WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump’s legal team turned over several pages of documents with classified markings and a laptop containing electronic scans of those materials to federal investigators in recent months, a person familiar with the situation said.
The handovers took place in December and January, according to the person, who asked not to be named discussing a pending investigation.
Trump’s team had hired outside investigators to do a search of his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida and other properties, the person said, and during a December search found the handful of pages with classification markings among several thousand pages of Trump’s presidential schedules in a box.
Trump’s legal team notified the Justice Department at the time and turned over the pages, the person said. While declining to specify the location, the person said the box wasn’t in the storage area where the FBI collected several thousand documents, including material with classified markings, during a court-authorized search in August.
In January, Trump’s team learned that an aide had scanned copies of the documents in the box, including the pages with markings, and provided that computer to the Justice Department, according to the person.
ABC News first reported the latest materials found at Mar-a-Lago. ABC and other outlets have previously reported that Trump’s legal team arranged for the additional searches amid concern from the Justice Department that he hadn’t turned over all classified material in his possession.
The source also confirmed news reports that an empty folder found at Mar-a-Lago was turned over to federal investigators, but disputed the description that it featured classified markings. CNN reported that the folder was marked “Classified Evening Briefing.”
Justice Department Special Counsel Jack Smith is overseeing the federal criminal investigation into whether classified information and other government records were mishandled and whether anyone engaged in obstruction in connection with that probe. Smith also leads a separate probe surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of Trump.
Trump lawyer Evan Corcoran, who has been involved in dealings with the Justice Department related to the Mar-a-Lago documents since last year, appeared before a federal grand jury in January, Bloomberg reported on Friday.
The Wall Street Journal reported that another Trump lawyer with a connection to the Mar-a-Lago probe, Christina Bobb, appeared as well around the same time.
Bobb and her lawyer John Lauro didn’t reply to requests for comment.
Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a second special counsel, Robert Hur, in January following the revelation that documents with classified markings were found at President Joe Biden’s Delaware home and an office he had used in Washington.
Garland said the White House counsel’s office had notified the National Archives about the discovery and the administration has pledged to cooperate. Former Vice President Mike Pence’s representatives subsequently reported finding classified material at his home, which they turned over to the National Archives. They’ve said he’s cooperating with authorities.
Spokespeople for the special counsel’s office and for Trump’s team didn’t respond to requests for comment.
