DOJ plans to investigate Trump’s 15 boxes of records from Mar-a-Lago

The Department of Justice has started taking steps forward in order to begin investigating former President Donald Trump’s removal of several presidential records to Mar-a-Lago, which some familiar with the matter have said were labeled “top secret.”

Those close to the situation spoke on the condition that their identities would remain anonymous, but they noted the probe is still in its early stages.

So far, it has not been made clear if Justice Department officials have started reviewing the materials found in the boxes or if they are looking to interview those who may have seen them or been involved with collecting them and transporting them. The department is currently under mounting political pressure to release its plans in the case.

On Thursday, House Oversight Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney, a Democrat from New York, accused the Justice Department of obstructing her committee’s investigation into the 15 records boxes Trump reportedly took back to his estate in Palm Beach, Florida.

In a letter she wrote to Attorney General Merrick Garland, Maloney alleges that the department is “interfering” with the investigation by blocking the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) from giving over a detailed list of what was recovered in the boxes. 

So far, the extent to which the Justice Department has already assessed the contents of the boxes, which was retrieved from Mar-a-Lago in January.

Still, the Justice Department has kept in touch with the Archives about progressing with its own inquiry. Garland has said in the past that the department would “do what we always do under these circumstances – look at the facts and the law and take it from there.”