Trump lawyer says there are no more classified docs at Mar-a-Lago – NBC News

Trump lawyer James Trusty said Sunday that there are no more classified documents at former President Donald Trumps Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida.

In an interview on Meet the Press, Trusty was asked by NBC News' Chuck Todd whether he can be certain there are no classified documents or copies of documents at Mar-a-Lago following reports that Trump's legal team turned over additional materials, as well as a laptop, to investigators.

Yeah, sure," Trusty responded. "And I can tell you the leak about what happened with this additional document or several documents that were found in the thumb drive is absurd."

Sources had told CNN this year that a Trump aide made copies of classified documents his lawyers discovered in December in boxes at Mar-a-Lago before the documents were handed over to the Justice Department.

Its been the same mischaracterization that the media has run with to suggest that President Trump is just sitting on a mountain of documents. Its not true at all," Trusty said.

Trusty, a former Justice Department colleague of special counsel Jack Smith, whom Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed to investigate Trumps handling of classified documents, slammed the Justice Department for what he called a "campaign of leaks."

Last week, The Washington Post, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that the Justice Department and the FBI have gathered new evidence that suggests possible obstruction by Trump in the documents case.

Theres been a campaign of leaks from DOJ unlike anything Ive ever seen, Trusty said. I was a prosecutor for 27 years. I spent 17 at this Department of Justice. I dont recognize it anymore."

The FBI recovered a trove of top secret and other highly classified documents when itsearched Mar-a-Lagoin Florida in August. After the incident, classified materials were also found in the possession of President Joe Biden, as well as former Vice President Mike Pence.

Garland has appointed separate special counsels to investigate theTrumpandBidendocuments. He has not appointed a special counsel to review the Pence documents.

Former Trump Attorney General William Barr said Sunday he thinks investigators "probably have some very good evidence in the probe into the former presidents handling of classified documents.

He had no claim to those documents, especially the classified documents, Barr said in an interview on ABC News This Week. They belonged to the government. And so I think he was jerking the government around, and they subpoenaed it. And they tried to jawbone him into delivering documents.

But the government is investigating the extent to which games were played and there was obstruction in keeping documents from them. And I think thats a serious potential case," Barr added.

A federal judge ruled last month that Smith's office had presented sufficient evidence to establish that Trump committed a crime through his attorneys in the classified documents probe, according to a source briefed on the proceedings.

U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell of Washington was not ruling on whether Trump was guilty of a crime, only about whether his attorney could be compelled to testify.

As a result, Howell ruled in favor of applying the crime fraud exception, which would allow prosecutors to sidestep protections afforded to Trump lawyer Evan Corcoran through attorney-client privilege. Howell also ordered Corcoran to testify before the federal grand jury.

Trump has denied wrongdoing in the case of the classified documents, having claimed last year that he can declassify materials by thinking about it.

Summer Concepcion is a politics reporter for NBC News.

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Trump lawyer says there are no more classified docs at Mar-a-Lago - NBC News

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