Trump Legal Team Alleges FBI Email Concealment In Mar-A-Lago Raid
President Trump’s legal team has accused Special Counsel Jack Smith of hiding key FBI emails related to the August 2022 raid on Mar-a-Lago. In a motion filed on Monday, Trump’s lawyers claimed that Smith’s office has only recently produced a small number of FBI emails from August 2022, suggesting there may be more undisclosed communications.
In August 2022, the FBI, armed and in force, raided Trump’s Florida estate, seizing numerous boxes of records. By November, President Biden’s DOJ had appointed a special counsel to investigate the documents stored at Mar-a-Lago.
Trump’s attorneys argue that the DOJ and FBI have withheld significant communications. They pointed out that the recently produced emails “do not appear to have been included in the FBI’s case files.” The motion filed by Trump’s team insists that these emails show substantive messages were sent about the investigation that were not uploaded to the official case file. As a result, they are calling for thorough custodian-level reviews of all electronic communications, including those on personal devices, used by the agents involved.
Additionally, the Trump legal team has noted that Jack Smith seems to be conducting an internal inquiry into the mishandling of evidence seized during the raid. This internal review could be crucial to Trump’s ongoing motion to dismiss the case based on the alleged “spoliation” of evidence.
The classified documents case, overseen by Judge Aileen Cannon, is currently paused as evidentiary hearings proceed. Judge Cannon has granted Trump’s request for a hearing to examine whether Smith’s prosecutors breached Trump’s attorney-client privilege.
The allegations come amidst broader concerns about the handling of the investigation. Jack Smith used a DC grand jury and Judge Beryl Howell, an Obama-appointed judge known for her radical decisions, before transferring the charges to Florida. Judge Howell had previously ruled against Trump’s attorney-client privilege, turning Trump’s lawyer, Eric Corcoran, into a witness against him.
