Authorities on Wednesday unsealed additional sections of the search warrant affidavit used to investigate former President Donald Trump’s Florida home, Mar-a-Lago.
The search, conducted last summer, led to the discovery of over 100 classified-marked documents and subsequently, Trump’s indictment for allegedly mishandling national security secrets.
The former president faces 37 felony charges arising from his purported mismanagement of sensitive government documents, encompassing 31 charges of intentional retention of national defense information and one charge of conspiring to obstruct justice. He has entered a plea of not guilty.
The updated affidavit sheds light on the evidence available to investigators prior to the August 8 search, the Washington Post reported. The affidavit details how security footage showed Waltine Nauta, a key Trump aide, moving boxes before and after his FBI interview.
These movements fueled suspicions that Trump was attempting to conceal documents and deceive the Justice Department.
In June 2022, investigators had subpoenaed security camera footage focused on a storage area in Mar-a-Lago where Trump allegedly stored boxes filled with classified documents. The footage, received by the government in July 2022, provided vital evidence that pushed the investigation forward.
According to the affidavit, the footage reveals that Nauta was seen moving three boxes within Mar-a-Lago on May 24. Nauta, during his FBI interview two days later, denied extensive knowledge about the location or movement of the boxes, other than the dispatch of 15 boxes to the National Archives and Records Administration earlier in 2022. Those boxes were later found to contain around 184 classified documents.
After the FBI interview, surveillance footage showed Nauta shifting approximately 50 boxes out of the storage room. The FBI noted that this volume of boxes was not seen being returned.
Before the FBI arrived to collect additional documents in response to the subpoena, security camera footage depicted Nauta returning 25-30 boxes to the storage room. Investigators found this important because it suggested that Nauta, seemingly under Trump’s instructions, moved approximately 64 boxes but returned fewer boxes to the storage area.
The affidavit also refers to a meeting at Mar-a-Lago between FBI agents, Justice Department lawyer Jay Bratt, Trump’s attorney Evan Corcoran, and Trump’s records custodian, Christina Bobb. In this meeting, Corcoran handed over a folder containing 38 classified documents.
The recent unsealing of sections from the affidavit provides justification for a federal judge’s decision to allow Corcoran to testify before a grand jury. Despite attempts by Trump’s legal team to block this testimony citing attorney-client privilege, the judge ruled that there was sufficient evidence suggesting Corcoran might have been deceived and unknowingly relayed false information to investigators. Therefore, under the “crime-fraud exception,” Corcoran had to testify. Corcoran has not been charged in this case.
Both Trump and Nauta have pleaded not guilty to the charges. Former President Trump maintains that he had ultimate declassification authority to possess the documents. Nauta’s attorney will enter a not-guilty plea on his behalf in a federal court in Miami. Nauta’s legal team did not comment on the matter.
