Special counsel prosecutors have secured evidence including daily notes, texts, emails and photographs and are focused on cataloguing how Donald Trump handled classified records around the Mar-a-Lago resort and those who may have witnessed the former president with them, according to multiple sources familiar with the investigation.
The new details come amid signs the Justice Department is taking steps typical of near the end of an investigation.
The recent investigative activity before a federal grand jury in Washington, DC, also includes subpoenaing witnesses in March and April who had previously spoken to investigators, the sources said. While the FBI interviewed many aides and workers at Mar-a-Lago nearly a year ago voluntarily, grand jury appearances are transcribed and under-oath – an indication the prosecutors are locking in witness testimony.
The focus of both the mishandling of records and obstruction of justice probes has remained on the actions of the former president, the sources said. That includes prosecutors pursuing evidence of Trump’s intent to keep classified records after he left the White House, plus his knowledge that the records remained in his possession after the Justice Department demanded their return last May.
Witnesses are being questioned about what they saw in Trump’s private residential and work areas within the club, some of the sources said.
Investigators have also collected texts and notes from Molly Michael, Trump’s assistant, which detail what Trump was doing and who he was meeting with in his day to day.
The new evidence the team working for special counsel Jack Smith is focusing on is separate from what was obtained through a recent grand jury pursuit of Trump’s defense lawyer Evan Corcoran, a source told CNN. Corcoran spoke with the former president the day the Trump Organization received a…
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