Judge reportedly declined to hold Trump in contempt

A federal judge has reportedly declined to hold former President Donald Trump in contempt of court for refusing to offer a guarantee that he returned all the classified documents he’d taken from the White House.

According to CNN, members of Trump’s legal team spent approximately 90 minutes inside Chief Judge Beryl Howell’s chambers in a closed-door hearing on Friday at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Howell questioned prosecutors’ request to hold Trump in contempt since Trump’s legal team has continued to cooperate with the Justice Department, who expressed concerns that Trump may not have surrendered all government documents in his possession.

Sources reportedly told CNN that Howell encouraged the Justice Department to liaise with Trump’s legal team to conclude the matter outside of court. As of now, no outcome has been announced.

Multiple outlets reported that Trump and his legal team have been unwilling to formally declare in writing that all records were turned over, though Trump’s legal team has repeatedly denied this and has said that he is fully cooperating.

After the Justice Department requested that Trump’s legal team make sure that all documents were turned over, his legal team reportedly searched four locations and found two documents with classified markings – which they returned.

Trump spokesman Steven Cheung added on Thursday that Trump and his legal team “will continue to be transparent and cooperative, even in the face of the highly weaponized and corrupt witch-hunt from the Department of Justice.”