Donald Trump says he is under federal investigation intelligence documents: sources

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The second criminal investigation is looking into alleged efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

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A spokesman for Special Counsel Jack Smith, who is leading the investigations, declined to comment.

Boxes of documents

Investigators in August 2022 seized approximately 13,000 documents from Trumps Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida. One hundred of them were marked as classified, though one of the Trumps’ lawyers had previously said that all records with classified markings had been returned.

Trump has defended his retention of the documents, suggesting he declassified them while he was president. However, Trump did not provide evidence of this and his lawyers did not make that argument in court filings.

Trump is the first current or former US president to face criminal charges, pleading not guilty in April to felony charges for allegedly falsifying business records related to hush money paid to a porn star before the 2016 presidential race.

Trump turned over 15 boxes of records in January 2022, a year after leaving office, but federal officials believe he has not returned all the documents.

The Justice Department issued Trump with a grand jury subpoena in May 2022 asking him to turn over any other records with classified markings, and top officials traveled to Mar-a-Lago to retrieve the materials.

Trump’s lawyers opened 38 pages marked as classified to FBI and Justice Department officials and showed them a storage room at Mar-a-Lago, but agents were not allowed to open any of the boxes. .

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One of the Trumps’ lawyers also signed a document confirming that all records with classified markings had been returned to the government – a claim later proven false after the FBI searched his home.

Trump’s legal problems are mounting

A jury in federal court in Manhattan in May ruled in a civil case that Trump must pay $US5 million ($7.4 million) in damages for sexually assaulting former Elle magazine columnist E Jean Carroll and then discrediting him by calling him a liar.

Trump also faces a criminal investigation by a county prosecutor in Georgia related to his efforts to undo his 2020 election loss in that state.

Reuters

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