特别顾问杰克·史密斯似乎怀疑前总统唐纳德·特朗普还在阻挠政府对他的调查机密文件的处理周二披露的一份新启封的法庭文件显示。
这一意见是作为回应特朗普努力撤销此案的文件中的一项证据发布的。周三，特朗普助手沃尔特·诺塔(Walt Nauta)举行了两场听证会，试图撤销对他的相关指控。
法宝拒不认罪去年6月，有37项刑事指控与他离开白宫后处理机密材料有关，此前检察官表示，他多次拒绝归还数百份包含从美国核机密到国家国防能力等机密信息的文件，并采取措施阻挠政府取回文件的努力。Nauta还对相关指控表示不认罪。
2023年3月，检察官推动联邦法官迫使特朗普的律师之一埃文·科科伦提供证词，提出了一个此前未公开的理论，即他们认为特朗普及其同伙采取了哪些步骤来阻碍他们的调查。检察官声称，在特朗普的律师告知特朗普政府传唤他在Mar-a-Lago俱乐部拍摄的视频片段后，他随后指示助手归还他们此前从俱乐部地下室储藏室拿走的几个盒子-而没有被摄像头拍到。
根据新公布的意见，华盛顿特区地区法官贝里尔·豪厄尔写道，在科科伦于2022年6月24日通知特朗普传唤视频录像后，Nauta改变了他的旅行计划，从新泽西州贝德明斯特飞往佛罗里达州棕榈滩。
豪厄尔写道:“政府敦促说，在2022年6月24日的电话之后，这种对Mar-a-Lago的争夺反映出前总统意识到，在(编辑的)搜查之前从储藏室移走箱子的行为被摄像头拍了下来——他试图确保随后将箱子移回储藏室的任何举动都可以在摄像头之外发生。”
法官写道:“奇怪的是，没有任何视频片段显示剩余的箱子被送回储藏室，这必然发生在2022年6月3日和2022年8月8日执行搜查令之间的某个时间点。根据美国联邦调查局特工的说法，当时房间里大约有(经过编辑的)箱子。特工数出了73个箱子。”
政府此前声称，Nauta此行是为了询问摄像机镜头存储了多长时间。起诉书称，正是在那次旅行中，Nauta和Mar-a-Lago维修工人Carlos De Oliveira涉嫌合谋试图删除监控录像。
豪厄尔最终同意，政府“很可能”显示特朗普命令他的同事“避开他当时认为由政府代理的监控摄像头”，命令科科伦就2022年6月24日与前总统的电话作证，该电话发生在特朗普组织因这些镜头被传唤的同一天。
地区法官还证实，“值得注意的是”，在美国联邦调查局8月的搜查后，川普的律师在两个不同的案件中在Mar-a-Lago发现了额外的机密记录，包括2022年12月在特朗普自己卧室里的四份带有分类标记的文件。
新的文件长达数百页，其中还包括新的照片，照片显示诺塔涉嫌移动装有机密材料的箱子，尽管美国联邦调查局发出了传票，但特朗普仍试图保留这些箱子。
该文件只是监督特朗普案件的地区法官艾琳·坎农(Aileen Cannon)周二下令解封的多个证据之一。卡农建立了一个受到史密斯反对的有争议的程序，该程序使特朗普的律师能够公开通常会保密的案件证据。
一些法律专家批评了坎农最近的一系列裁决，这些裁决有利于特朗普将案件推迟到2024年大选之后的战略，包括她在内两周前订购这让她无限期推迟了审判日期。
周三的听证会将是自坎农无限期推迟审判以来的首次公开听证会，这几乎确保了该案不会在11月大选前进行审判。特朗普不会出席，但他的共同被告诺塔和德奥利维拉将出席。
Special counsel suspected additional obstruction effort by Trump in classified docs case
Special counsel Jack Smith appears to have suspected additional efforts by former President Donald Trump to obstruct the government's investigation of hishandling of classified documents, a newly unsealed court filing revealed Tuesday.
The opinion was released as an exhibit in filings responding to Trump's efforts to have the case dismissed, ahead of two hearings Wednesday related to Trump aide Walt Nauta's efforts to dismiss the related charges against him.
Trumppleaded not guiltylast June to 37 criminal counts related to his handling of classified materials after leaving the White House, after prosecutors said he repeatedly refused to return hundreds of documents containing classified information ranging from U.S. nuclear secrets to the nation's defense capabilities, and took steps to thwart the government's efforts to get the documents back. Nauta also pleaded not guilty to related charges.
In March of 2023, prosecutors pushed for a federal judge to compel testimony from one of Trump's attorneys, Evan Corcoran, by presenting a previously undisclosed theory of steps they believed Trump and his associates had taken to obstruct their investigation, alleging that after Trump was informed by his attorney of a government subpoena for video footage from his Mar-a-Lago club, he then instructed aides to return several boxes they had previously removed from a storage room in the club's basement -- without being caught on camera.
According to the newly unsealed opinion, D.C. District Judge Beryl Howell wrote that after Corcoran informed Trump of the subpoena for video footage on June 24, 2022, it set into motion a scramble by Nauta to change his travel plans and fly from Bedminster, New Jersey, to Palm Beach, Florida.
"The government urged that this scramble to Mar-a-Lago in the wake of the June 24, 2022 phone call reflects the former president's realization that the removal of the boxes from the storage room before [redacted] search was captured on camera -- and his attempts to ensure that any subsequent movement of the boxes back to the storage room could occur off camera," Howell wrote.
"This theory draws support from the curious absence of any video footage showing the return of the remaining boxes to the storage room, which necessarily occurred at some point between June 3, 2022 -- when the room had approximately [redacted] boxes, according to FBI agents and [redacted] -- and the execution of the search warrant on August 8, 2022 -- when agents counted 73 boxes," wrote the judge.
The government previously alleged that Nauta took the trip to inquire about how long camera footage was stored. It was on that same trip, according to the indictment, that Nauta and Mar-a-Lago maintenance worker Carlos De Oliveira allegedly conspired in an attempt to delete surveillance footage.
Howell ultimately agreed the government had made a "likely" showing that Trump ordered his associates to "avoid the surveillance cameras he then understood to have been deputized by the government," ordering Corcoran to testify about a June 24, 2022, phone call with the former president that occurred the same day the Trump Organization was subpoenaed for the footage.
The district judge also confirmed that, "remarkably," after the FBI's August search, Trump's attorneys on two separate instancesfound additional classified records at Mar-a-Lago, including four documents with classification markings in Trump's own bedroom in December 2022.
The new filings, consisting of hundreds of pages, also include new photos of Nauta allegedly moving boxes that the government contends contained the classified materials Trump was seeking to hang onto despite a subpoena from the FBI.moved boxes that the government contends contained the classified.
The filing was just one among multiple exhibits ordered unsealed Tuesday by the district judge overseeing Trump's case, Aileen Cannon, who has set up a controversial process opposed by Smith that has enabled Trump's attorneys to make public evidence in the case that would typically remain under seal.
Some legal experts have criticized Cannon over a series of recent rulings that have benefited Trump's strategy to have the case delayed until after the 2024 election, including herorder two weeks agothat put an indefinite hold on her scheduling a date for the trial.
The hearings Wednesday will be the first public ones since Cannon indefinitely delayed the trial, all but ensuring the case doesn't go to trial before the November election. Trump will not be in attendance, but his co-defendants, Nauta and De Oliveira, will be.
