The investigation into former US President Donald Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents has found evidence of potential obstruction of justice, the Washington Post has reported. Text messages from a former Trump aide are under scrutiny as part of the probe, anonymous sources have claimed.
The federal investigation led by Special Counsel Jack Smith is looking into Trump’s retention of documents, including some protected by secrecy laws, after he left office. The Washington Post reported on Sunday that suspicion of obstruction serves as “a key distinction” from the case involving Trump’s successor, President Joe Biden. The current US leader was likewise revealed last year to be in possession of classified documents, in his case stemming from his time in the Barack Obama administration.
The US National Archives is said to have persistently tried to get Trump to return the disputed materials, which he kept at his home at the Mar-a-Lago private resort, culminating in a surprise FBI raid last August. Smith is reportedly focusing on the period before the raid and after May, when Trump’s legal advisers received a subpoena ordering the return of everything that was still missing at that time.
According to the newspaper, investigators found “significant evidence” that during that period, Trump had rummaged through boxes containing the files, “apparently out of a desire to keep certain things in his possession.” Some of the information investigators have learned reportedly came from emails and texts sent by Molly Michael, a former assistant to Trump.
Trump has dismissed the case against him as a politically motivated “witch hunt.” His spokesman, Steven Cheung, claimed to the Washington Post that people in Smith’s office “have now resorted to prosecutorial misconduct by illegally leaking information” from the investigation.
Cheung accused the newspaper’s sources of attempting to “corrupt the legal process and weaponize the justice system in order to manipulate public opinion and conduct election interference.”
Trump has announced his intention to run for president in 2024, but is facing several investigations. He is expected to appear for an arraignment at a New York court on Tuesday, after a grand jury indicted him over an alleged hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.
Trump reportedly faces over 30 counts, including one criminal charge, related to alleged use of campaign funds to pay Daniels not to talk about their brief relationship.