Classified Documents: Trump tried to destroy video footage
Prosecutors allege that ex-President Donald Trump attempted to corrupt his own lawyer by persuading him to conceal classified documents. When the lawyer declined, Trump allegedly enlisted his assistants to hide the documents and suppress the CCTV video evidence in his Florida case involving classified documents.
“When presented with a grand jury subpoena demanding the return of the remaining documents bearing classification markings, Trump attempted to enlist his own attorney in the corrupt endeavor, suggesting that he falsely tell the FBI and grand jury that Trump did not have any documents, and suggesting that his attorney hide or destroy documents rather than produce them to the government,” the document states. After the attorney refused to cooperate, Trump then tried to deceive him, the prosecutors added.
“Failing in his effort to corrupt the attorney, Trump enlisted his body man, codefendant Waltine Nauta, to deceive the attorney by moving boxes to conceal his continued possession of classified documents. As a result, Trump, through his attorney, again returned only a portion of the classified documents in his possession while falsely claiming that his production was complete,” the document states.
“The obstructive conduct persisted from there. In June 2022, knowing that he had arranged for Nauta to move boxes to conceal them from Trump’s attorney, and knowing that the government had subpoenaed the security video footage that would reveal that box movement, Trump attempted to have the information-technology manager at Mar-a- Lago detroy the video footage that would show the movement of boxes,” the filing added.
This filing, a response to accusations from Trump’s legal team of “vindictive prosecution,”
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