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Thursday, March 30, 2023
The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled March 22 Evan Corcoran, an attorney for former US President Donald Trump, must cooperate with the United States Department of Justice (DoJ).
The ruling by a panel of three judges compels Corcoran to turn over documents related to a probe into the potential mishandling of classified records at Trump’s private residence in Mar-a-Lago, Florida. The circuit judges also declared Trump’s lawyers have until April 21 to file any further appeals and the Justice Department until May 8.
Renato Mariotti, a former federal prosecutor, tweeted testimony from Corcoran “could lead to further piercing of privileged conversations.”
D.C. District Court Judge Beryl Howell found the DoJ demonstrated it was possible Corcoran’s advice to Trump aided a crime, thereby exempting it from attorney–client privilege under the crime–fraud exception.
An ABC News investigation alleged Trump withheld from Corcoran knowledge of the storage of some classified documents at Mar-a-Lago.
According to ABC News, Howell described the incident regarding classified documents at Mar-a-Lago as a possible “criminal scheme.” In response to evidence presented by the DoJ, Howell ruled that Corcoran must turn over records including “handwritten notes, invoices, and transcriptions of personal audio recordings.”
Arguments from both sides in the case are sealed.
Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign released an official statement in response to the ruling that read in part, “Shame on Fake News ABC for broadcasting ILLEGALLY LEAKED false allegations from a Never Trump, now former chief judge, against the Trump legal team.”
In January 2022, Trump’s attorneys provided documents to the National Archives and Records Administration. Later that spring, investigators visited Mar-a-Lago and, with Trump and his attorneys present, sorted through some documents in search of classified information.
In June, Corcoran gave prosecutors 38 more records in response to a DoJ subpoena requisitioning remaining classified documents.
FBI agents raided Mar-a-Lago on August 8, searching for the documents, some of which the National Archives and Records Administration alleged were classified.
Then-House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said in response to the search: “The Department of Justice has reached an intolerable state of weaponized politicization.”
In January, an attorney for former Vice President Mike Pence discovered classified documents at the latter’s residence, just weeks after attorneys for US President Joe Biden found classified documents at his Wilmington, Delaware home. Before that, classified documents were found in Biden’s home in Delaware as well as his office in D.C. that he used before the 2020 Presidential campaign. The documents found in the D.C. office dated back to Biden’s term as U.S. Vice President, 2009-2017.
According to law, once a President’s term in office has ended, “the Archivist of the United States shall assume responsibility for the custody, control, and preservation of, and access to, the Presidential records of that President.” However, the National Archives has a consultative role not an investigative role. This means the National Archives works with an outgoing President to ensure documents are properly handled. It lacks the authority to force compliance with the law.