There’s a new report out indicating that the Department of Justice isn’t yet done with the investigation at former president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home.
That investigation may, in fact, be leading to some obstruction charges.
According to the Washington Post, sources close to the investigation are saying that the Department of Justice is looking at additional evidence of obstruction by Trump at the scene of their investigation into missing classified documents. Those documents led to an FBI raid of Trump’s home during the summer of last year.
Justice Department and FBI investigators have amassed fresh evidence pointing to possible obstruction by former president Donald Trump in the investigation into top-secret documents found at his Mar-a-Lago home, according to people familiar with the matter.
The additional evidence comes as investigators have used emails and text messages from a former Trump aide to help understand key moments last year, said the people, who like others interviewed for this article spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing criminal investigation.
According to the unnamed sources in the story, investigators are looking at whether Trump “took or directed actions to impede government efforts to collect all the sensitive records.” The DOJ’s probe into the documents at Mar-a-Lago is separate from a similar probe into documents that were discovered among President Joe Biden’s personal effects.
The investigation into Trump appears to be focused largely on obstruction, and new evidence may be vital in the DOJ securing charges against the former president or members of his legal team in the case. Trump’s advisers received a subpoena in May from the Justice Department that demanded Trump return of all documents with classified markings. That led to the raid over the summer that made headlines when Trump announced it had taken place.
According to the affidavit that led to the raid, investigators argued that “probable cause exists to believe that evidence, contraband, fruits of crime, or other items illegally possessed in violation 18 U.S.C. §§ 793(e), 2071, or 1519 will be found at the PREMISES.”
This probe also coincides with Trump’s current legal troubles in New York, where Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has secured indictments against Trump for possible business fraud tied to his alleged “hush money” payment to porn star Stormy Daniels. Trump will be headed to Manhattan on Tuesday to be read the indictments. However, critics of that investigation are calling Bragg’s move to charge Trump highly political, and even people who are opposed to Trump – like Senators Bill Cassidy and Joe Manchin – have questioned that investigation.