前总统唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)的一名高级律师去年年底在大陪审团面前提供了此前未公开的证词，内容涉及特朗普团队在联邦调查局(FBI)调查后寻找特朗普仍掌握的任何机密文件的努力史无前例的八月搜索知情人士告诉ABC新闻。
消息人士称，12月22日律师蒂莫西·帕拉托雷(Timothy Parlatore)的证词是在特朗普的律师和司法部官员之间争吵了几个月之后发布的，他们越来越担心，在8月8日的搜查中发现了100多份机密文件后，特朗普仍然继续持有这些文件。
事实上，就在他作证的前几天，Parlatore向DOJ和哥伦比亚特区地方法院法官Beryl Howell透露，特朗普的法律团队在12月15日和16日对Mar-a-Lago进行的搜索发现了另外四份带有分类标记的文件。
据一位知情人士透露，Parlatore没有因作证而被传唤。
当ABC新闻联系到Parlatore进行评论时，他说:“我自愿并愉快地选择进入大陪审团，这样我就可以在我们的搜索工作中向他们陈述我当事人的案件。在我的证词中，很明显，政府的行为不恰当，多次不正当地试图侵犯特权，在我看来，向陪审团作出了几次重大的错误陈述，我认为这构成了检察官的不当行为。”
特朗普的发言人没有立即回应置评请求。
根据当天驻扎在法院的一名广播制作人的综合报道，Parlatore在作证当天在法院呆了七个多小时。
帕拉托雷出庭的消息传出之际，特朗普的另一名律师埃文·科克兰(Evan Corcoran)也在预计会出现周五在大陪审团面前回答特别顾问的问题，他之前以律师-客户特权为由拒绝回答这些问题。正如美国广播公司新闻首先报道的那样，豪威尔法官上周五发现，特别检察官杰克·史密斯办公室的检察官做出了“初步证据表明，前总统已经”犯有刑事违法行为“在使用科科伦的法律服务的过程中，他的特权主张可能因此被戳穿，消息人士说。
2019年7月2日，爱德华·加拉格尔的辩护律师蒂姆·帕拉托雷在圣地亚哥走进军事法庭前对媒体成员讲话。
桑迪·赫法克/盖蒂图片
据熟悉豪厄尔法官上周命令细节的消息人士透露，法官表示，政府迄今没有提供直接证据证明特朗普知道去年12月在Mar-a-Lago发现的四份带有机密标记的文件。消息人士称，她对皮尔斯·科科伦特权的裁决更多地是基于政府向她提供的关于特朗普在8月搜查前的行动的证据。
然而，这一发现只是加剧了信任的瓦解消息人士称，在双方之间，DOJ高级官员在密封的法庭程序中施压，要求特朗普的团队遵守他们最初于5月11日发出的传票，要求特朗普交出他所拥有的任何剩余的带有机密标记的文件。
消息人士称，11月15日，在Mar-a-Lago发现这四份文件的一个月前，Parlatore通知豪厄尔和DOJ，当特朗普的代表搜查佛罗里达州西棕榈滩的一个总务管理局(GSA)租赁存储单元时，发现了标有“秘密”的文件夹中的另外两份文件。
史密斯，谁的11月18日约会正如美国广播公司新闻(ABC News)此前报道的那样，由于监督机密文件调查的特别顾问在与特朗普的律师进行幕后法庭斗争的过程中，最终导致特朗普的团队因未能遵守5月份的传票而被豪威尔法官以藐视法庭罪起诉。
在…期间豪厄尔法官拒绝了消息人士称，为了在12月9日的听证会上以藐视法庭罪起诉川普或他的法律团队，她确实命令Parlatore就他提供的一份签名证明的相关问题作证，该证明概述了他的团队对DOJ最初传票的记录可能所在位置的搜索结果。
消息人士称，豪厄尔还在听证会上建议特朗普的法律团队将Mar-a-Lago列入他们再次搜查的地点名单，尽管联邦调查局几个月前曾授权法院搜查该房产。
消息人士称，12月16日，在对Mar-a-Lago进行了为期两天的搜查后，Parlatore提交了一份修改后的证明，承认在特朗普办公室附近的一个壁橱里发现了另外四份文件。Parlatore公开表示，特朗普并不知道这些记录，它们是在一个盒子里，由一名年轻的工作人员转移到壁橱里，他认为里面载有特朗普担任总统期间的日常活动摘要。
Parlatore在证明中说，在10月和11月对特朗普新泽西州贝德明斯特的高尔夫俱乐部、他在纽约特朗普大厦的办公室以及美国总务署在佛罗里达州租赁的办公室进行的其他搜查中，没有发现进一步的机密文件。
消息人士称，在他12月22日作证之前，Parlatore曾自愿就他向政府提交的关于搜查结果的证明的一系列狭窄问题作证，但豪厄尔的命令扩大了政府将被允许对他进行质询的主题。
据消息来源称，Parlatore被命令回答关于他如何确定哪些地点需要搜查、参与搜查的个人的身份以及搜查是如何进行的问题。
消息人士称，豪厄尔还下令Parlatore回答司法部提出的问题，即特朗普的团队可能会参与一场“骗局”，在这些地点被搜查之前，通过在这些地点之间移动文件来防止文件被找到。
目前还不清楚Parlatore如何回答这些问题，但消息人士称，他在与特朗普互动的任何问题上都援引了律师-客户特权。
也不知道特别顾问是否采取行动迫使Parlatore回答任何此类问题，就像检察官在Corcoran和特朗普的另一名律师Jennifer Little的案件中所做的那样。
Top Trump attorney appeared before grand jury last December in classified docs probe: Sources
A top attorney for former President Donald Trump gave previously undisclosed testimony before a grand jury late last year regarding efforts by Trump's team to locate any classified documents that remained in Trump's possession after the FBI'sunprecedented August searchof his Mar-a-Lago estate, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.
