Mar-a-Lago staffers subpoenaed for Trump classified document investigation
Numerous Mar-a-Lago staff members have been subpoenaed as part of an investigation into former President Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents, a source familiar with the situation confirmed to Fox News.
The source did not know the exact number of staff members who were issued court orders.
CNN reported that Trump’s communication aide Margo Martin appeared before a grand jury in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, though she declined to answer questions when approached by one of the media company’s reporters.
Special counsel Jack Smith is handling investigations into Trump over the FBI’s discovery of classified documents at his Palm Beach, Florida, home at Mar-a-Lago, as well as his alleged involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.
According to CNN, Smith is looking for testimony from people in Trump’s inner circle, including Mar-a-Lago staffers, seeking an insight into things they may have seen or heard while working at the estate.
Sources told CNN that legal services for the staffers are being paid for by Trump entities.
Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Smith to investigate the entirety of the criminal probe into the unlawful retention of national defense information at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.
In the role, Smith will oversee the investigation into Trump’s retention of classified documents after leaving the White House and whether he obstructed the federal government’s investigation into the matter.
On Aug. 8, FBI agents raided Trump’s home at Mar-a-Lago and seized classified records, including some marked as top secret, according to a warrant and property receipt.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart signed the warrant, giving agents the authority to seize ‘all physical documents and records constituting evidence, contraband, fruits of crime, or other items illegally possessed’ in violation of U.S. Code, including documents with classification markings and presidential records created between Jan. 20, 2017, and Jan. 20, 2021.
The property receipt showed FBI agents took approximately 20 boxes of items from the premises, including one set of documents marked as ‘Various classified/TS/SCI documents,’ which refers to top secret/sensitive compartmented information.
Classified documents have also been found at the homes of President Biden and former Vice President Mike Pence, and the Justice Department is handling investigations into those discoveries, as well.