Donald Trump Aide Reportedly Caught on Camera Moving Classified Documents at Mar-a-Lago, DOJ Says

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A new unredacted version of the search warrant used in the Mar-a-Lago investigation related to Donald Trump’s classified documents trial revealed that the Department of Justice obtained security camera footage that “reflected that the evidence was recently moved” after a subpoena was issued by the DOJ for access to any classified documents and that “the current location of the boxes that were not returned to the storage room were not returned here.

The footage is somewhat relevant to the case against former president Trump, as it pertains to some of the counts against him in the indictment, including conspiracy to obstruct justice, withholding a document or record, corruptly concealing a document or record, concealing a document in a federal investigation, and a conspiracy to conceal.

READ MORE: You Won’t Believe What Donald Trump Allegedly Admitted In Latest Leaked Audio: ‘It’s Still A Secret’

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Trump Charged With Violating Espionage Act In 2nd Indictment

This latest indictment—the former president faces the first indictment in New York for alleged hush money payments to Stormy Daniels during the 2016 election—involves 37 total felony counts related to the illegal retention of national security secrets and obstruction of justice. An audio recording was recently leaked to CNN in which the former president appeared to acknowledge that he kept classified national security documents after his term as president, stating in the two-minute audio that “these are the papers” and referring to their “highly confidential” nature. The recording will likely be used as key evidence in the federal case.

Donald Trump became the first president to have both a former and current president charged with criminal activity in his first indictment. That’s not all for his legal troubles—he’s also facing civil litigation for alleged fraud related to his businesses, and was recently found liable in another civil suit brought by E. Jean Carroll for alleged sexual abuse, and ordered to pay the journalist $2 million in damages.

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Mar-a-Lago Security Footage Shows Trump Staffer Transferring Documents After DOJ Subpoena

Shortly after Trump left office and returned to Mar-a-Lago, his private estate club where he lives, the National Archives and Records Administration made inquiries about the missing records and ultimately obtained 15 boxes of documents the former president brought to the Florida compound, many of which are pictured in an image from Mar-a-Lago that shows cardboard boxes stacked in a bathroom.

The DOJ issued a subpoena for additional records in May 2022, and a few days later, Mar-a-Lago security footage showed a Trump staffer identified as “Witness 5” in the search warrant was seen leaving the Mar-a-Lago storage room with 3 boxes, which have never been seen. This aide was questioned by the FBI just 2 days after they were captured on footage, and then again on May 30 was caught on security camera moving about 50 boxes from the room corresponding to those containing classified documents. Then, over the course of June 1st and 2nd, the staffer was again seen moving 40 more boxes. Because it followed a subpoena, the attempted concealment was a direct violation of the DOJ’s investigation. The Justice Department seems to believe that the attempt to further conceal document evidence was made at Trump’s behest.

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“The video footage reflects that the evidence was recently moved,” prosecutors wrote in the search warrant affidavit. “It does not appear in the video footage where the boxes were moved when they were taken from the storage room area, and accordingly, the current location of the boxes that were removed from the storage room area but not returned here is unknown.”

This recent unredacted search warrant follows a motion filed by Donald Trump’s defense team last week to delay the former president’s classified documents case until after the 2024 election, arguing that holding a trial first “would create unusual challenges in the jury selection process and limit the Defendants’ ability to obtain a fair and impartial verdict,” according to the ruling.

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