WASHINGTON — Donald Trump’s lawyers were seen at the Justice Department Monday, the same week the grand jury investigating the former president’s handling of classified documents is expected to convene again.
NBC News has confirmed that part of Trump’s legal team is at the Justice Department headquarters in Washington. Three of Trump’s lawyers, James Trusty, John Rowley and Lindsey Halligan, are at the Justice Department meeting with a group of Justice Department officials that does not include Attorney General Merrick Garland or Assistant Attorney General Lisa Monaco. . The team was first seen. by CBS News.
NBC News reported that the grand jury investigating Trump’s handling of classified documents is expected to meet again this week. The FBI searched Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property in August 2022 and found more than 11,000 government documents, including more than «one hundred unique documents with classification marks,» according to an earlier government filing.
An FBI affidavit said the FBI found 184 classified documents in the boxes Trump returned to the National Archives before the August 2022 search, which turned up the additional classified documents.
Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the appointment of special counsel Jack Smith in November 2022, just after Trump formally launched his campaign for the 2024 Republican nomination. Smith is investigating both Trump’s handling of classified documents, as well as the possible obstruction of that investigation, as well as aspects of the investigation of January 6 and the effects to “interfere with the legal transfer of power after the 2020 presidential election or the certification of the Electoral College Vote held on or about January 6.” January 2021, as well as any matters that arise or may arise directly from this investigation.»
daniel barnes contributed.