- A federal grand jury in Florida is meeting in special counsel Jack Smith‘s investigation of former President Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents, according to sources familiar with the investigation.
- Trump’s lawyers were told in a meeting with Smith that the former president is a target of the investigation, according to two sources briefed on the meeting. Here’s what that means.
- The Florida grand jury is separate from a panel that was convened in Washington, D.C. It has also heard testimony from witnesses but appeared to take a hiatus the last few weeks.
- Trump’s handling of classified documents came under FBI investigation last year when the National Archives alerted it that government documents he had returned after having been out of office for about a year included 184 that were marked as classified. Trump has denied any wrongdoing.
Prosecutors informed Trump’s lawyers Monday that he is a target. What does that mean?
There are three general categories in criminal investigations: a witness (someone with relevant information), a subject (someone whose conduct is within the realm of the grand jury’s work) and a target (someone prosecutors believe committed a crime).
Prosecutors don’t subpoena targets. Instead, sometimes they send a letter inviting the target to come in and testify if he or she wishes (recall that something similar happened near the end of the Manhattan hush money investigation before Trump was indicted). But sometimes it is done verbally. It’s all a matter of discretion.
Justice Department regulations say: “The prosecutor, in appropriate cases, is encouraged to notify such person a reasonable time before seeking an indictment in order to afford him or her an opportunity to testify before the grand jury.”
Recipients of target letters are often, but not always, indicted.
Trump’s attorneys were told at Monday’s meeting in Washington, D.C., with prosecutors at the Justice Department that Trump is a target of the classified documents investigation, according to two sources briefed on the meeting.
That does not rule out the possibility that his legal team understood or was told he was a target before the meeting. A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment.
Former Trump lawyer Timothy Parlatore told CBS News that the former president’s team has a defense plan should an indictment come down that includes alleging prosecutors committed misconduct in their investigation.
Parlatore said that the defense team’s plan might have evolved since he left two weeks ago but that lawyers planned to file motions to dismiss any criminal charges because of alleged misconduct.
“Prosecutorial misconduct is a big issue that’s infecting this case,” Parlatore said.
Parlatore has complained about prosecutors’ conduct before. In March, he told NBC News that prosecutors had committed misconduct when they questioned him when he appeared before the grand jury to testify about his efforts to make sure Trump had no more government documents.
He said then that prosecutors had tried to bar him from discussing his attempts to include the FBI in the search and that they had improperly pressed him for information about his conversations with Trump. He said he’d refused to do so on the grounds of attorney-client privilege. Parlatore said the prosecutor asked him in front of the panel why Trump wasn’t waiving that privilege, which he said was “completely improper.”
The special counsel’s office has declined to comment on the allegation.
Elsewhere in Smith’s investigation …
Former Trump White House official Steve Bannon has been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., in connection with Smith’s investigation into Jan. 6 and Trump’s efforts to stay in office, two sources familiar with the matter said.
The subpoena, for documents and testimony, was sent out in late May, the sources said. The grand jury investigating Trump’s actions surrounding Jan. 6 and in connection with efforts to interfere with the peaceful transfer of power is separate from the grand jury in Miami, which heard testimony Wednesday about Trump’s handling of classified documents.
Taylor Budowich has been quoted frequently on the classified documents. Here are some examples:
- “Just like every Democrat-fabricated witch hunt previously, the water of this unprecedented and unnecessary raid is being carried by a media willing to run with suggestive leaks, anonymous sources and no hard facts,” Budowich told The New York Times.
- He criticized The Washington Post’s coverage. He told The Independent that the Post “continues to serve as the propaganda arm of the Biden administration.” He added, “Instead of operating openly and honestly, they collude in never-ending leaks and lies at the expense of the integrity of the FBI and DOJ [Department of Justice].”
