The Judge was heard by the Justice Dept. Contempt Request in Trump Documents Case

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A federal judge in Washington is scheduled to hear arguments in a closed-door hearing Friday on whether to compel a representative of Donald J. Trumps presidential office to swear under oath that there are no more classified documents on either Mr. Trumps properties, according to two people familiar with the matter.

The judge, Beryl A. Howell, was also asked to decide whether to impose financial penalties or issue a judgment if no one from Mr. Trumps has agreed to formally pledge that, to the best of their knowledge, all classified materials he took from the White House when he left office last year have been returned to the government.

The hearing, in Federal District Court in Washington, is being held at the request of federal prosecutors who have asked Judge Howell in recent days to declare Mr. Trump in contempt of court for failing to comply with a grand jury subpoena issued in May seeking the return of all classified records in his offices.

The government’s request came after months of frustration with the former president and his lawyers, who repeatedly assured prosecutors that the sensitive materials had all been returned only to find out that more had.

Regardless of Judge Howell’s decision, the fact that he was asked to consider a contempt finding indicates that the Justice Department has taken a new aggressive stance toward Mr. Trump on the governments efforts to obtain a trove of sensitive records he took from the White House at Mar-a-Lago, his private club and residence in Florida.

More on the Trump Documents Inquiry

Around Thanksgiving, a team of experts hired by Mr. Trump concluded searches that included other locations among them, Trump Tower in New York; his golf club in Bedminster, NJ; and a storage facility near Mar-a-Lago. At the storage facility, the team discovered at least two documents with classification marks, prompting lawyers for the former president to immediately inform prosecutors about them.

However, that discovery contradicts an affidavit that several of Mr. Trump drafted and signed in June, saying they had conducted a diligent search of his properties and that to the best of their knowledge no classified material remained in his possession.

The new bid by prosecutors to persuade Judge Howell to use his authority to hold Mr. Trump and his legal team for the return of the materials came weeks after the Justice Department named a special counsel, Jack Smith, to oversee the investigation into whether Mr. Trump illegally hid national security documents on his private property and thwarted government attempts to retrieve them.

Some lawyers who worked with Mr. Smith’s team said they had been told the Justice Department would pull no more punches in seeking to enforce court orders or subpoenas.

The June affidavit was signed by a lawyer for Mr. Trump named Christina Bobb and drafted by another named Evan Corcoran. When the FBI searched Mar-a-Lago in August, it found more than 100 additional documents with classification marks.

The initial grand jury subpoena was issued in May after officials at the National Archives, after nearly a year of attempts, obtained 15 boxes of material from Mr. Trumps club at Mar-a-Lago in January and discovered they contained dozens of classified documents. .

It is unclear whether Judge Howell will rule from the bench on Friday, reserve judgment or seek for the two sides to settle their disputes.

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