Lawyer refused Trump instruction to tell Archives all records had been returned

[Blkfyre]

https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/03/politics/trump-lawyer-alex-cannon-archives-records/index.html

Soon after former President Donald Trump returned 15 boxes of presidential records to the National Archives and Records Administration earlier this year, he instructed one of his lawyers to tell the agency that all of the materials the Archives had requested had been returned from his Mar-a-Lago estate, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.

Unfazed by Cannon's refusal, Trump dictated a statement to aides in February declaring that all records had been returned to NARA and decrying reporting that his relationship with the agency had become fraught as "fake news." Two people familiar with the statement, which was never released, said it inexplicably went on to mention German pipelines. The statement was circulated to several Trump aides for approval, including his spokesman Taylor Budowich, who was among several advisers who cautioned the former President to consult his attorneys before releasing it.

Ultimately, a version of the statement was released that did not reference giving all documents over but said the papers were returned "on a very friendly basis."

Attempts to get Trump's representatives to falsely state he had no presidential records in his possession could serve as evidence that he was intentionally and knowingly withholding documents. And if Trump continued to pressure aides to make false statements even after learning the Justice Department was involved in retrieving the documents, authorities could see those efforts as an attempt to obstruct their investigation.

A separate issue of concern to Cannon and others was whether any of the material in the returned boxes might be classified, people familiar with the matter said. Cannon did not have a security clearance and had not reviewed the boxes himself, one of the people said. He had told other aides not to review the boxes either, saying that doing so could get them in trouble, these people said.

A total of 184 classified documents were found in the returned boxes, officials have said.

Trump's team later returned 38 additional classified documents to the Justice Department in June in response to the May 11 grand jury subpoena, which sought any documents still at Mar-a-Lago that bore classified markings.

In August, believing there was still more classified material at Mar-a-Lago, the FBI obtained a warrant to search the property and confiscated more than 27 additional boxes of material. Agents retrieved 11 sets of classified material in their search — totaling about 100 documents. Some of them contained closely held secrets of the U.S. government, people familiar with the matter have said, including information about a foreign nation's nuclear capabilities.