DOJ Points to Likely Obstruction in Investigation of Documents at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago

By temporary On Sep 17, 2022 94

A heavily redacted affidavit released by the Justice Department Friday says boxes retrieved from Mar-a-Lago early this year contained over 184 classified documents and there was “probable cause to believe that additional documents” containing classified national defense information remained. Photo: Jim Bourg/Reuters

Updated Aug. 31, 2022 8:29 am ET

WASHINGTON—The Justice Department said “efforts were likely taken to obstruct the government’s investigation” of documents at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home months before FBI agents searched the Florida estate in early August.

A court filing late Tuesday objecting to Mr. Trump’s proposal that the seized documents be vetted by a third-party arbiter laid out the government’s most detailed timeline yet of the events that led to the unprecedented search of the premises, in which investigators said they found records in places other than the storage room where Mr. Trump’s lawyers had assured them all were held.