Despite his boss’ demand, one of ex-President Donald Trump’s lawyers reportedly knew better than to claim in early 2022 that Trump had given back all the government records he’d unlawfully swiped at the end of his presidency.
The Washington Post, CNN, and the New York Times reported on Monday that soon after Trump returned 15 boxes of official documents to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in January, the ex-president directed the lawyer who had facilitated the transfer, Alex Cannon, to tell NARA that all the documents had been returned.
Cannon reportedly refused to do so because he wasn’t sure if that was true, especially since he had been working as Trump’s point of contact with the National Archives all the way in New York, far from Mar-a-Lago. (In fact, even some of Trump’s other advisers warned Cannon against making the claim, according to the Post.)
The ex-president reportedly got upset with Cannon (who had worked for the Trump Organization since 2015 and for Trump’s campaign) and yanked him away from matters dealing with NARA –- a decision the lawyer reportedly did not object to.
“My understanding is it was a mutual decision for Alex to no longer deal with Archives,” a source told CNN.
Cannon reportedly warned Trump sometime in the fall of 2021 that not giving back the documents he’d taken could lead to a criminal referral.
Cannon’s misgivings ended up being correct: Trump’s legal team handed over 38 classified documents to the Justice Department in June in response to a subpoena; the FBI discovered more than two dozen boxes of government records when it executed a raid on Mar-a-Lago in August; and there’s a very real chance Trump could face a criminal referral now that the DOJ is investigating the matter.
While Cannon was reportedly uncomfortable telling the government that his client had returned the documents, Trump’s other lawyers apparently had no similar qualms. One of them signed an affidavit in June claiming all the materials had been turned over.
Cannon was also reportedly worried that the 15 boxes NARA had retrieved from Mar-a-Lago in January contained classified material.
The lawyer was right about that too: Officials reported that they found 184 classified documents in those boxes.
And Cannon had another concern, according to the Times. He was reportedly worried about Trump potentially withholding documents related to the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.
However, there haven’t been indications that any of the material Trump took was tied to Jan. 6 or the insurrection.
“…other lawyers apparently had no similar qualms. One of them signed an affidavit in June claiming all the materials had been turned over. …”
Seems like in the interest of completeness, there would be more about the attorney(s) who actually did sign an affidavit attesting that everything had been returned. Who was that, where are they now, are they in trouble, do they have their own lawyer(s), are they going to be called to testify (or under what circumstances would they be), are their law licenses being challenged? Things like that there.
I’d love to be in the room when Trump’s two attorneys who filed an affidavit that those records were returned are asked, under oath, if they have the security clearance to view a classified, secret, or top secret document.
Thought I saw that Christina Boobb has flipped and is talking to DoJ.
Trying to preserve what little chance she has of keeping her license.
Trying to keep tabs on the (likely) source of leaks about the MAL documents. Team Trump strongly insinuates that the DOJ is leaking, when often it is just as likely the source is within Trumpworld. WaPo in particular seems to have a source for the nuclear weapons documents that other media do not have, and could be either.
Leaks from DOJ is not a good look, and I hope it’s not happening. It seems pretty clear that this particular news item originates from Trumpworld.
“A thief plays the game only when they think they’ll win. A pirate plays the game even when they think they’ll lose.” ― V.E. Schwab, A Conjuring of Light