around the Jan. 6 attack.
The report highlighted that the key difference between documents found at Trump's home and those found at former Vice President Mike Pence's or President Joe Biden's is the intent and the obstruction. Both Pence and Biden were unaware that they had the information. Trump knew because he was told about it so many times when being asked for it to be returned prior to the DOJ being involved.
"Investigators now suspect, based on witness statements, security camera footage, and other documentary evidence, that boxes including classified material were moved from a Mar-a-Lago storage area after the subpoena was served, and that Trump personally examined at least some of those boxes," the Post said citing their sources. "While Trump’s team returned some documents with classified markings in response to the subpoena, a later FBI search found more than 100 additional classified items that had not been turned over."
The details are coming from court documents that are asking for judicial authorization for the FBI to do s search of Trump's home, because of “evidence of obstruction will be found at the premises.”
Court papers filed seeking judicial authorization for the FBI to conduct the search of Trump’s home show agents due to “evidence of obstruction will be found at the premises.”
The violations of statutes cited in the documents include 18 USC 1519, which says that it is a crime to alter, destroy, mutilate or conceal a document or tangible object “with the intent to impede, obstruct, or influence the investigation or proper administration of any matter within the jurisdiction of any department or agency.”
This information could be additional evidence to prove Trump's intent, which could convict him of intentional document theft.
Trump admitted on his social media site that he "did" steal the documents.