Federal prosecutors investigating possible mishandling of classified documents at former President Donald Trump’s Florida estate will be able to re-examine Trump’s lawyers before a grand jury, a judge ruled in a sealed order.
The order requires M. Evan Corcoran to answer additional questions as prosecutors pursue an investigation into classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago as well as a potential attempt to obstruct the investigation. The order was described by a person familiar with the matter, who was not authorized to discuss the proceedings under seal and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
The exact scope of the order, which is expected to be appealed, was not immediately clear. Neither Corcoran nor his attorney returned messages for comment, and a spokesman for special counsel Jack Smith, who is leading the investigation, also did not respond to an email about the order.
A Trump spokeswoman said the Trump team will “fight the Justice Department on this front and all others that threaten basic American rights and values.”
Corcoran has appeared in recent weeks before a federal grand jury in Washington investigating the Mar-a-Lago issue, but he invoked attorney-client privilege to decline to answer certain questions. The privilege protects lawyers from being forced to share with prosecutors details of conversations they have with clients.
Prosecutors can get around that privilege if they can convince a judge that the communications they’re seeking answers to are related to a felony — a principle known as the felony-fraud exception. The Justice Department requested the exception in this case, arguing to Beryl Howell, the presiding judge of the federal court in Washington, DC, that more testimony was needed.
Howell issued his order to provide at least some additional testimony before the end of his term Friday as presiding judge. He was replaced as chief justice by James “Jeb” Boasberg, a fellow Obama appointee who has served on the federal bench since 2011.
Corcoran is considered relevant to the investigation because last year he made a statement to the Justice Department asserting that a “diligent search” for classified documents had been conducted at Mar-a-Lago in response to a subpoena. But a few months later, FBI agents searched the house with a warrant and found approximately 100 additional documents with classified markings.
The Justice Department is investigating whether Trump or anyone in his orbit obstructed efforts to recover all classified documents, which include classified material, from his home.
As chief judge, Boasberg will oversee the federal grand jury, including the one handling the Trump case, in the courthouse and will preside over sealed disputes like Corcoran.
On his own, former Vice President Mike Pence has said he will challenge a grand jury subpoena that seeks to compel him to testify on January 6 under the special counsel’s investigation. Pence has argued that because he served as president of the Senate on January 6, when he presided over a joint session of Congress to certify the election results, he was protected from being forced to address the action under the Constitution’s “speech-or-debate” clause that protects members of Congress.
It is unclear how the disagreement will be resolved.
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