Former President Trump directed boxes of government records to be moved around Mar-a-Lago after receiving a grand jury subpoena, the Washington Post reports.
The report says that prosecutors have obtained the cooperation of a witness who was working at Mar-a-Lago at the time of the subpoena, which was issued in May 2022.
The grand jury subpoena asked for classified records that were being held at Mar-a-Lago. The government also obtained a subpoena for security camera footage from Trump’s South Florida club.
Per the Post’s account, the unnamed witness initially told federal investigators that they had not handled what the newspaper describes as “sensitive documents.”
But after another interview, the Post reports, the witness described being directed by Trump to move boxes.
Elsewhere in the story, the Post cites “witness accounts” that point to Trump ordering the boxes to be moved. Video footage obtained by prosecutors purportedly corroborates the testimony about the boxes’ movement.
It’s a potentially significant development in the case, showing that Trump may not only have refused to comply with the subpoena, but moved boxes away from the government’s area of focus.
Prosecutors have suggested in court filings that obstruction is among the crimes that were used as a predicate for the FBI’s August searches at Mar-a-Lago.
In a filing before the Supreme Court on Tuesday, the DOJ suggested the same.
“The FBI uncovered evidence that the response to the grand jury subpoena was incomplete, that additional classified documents likely remained at Mar-a-Lago, and that efforts had likely been taken to obstruct the investigation,” the government wrote.
