Are the Mar-a-Lago informants a game-changer?
The Washington Post’s Wednesday leak ups the pressure on the Department of Justice to indict former president Donald Trump over national security documents he removed from the White House and attempted to conceal:
A Trump employee has told federal agents about moving boxes of documents at Mar-a-Lago at the specific direction of the former president, according to people familiar with the investigation, who say the witness account — combined with security-camera footage — offers key evidence of Donald Trump’s behavior as investigators sought the return of classified material.
The witness description and footage described to The Washington Post offer the most direct account to date of Trump’s actions and instructions leading up to the FBI’s Aug. 8 search of the Florida residence and private club, in which agents were looking for evidence of potential crimes including obstruction, destruction of government records or mishandling classified information.
A Trump spokesman dismissed suggestions that Trump broke the law, accusing the Justice Department of being un-American.
Trump told people to move boxes to his residence at the property
To be sure, FBI interviews and subpoenaed security tapes supported the August Mar-a-Lago search warrant. The FBI knew some documents had been moved and by whom.
The people familiar with the investigation said agents have gathered witness accounts indicating that, after Trump advisers received a subpoena in May for any classified documents that remained at Mar-a-Lago, Trump told people to move boxes to his residence at the property. That description of events was corroborated by the security-camera footage, which showed people moving the boxes, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation.
The Post story does not identify the Mar-a-Lago witness. A follow-up story in the New York Times suggests the aide caught on camera is former military aide Walt Nauta, now a Trump employee.
In the first interview, these people said, the witness denied handling sensitive documents or the boxes that might contain such documents. As they gathered evidence, agents decided to re-interview the witness, and the witness’s story changed dramatically, these people said. In the second interview, the witness described moving boxes at Trump’s request.
The witness is now considered a key part of the Mar-a-Lago investigation, these people said, offering details about the former president’s alleged actions and instructions to subordinates that could have been an attempt to thwart federal officials’ demands for the return of classified and government documents.
If there is a game being changed, it involves the amount of public pressure now on Attorney General Merrick Garland’s Justice Department to bring charges.
The reporting represents “as powerful a case of obstruction of justice as you could imagine,” counsel for the first Trump impeachment Barry Berke told MSNBC’s Alex Wagner on Wednesday. And Donald Trump is “at the center of it.” It also buttresses bringing a charge under the espionage act.
“I will tell you the powerful case to bring is the January 6th case,” Berke said. “You don’t need to charge him with seditious conspiracy … you only need to charge him with interfering with an official proceeding — the certification of the vote — and the evidence of that is overwhelming.”
As many crimes as Trump committed, deterrence is the most important issue, Berke continued. There are people running for office in November pledging to do just what Trump did: obstruct official proceedings and overturn elections. If the department does not bring the case, those people will see that they are above the law as well.
Former federal prosecutor Daniel Goldman told MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell that bringing charges against Trump carries risk. Physical risk. When he led the impeachment investigation of Trump, Goldman received threats from Trump supporters. He’d prosecuted mob bosses and violent Russian organized criminals, but “the most fear I ever had was during the impeachment investigation.”
Nevertheless, if the reporting is accurate, Garland’s Justice Department has no choice except to indict Trump for obstruction (if not more) or else close up shop and turn out the lights. The rule of law in this country is dead.
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