This content was published on June 07, 2023 – 13:47
Miami, Jun 7 (EFE).- A grand jury formed as part of the federal investigation into the handling of classified documents by former US President Donald Trump (2017-2021) has been meeting for weeks in Miami and has already He has heard several witnesses, as reported by the CNN channel on Wednesday.
Until now, the existence of this second jury had not been reported in the case of the hundreds of classified documents seized at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s residence on the east coast of Florida, but it was known that it is operating in Washington.
According to CNN, this Wednesday the Miami grand jury will hear the testimony of a person related to the case and it is expected that at least one other witness will appear before completing the assigned task.
Sources close to Trump told the channel that they do not know the reason that led special counsel Jack Smith, at the head of the investigation into the handling of classified documents, to launch a second grand jury.
The mission of these juries is to gather evidence and testimony to help in the investigation of the case which, according to various sources in recent days, may soon lead to a new accusation for Trump, who is campaigning to be the Party’s candidate. Republican in the 2024 presidential election.
Trump’s lawyers met Monday at the Justice Department with officials, including Smith, to raise concerns about the prosecution’s conduct and to try to argue against a potential indictment, according to multiple outlets.
The investigation focuses not only on possession of classified documents, including some labeled “top secret,” but also on Trump’s refusal to return them, which may lead to an obstruction of justice charge.
This Tuesday Mark Meadows, who was the last Trump chief of staff, testified before a grand jury in the framework of the investigation opened by the Department of Justice into the role of the former president in the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
According to The New York Times, which cited two people informed about this matter, Meadows is a key figure in the two lines of investigation that special counsel Smith maintains.
One of them focuses on Trump’s efforts to stay in power after the 2020 presidential election, in which he lost to Democrat Joe Biden, and which culminated in the attack on the Capitol.
The other is more focused on Trump’s handling of hundreds of classified documents after he left the White House and which were later found by the FBI in his Mar-a-Lago (Florida) mansion.
The newspaper said it was not clear if Meadows, who was chief of staff during the last year of the Trump Presidency, testified about one or both lines of inquiry.
Trump has denied doing anything wrong with the classified documents. EFE
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2023-06-07 13:58:12
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