Lawyers representing former President Donald Trump visited the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Monday as special counsel Jack Smith nears a decision on whether to charge Trump over classified documents stored at Mar-a-Lago.
The DOJ and the National Archives received 15 boxes of material from Trump’s Florida residence in early 2022, after negotiations, while the FBI confiscated more boxes during a raid in August.
Members of Trump’s legal team, including James Trusty and Lindsey Halligan, were seen entering the DOJ on Monday morning. They had requested a meeting with DOJ officials, including Attorney General Merrick Garland, in May, to discuss potential prosecutorial misconduct. “No President of the United States has ever, in the history of our country, been baselessly investigated in such an outrageous and unlawful fashion. We request a meeting at your earliest convenience to discuss the ongoing injustice that is being perpetrated by your Special Counsel and his prosecutors,” read a letter dated May 23.
CBS News' cameras caught former President Trump’s lawyers arriving at the Justice Department, weeks after Trump's lawyers requested a meeting with top federal law enforcement officials. https://t.co/pd5fUhqVPe pic.twitter.com/wLg8pBRFq9
— CBS News (@CBSNews) June 5, 2023
Smith was appointed by Garland in November to investigate the storage of classified material at Mar-a-Lago after Trump left the White House in January 2021. According to reports, he is now weighing a charging decision on the storage of classified documents and on obstruction of justice. Trump has said that he declassified the material before moving it to Mar-a-Lago, and has accused the DOJ of having a double standard in its treatment of him versus President Joe Biden, who was found to have kept classified documents at his private office in Washington D.C., and his Delaware home.
“They seek retribution for Republicans looking into Biden’s CRIMES! I HAVE DONE NOTHING WRONG. ELECTION INTERFERENCE!” posted Trump on Truth Social over the weekend.
