Trump Case Worsens As Aide's Laptop Teems With Secret Documents

Former President Donald Trump’s legal team turned over more materials with classified markings and a laptop belonging to an aide to federal prosecutors in recent months, sources familiar with the investigation told Kaitlan Collins, Paula Reid and Kristen Holmes of CNN.

Photo Insert: The laptop, which belonged to an aide, who works for Save America PAC, and the thumb drive were also given to investigators in January.

The Trump attorneys also handed over an empty folder marked “Classified Evening Briefing,” sources said. The previously undisclosed handovers – from December and January – suggest the protracted effort by the Justice Department to repossess records from Trump’s presidency may not be done.

The Trump attorneys discovered pages with classified markings in December, while searching through boxes at the former president’s Mar-a-Lago residence.

The lawyers subsequently handed the materials over to the Justice Department. A Trump aide had previously copied those same pages onto a thumb drive and laptop, not realizing they were classified, sources said.

The laptop, which belonged to an aide, who works for Save America PAC, and the thumb drive were also given to investigators in January.

Legal observers said the aide, who did not have national security clearance, should not have handled the materials and made copies of them. In short, the aide faces legal troubles like Trump.

Special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation, which is pursuing possible criminal charges related to Trump’s handling of national security records and obstruction of justice, had subpoenaed Trump last May for all classified records in his possession.

FBI agents seized classified documents and other presidential records during a search last August. The Trump team also found additional documents in a Florida storage facility and turned them over to the FBI.

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