Special Counsel Studying Trump Attorney’s Notes on Classified Documents

May 23, 2023

The office of Special Counsel Jack Smith has reportedly been pouring over the detailed notes of former President Trump’s attorney Evan Corcoran.

That reporting comes two months after Corcoran was forced to testify before a federal grand jury in Smith’s investigation into Trump’s handling of classified documents after he left the White House.

In March, Corcoran had handed over to Smith roughly 50 pages of contemporaneous notes, reportedly including evidence that the attorney had warned Trump he could not hold onto any classified documents still in his possession due to a 2022 subpoena.

Despite this warning, Trump’s valet, Walt Nauta, was caught on security camera footage moving boxes in and out of a storage room at Trump’s Florida country club residence, Mar-a-Lago. Nauta would eventually tell the Justice Department that Trump told him to move those boxes before and after the subpoena.

Last June, prior to the FBI’s August 8 search warrant on Mar-a-Lago, Corcoran conducted his own search of the property, after which he turned over to authorities roughly 40 classified documents found in a storage room.

However, during that FBI raid in August, agents retrieved hundreds of additional White House documents—more than 100 of which were marked classified, despite Corcoran’s having drafted a statement indicating all records had been turned over following a “diligent search.”

Sources have told reporters that Corcoran’s notes have given the Special Counsel’s investigators “unusually detailed knowledge” that both Trump and Nauta had about the scope and details of the FBI’s search for documents. 

Amid this part of the Special Counsel’s investigation, the New York Times is reporting that Smith is also looking into details regarding the Trump Organization’s real estate licensing and development dealings in seven countries going back to 2017, the year Trump took Presidential office: China, France, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Oman.

The Trump Organization had sworn off any foreign deals while Trump was in the White House.

Neither Corcoran, the Special Counsel’s office, nor a Trump spokesperson responded to various reporters’ requests for comment. 

Read more exclusive news from Political IQ.

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