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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Graeme Massie

Trump worker who moved classified papers at Mar-a-Lago questioned surveillance video, report claims

Getty Images

A Mar-a-Lago employee who helped move boxes of classified documents the day before Justice Department investigators visited Donald Trump’s home also reportedly asked questions about the property’s security cameras.

The employee first moved the boxes at the Florida estate in June, then weeks later questioned asked an IT worker about the security cameras, according to The Washington Post.

Federal investigators for special counsel Jack Smith say that the employee asked about how the security cameras worked and how long images were stored, a source familiar with the probe told the newspaper.

The employee later told investigators that the questioning was innocent and not designed to help hide anything from the DoJ.

Mr Trump’s handling of classified material at his home, after he left the White House in January 2021, is under investigation by the Justice Department.

The special counsel is probing whether the one-term president or any of his aides tried to obstruct justice after a grand jury subpoena to return all classified documents to the government.

The employee was questioned by investigators after being seen on surveillance video helping Walt Nauta, an aide of Mr Trump, to move boxes into a Mar-a-Lago storage room on 2 June 2022.

A day later a Justice Department lawyer Jay Bratt visited Mar-a-Lago with FBI agents to collect classified documents in line with the subpoena.

When federal agents later returned to the property in August they found more than 100 additional classified documents.

No charges have yet been brought against Mr Trump or anyone else and he has denied any wrongdoing, claiming he had de-classified all of the material when president.

Mr Trump, who is running to be the Republican presidential nominee in 2024, is currently facing four criminal probes.

Special counsel Jack Smith is also investigating the actions of Mr Trump and his supporters in trying to block the results of the 2020 presidential election, which he lost to Joe Biden.

The Fulton County district attorney in Georgia is investigating if Mr Trump and his supporters tried to block the 2020 presidential election results in the state.

Mr Trump was arrested and charged in New York over hush money payments made in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election.

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