Donald Trump was privately worried that handing over potentially classified documents he held after a May 2022 subpoena could result in criminal charges, according to transcripts of audio notes to which ABC News gained access.
This occurred while the former president repeatedly took part in what prosecutors have said was an attempt to recruit his lawyers to lie and destroy documents for his benefit.
Prosecutors allege that rather than abide by the subpoena, Trump decided to hide dozens of classified documents from his own lawyers, and federal agents eventually seized 102 such documents — including 17 top secret ones — after they carried out a search warrant at Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence in August 2022.
The notes, which ABC News first reported on last year, are central to an ongoing legal battle in Trump's federal classified documents case, where prosecutors have used the detailed notes about the former president's behavior and statements as key evidence to demonstrate that he tried to obstruct justice by hiding documents from investigators.
Judge Aileen Cannon, who is overseeing the case, is hearing arguments today on Trump's effort to limit prosecutors' use of the notes and to have the case dismissed based on the role of the notes in the government's case.
Two months before agents searched Mar-a-Lago, Trump's former lead attorney Evan Corcoran's notes — which prosecutors have used to strengthen their case against the former president — describe that Trump repeatedly blamed his legal troubles on his "political enemies," was reluctant to permit the review of boxes that prosecutors say had dozens of classified documents, and engaged in conduct that prosecutors believe was an effort to "corrupt" his attorneys by concealing Trump's alleged retention of classified documents.
Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung accused prosecutors of lying and illegally leaking material, telling ABC News that "the entire documents case was a political sham from the very beginning and it should be thrown out entirely."
A spokesperson for the special counsel's office declined to comment.
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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