Donald Trump's Secret Service Agents Set to Testify Against Him—Report

Authored by newsweek.com and submitted by HandSack135
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A number of Secret Service agents are set to testify as part of the federal investigation into Donald Trump's handling of classified documents, according to reports.

Fox News's Bret Baier said on Twitter that "multiple" Secret Service agents connected to the former president have been subpoenaed and are "expected to testify before the D.C. grand jury likely on Friday."

"The grand jury appearances are related to the Special Counsel Jack Smith probe into the handling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago," Baier tweeted on Monday.

A Fox News report gave no further details about the apparent upcoming testimonies from the Secret Service, other than to say they are scheduled to take place on April 7. Newsweek reached out to the Secret Service via email for comment.

US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump (C) is surrounded by members of the Secret Service as he visits the tomb of former U.S. President Gerald Ford in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on September 30, 2016. "Multiple" Secret Service agents are reportedly set to testify as part of the probe into Trump's alleged mishandling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images

Trump is being investigated over allegations he mishandled sensitive materials retrieved from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida last August, then attempted to obstruct federal attempts to retrieve them.

Trump denies all wrongdoing in connection to the top-secret materials found at his home.

The reports of Secret Service subpoenas arrive after there have been other indications that Smith's investigation into Trump's handling of classified materials is ramping up.

On Sunday, The Washington Post reported the Department of Justice and the FBI have heard further evidence indicating possible obstruction was committed by the former president during his alleged attempts to hold on to then-sensitive materials removed from the White House in January 2021.

In a statement, Trump spokesman Steven Cheung hit out at the "witch-hunts" against the former president that "have no basis in facts or law."

The Post, citing unnamed sources, reported that investigators have evidence that Trump looked through some of the boxes of government documents in an apparent attempt to hold onto certain materials after receiving a federal subpoena to have them all returned in May 2022.

Trump is accused of telling people to mislead government officials who were trying to recover the materials, as well as instructing his lawyers to release statements that said he had returned them all to the National Archives and Records Administration.

It was previously reported that Walt Nauta, a valet driver at Mar-a-Lago, was allegedly ordered by Trump to move boxes of documents into a storage room at Mar-a-Lago after the former president received the government subpoena to return the classified materials.

In June 2022, Trump's legal team is said to have "explicitly prohibited" federal agents from looking inside a storage room at Mar-a-Lago during their first attempt to recover the long-sought-after materials from Trump's Florida home.

The FBI raided Mar-a-Lago two months later and seized more than 100 classified and top-secret documents, including some found in the storage room.

In late March, one of Trump's lawyers, Evan Corcoran, was also ordered to testify and hand over documents such as transcripts of personal audio recordings in the classified materials probe.

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Corcoran can answer questions after it supported a previous ruling from D.C. District Court Judge Beryl Howell, who said there is evidence former president may have used Corcoran's services to carry out a crime.

Corcoran previously testified to the classified document grand jury but declined to answer some questions while citing attorney-client privilege. The usually absolute privilege can be voided under what is known as the crime-fraud exception, meaning it cannot be invoked if a lawyer and their client are allegedly attempting to cover up or engage in a crime.

Corcoran is believed to have testified before the federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., on March 24.

"You can't get better evidence than a defendant's attorney's file. Defendants have to be candid with their attorney so their attorney can do their job," attorney Andrew Lieb, of the Lieb at Law firm, told Newsweek.

"If there is smoking gun evidence that will convict Trump, Corcoran has it, and the fact that an appellate court panel applied the Crime Fraud Exception to Privilege in a matter of hours, after reviewing that smoking gun evidence, indicates that we are in for a doozy on this one."

Trump is already set to be the first U.S. president to be charged with a crime when he surrenders in New York on Tuesday as part of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's hush money probe. Trump also denies all wrongdoing in connection to that investigation.

EivorIsle on April 3rd, 2023 at 14:57 UTC »

Protect the office, not the person who abuses it.

Total_Customer_6627 on April 3rd, 2023 at 14:55 UTC »

I want to know all the weird shit the secret service has had to see following and protecting Trump.

You know these folks have seen some shit above their pay grade.

OppositeDifference on April 3rd, 2023 at 14:55 UTC »

From what we've heard of the Secret Service, I'm not sure I would be willing to bank on them not trying to cover his ass. Though under oath? Maybe not.

I'm repeatedly amazed though in Trump's ability to somehow inspire loyalty while not demonstrating even the smallest shred of it to people. He has never met someone he wouldn't enthusiastically throw under a bus for the price of a hotdog. Yet somehow, he gets people to jump instead of being thrown.