The Justice Department plans to appeal U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon’s order to allow a special master to review the documents seized at Mar-a-Lago last month if the judge doesn’t restore investigators’ access to the material.
Former Attorney General William Barr said Wednesday that he believes the Justice Department is “getting very close” to having sufficient evidence to indict former President Trump for removing classified documents when he left the White House.
The Justice Department said it has evidence that classified documents were “likely concealed and removed” from a room in Mar-a-Lago and “that efforts were likely taken to obstruct the government’s investigation.”
A judge directed the Justice Department on Thursday to release a redacted version of the affidavit used to obtain a search warrant for former President Trump’s home in Florida.
FBI agents who searched the home of former President Donald Trump this week were looking for records relating to nuclear weapons, among other information.
If Donald Trump ends up behind bars, he’d likely still receive Secret Service protection.
The Homeland Security watchdog who is accused of mishandling deleted Secret Service text messages from the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection violated ethics rules while at the Justice Department, according to a 2013 report.
Trump’s actions are now a focus of the Justice Department’s criminal investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.
