United States: The US Department of Justice (DoJ) is seeking a federal judge to hold Mr. Donald Trump in contempt of court for failing to comply with a subpoena issued this summer ordering the former president to submit the documents marked classified in his possession.
The development comes after Mr. Trump’s legal team stated that it conducted searches at four locations and found out two documents with classified markings at a storage facility in Florida.
The Trump team turned over those two documents to the FBI and announced to a federal judge in Washington, DC, that they believed Trump was now in compliance with a 6-month-old subpoena.
The Justice Department disagreed this and department prosecutors informed District Chief Judge Ms. Beryl Howell that the searches were not satisfactory. The contempt proceedings before Howell are under seal.
The department had also asked the chief district court judge to hold Trump’s office in contempt after prosecutors failed to get Mr. Trump’s lawyers to designate a custodian of records to certify all records were given back.
Mr. Steven Cheung, Trump’s spokesperson, stated that “President Trump and his counsel continue to cooperate and be transparent, despite the unprecedented, illegal, and unwarranted attacks by the weaponized Department of Justice.”
Earlier the Trump team had turned over boxes and an envelope of federal records, including some marked as classified. Federal agencies had been asking to return them for months, and the Justice Department issued a subpoena asking for documents marked as classified in May, 2022.
In addition, it is not clear whether the department initiated the contempt proceeding before or after the two additional documents were found.