The Dec. 22 testimony from attorney Timothy Parlatore was ordered after months of wrangling between Trump's attorneys and officials in the Justice Department, who had grown increasingly concerned that Trump still continued to hold onto classified documents after more than 100 were discovered in the August 8 search, sources said.
In fact, just days before his testimony, Parlatore revealed to the DOJ and D.C. district court Judge Beryl Howell that a search of Mar-a-Lago conducted by Trump's legal team on Dec. 15 and 16 had discovered four additional documents with classification markings, according to sources.
Parlatore was not subpoenaed for his testimony, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Parlatore, when reached for comment by ABC News, said, "I voluntarily and happily chose to go into the grand jury so that I could present my client's case to them in the context of our search efforts. During my testimony, it was clear that the government was not acting appropriately and made several improper attempts to pierce privilege and, in my opinion, made several significant misstatements to the jury which I believe constitutes prosecutorial misconduct."
A spokesperson for Trump didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
Parlatore spent more than seven hours inside the courthouse on the day of his testimony, according to a pool report from a broadcast producer stationed at the court that day.
News of Parlatore's appearance comes as another Trump attorney, Evan Corcoran, isexpected to appearbefore a grand jury on Friday to answer questions from the special counsel that he had previously refused to address, citing attorney-client privilege. As ABC News first reported, Judge Howell last Friday found that prosecutors in special counsel Jack Smith's office had made a "prima facie showing that the former president hadcommitted criminal violations" in the course of using Corcoran's legal services, and that his claims of privilege could therefore be pierced, sources said.
According to sources familiar with the details of Judge Howell's order last week, the judge said the government had provided no direct evidence thus far that Trump was aware of the four documents with classified markings that were found at Mar-a-Lago in December. Her ruling to pierce Corcoran's privilege was instead based more on evidence presented to her by the government about Trump's actions in advance of the August search, sources said.
The discovery, however, only exacerbated what was already abreakdown in trustbetween the two sides, sources said, as senior DOJ officials pressed in sealed court proceedings to have Trump's team ordered to comply with their original May 11 subpoena demanding Trump hand over any remaining documents with classified markings in his possession.
On Nov. 15, a month before the discovery of the four documents at Mar-a-Lago, Parlatore notified Howell and DOJ that two other documents in folders marked "Secret" were found when Trump's representatives searched a General Services Administration (GSA) rental storage unit in West Palm Beach, Florida, the sources said.
Smith, whoseNov. 18 appointmentas special counsel overseeing the classified documents investigation came in the middle of the behind-the-scenes court fight with Trump's lawyers, eventually moved for Trump's team to be held in contempt by Judge Howell over their failure to comply with the May subpoena, as ABC News previously reported.
WhileJudge Howell declinedto hold Trump or his legal team in contempt at a Dec. 9 hearing, sources said, she did order Parlatore to testify on issues surrounding a signed certification he had provided that outlined the results of his team's searches of locations where records responsive to the DOJ's original subpoena could be located.
Howell also suggested at the hearing that Trump's legal team include Mar-a-Lago in their list of locations to be searched again, despite the FBI's previous court-authorized search of the property months earlier, sources said.
On Dec. 16, following a two-day search of Mar-a-Lago, Parlatore submitted a revised certification that acknowledged the discovery of the four additional documents in a closet near Trump's office, sources said. Parlatore has said publicly that Trump wasn't aware of the records, and that they were inside a box transferred into the closet by a young staffer who believed it contained daily summaries of Trump's activities while president.
Parlatore said in the certification that no further classified documents were found in other searches in October and November of Trump's Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club, his Trump Tower office in New York, and a GSA-leased office location in Florida.
Prior to his Dec. 22 testimony, Parlatore had previously volunteered to testify on a narrow line of questions around his certifications to the government regarding the results of the searches, but Howell's order expanded upon the topics the government would be permitted to question him on, sources said.
According to sources, Parlatore was ordered to answer questions on how he determined which locations needed to be searched, the identities of individuals involved in the searches, and how they were carried out.
The sources said Howell also ordered that Parlatore answer questions on concerns raised by the Justice Department that Trump's team could potentially engage in a "shell game" to prevent documents from being found by moving them between locations before the locales were set to be searched.
It's not immediately clear how Parlatore answered to those concerns, but sources said that he invoked attorney-client privilege over any questions that related to his interactions with Trump.
It's also not known whether the special counsel moved to compel Parlatore to answer any such questions, as prosecutors did in the case of Corcoran and another Trump attorney, Jennifer Little.
