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According to newly unsealed court filings related to the Mar-a-Lago case, former President Trump dismissed warnings that he could face charges for retaining classified documents at his Florida residence. He even promised a pardon to one of his now co-defendants should they be charged.
The documents reveal discussions and warnings given by an unnamed witness, identified only as Person 16, who advised Trump to cooperate with federal investigators who were searching for the classified documents. “Whatever you have, give everything back. Let them come here and get everything,” the witness reportedly advised Trump, cautioning him against providing a “noble reason to indict you, because they will.”
Despite the seriousness of the advice, Trump reportedly responded nonchalantly, giving a dismissive “weird ‘you’re the man’ type of response,” according to the witness, who declined to have their FBI interview recorded due to fears of retaliation. The witness, described as someone with security clearance and regular access to the Oval Office, contradicted Trump’s defense that there was an order to declassify anything the former president handled, noting that they only heard this claim after charges were impending.
The witness repeatedly urged Trump to return the documents requested by the National Archives, stressing that it was “not worth all that aggravation.” They also tried to get Trump’s children to convey similar warnings, indicating that Trump “sometimes needed to be messaged the same thing from multiple people close to him.”
Further details in the filings reveal conversations with Trump’s valet, Walt Nauta, who has been charged with helping move the boxes and lying to investigators. The witness told Nauta that the case was politically motivated and assured him that Trump would pardon him in 2024 if he faced charges.
The investigation, code-named Plasmic Echo, also showed that Trump hired attorney James Trusty after seeing him on television.
These court documents were released by prosecutors to counter claims from Trump that he is the victim of a politically motivated prosecution and to demand access to communications from special counsel Jack Smith’s team. The prosecutors emphasized the need to “clear the air on those issues,” arguing that the defendants’ misstatements, if unaddressed, would leave a “highly misleading impression.” They stated, “The Government here confronted an extraordinary situation: a former President engaging in calculated and persistent obstruction of the collection of Presidential records, which, as a matter of law, belong to the United States.”