Justice Department demands that Donald Trump’s office be held in contempt of classified document subpoena, reports say | World News

[ad_1]

The Justice Department has asked a federal judge to hold Donald Trump’s office in contempt of court for failing to comply with a full subpoena to return all classified documents in his possession, it has been reported.

One of the main areas of disagreement centers on Trump’s legal team’s repeated refusal to acknowledge that all materials have been returned to the federal government, the Washington Post report added on Thursday.

District court Judge Beryl Howell has not yet held a hearing or ruled on the request, according to the newspaper.

The former president and his team said the request was unreasonable, while the Justice Department declined to comment on the report.

A Trump spokesman told Reuters that the former president’s lawyers would “continue to cooperate and be transparent” while describing the investigation as “a political witch hunt”.

On Wednesday, an appeals court ruled to end the use of a third-party special master to review investigative records, a move that allows the Justice Department to access about 13,000 records seized by the FBI on Mr Trump’s Florida estate for its ongoing criminality. investigation.

“President Trump will continue to oppose the arming of law enforcement and will take appropriate legal action to retrieve the items that were brazenly and illegally seized from his home during the regime’s unconstitutional invasion Biden,” Mr Trump’s spokesman added.

The Justice Department is investigating whether the former president broke the law by keeping government records, some marked top secret, after leaving office in January 2021.

Mr Trump, who last month announced a third run for the presidency in 2024, faces a number of legal problems. His efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election continue to be investigated.

He also faces a state investigation into a push to overturn his election loss in Georgia, where this week a candidate heavily backed by Mr Trump failed to win a senate seat for the Republicans, who gave President Joe Biden a political victory.

Earlier this week, his real estate company was found guilty of running a criminal scheme to defraud tax authorities over the past 15 years, although Mr Trump was not personally charged in the case.

[ad_2]