Special prosecutor Jack Smith, appointed by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, has issued a spate of new grand jury subpoenas for video evidence from Mar-a-Lago in the ongoing investigation into President Donald Trump’s alleged misuse of classified documents.
According to CNN sources, Smith is explicitly interrogating Trump Organization employees about how they managed surveillance footage allegedly depicting former president’s staff members transporting boxes with unknown contents between rooms within the Florida estate. Earlier footage captured Walt Nauta, an employee, removing documents from a storage cabinet.
CNN analysts explained why prosecutors believe the manner in which the video was handled may indicate obstruction of justice. The most recent subpoenas, which follow a salvo from March, indicate that prosecutors continue to believe that additional evidence may be gathered.
President Joe Biden declined to comment on whether or not documents were handled improperly when it was first disclosed last year that potentially sensitive documents were in President Trump’s Florida residence.
“It depends on the circumstance – for example, I have in my home a cabined-off space that is completely secure,” Biden said back in August. “It depends on the documents and it depends on how secure everything is.”
Soon after, the White House admitted that Vice President Biden had retained up to ten sensitive documents at his Delaware residence that were supposed to be maintained by federal record keepers. In contrast to his predecessor, who received multiple requests from the National Archives agency that went unanswered, the White House stated that President Trump took action to turn over the documents.
Attorney General Garland appointed Smith to conduct a separate investigation into the Capitol disturbances on January 6, 2021, in order to disassociate himself from the appearance of conducting a criminal investigation into the leading candidate for the Republican presidential nomination.