WaPo report: DoJ has new evidence that may prove obstruction by Trump in classified docs case

A new Washington Post report published this week revealed the Department of Justice has new evidence that could potentially prove Donald Trump obstructed the investigation into classified documents kept at his personal residence past the end of his presidency.

As the former US president and current presidential candidate prepares to appear in court tomorrow in New York for his historic arraignment on fraud charges brought by the Manhattan District Attorney, the Washington Post reports the DoJ has uncovered new evidence that may implicate Trump in obstruction. According to several inside sources who spoke to the WaPo anonymously, the investigation into how hundreds of classified government documents ended up at Mar-a-Lago after Trump left the White House has uncovered some evidence that Trump himself leafed through the documents after they had been requested by the federal government in early 2022 in order to determine whether he would like to keep any of them.

According to the sources, the investigation has also found that Trump personally instructed some individuals to lie to federal officials about the documents prior to the subpoena. The Presidential Records Act requires all classified documents to be handed over the National Archive at the end of a president’s time in office. FBI officials who raided Trump’s quarters in Mar-a-Lago last year found hundreds of documents that Trump was supposed to have given up, some with Top Secret classification markings.

The former president’s legal woes are piling up, with his indictment in Manhattan on Tuesday. The investigation in Georgia into whether the former president meddled in the 2020 election is heating up and may result in additional indictments for Trump. Additionally, the DoJ is still looking into the former president’s role in the January 6th attack. Trump will be the first US president – sitting or former – to be indicted.