A recently unsealed court filing has unveiled Special Counsel Jack Smith’s suspicions regarding potential additional efforts by former President Donald Trump to obstruct the government’s investigation into his handling of classified documents. The revelation comes ahead of two hearings scheduled for Wednesday, related to efforts by Trump aide Walt Nauta to dismiss charges against him.
Trump, who pleaded not guilty to 37 criminal counts last June, faces allegations of mishandling classified materials following his tenure at the White House. Prosecutors claim Trump repeatedly refused to return numerous documents containing sensitive information, including classified details spanning from U.S. nuclear secrets to national defense capabilities. Furthermore, they allege he took measures to impede the government’s retrieval efforts. Nauta, similarly, entered a plea of not guilty to related charges.
In March 2023, prosecutors sought a federal judge’s intervention to compel testimony from Trump’s attorney, Evan Corcoran. They presented a previously undisclosed theory outlining purported steps taken by Trump and his associates to obstruct the investigation. Allegations surfaced that, upon learning of a government subpoena for video footage from his Mar-a-Lago club, Trump instructed aides to return several boxes previously removed from a storage room in the club’s basement, allegedly ensuring their actions went undetected by surveillance cameras.
D.C. District Judge Beryl Howell’s opinion, now made public, details a sequence of events triggered by Corcoran’s notification to Trump about the subpoena on June 24, 2022. This communication allegedly prompted Nauta to swiftly alter his travel itinerary, flying from Bedminster, New Jersey, to Palm Beach, Florida.
Judge Howell’s opinion suggests that this rapid trip to Mar-a-Lago following the June 24 call indicates Trump’s realization that the removal of the boxes from the storage room might have been captured on camera. The government posits that Trump sought to ensure any subsequent return of the boxes occurred away from the prying eyes of surveillance. Notably, the absence of video footage showing the return of the boxes between June 3 and August 8, 2022, lends credence to this theory.
