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A former employee of Donald Trump has told federal agents the former president asked for boxes of records to be moved within his Florida residence after receiving a government subpoena demanding their return, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday.
The testimony of the key witness, coupled with surveillance footage the Justice Department also obtained, represent some of the strongest known evidence to date of possible obstruction of justice by the former Republican president.
The FBI conducted a court-approved search on August 8th at Mr Trump’s home at the Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, seizing more than 11,000 documents including about 100 marked as classified.
The employee who was working at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida was co-operating with the Justice Department and has been interviewed multiple times by federal agents, the newspaper reported.
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The witness initially denied handling sensitive documents and in subsequent conversations with agents admitted to moving boxes at Mr Trump’s request, the newspaper reported.
The Justice Department declined to comment.
A Trump spokesperson said the administration of US president Joe Biden had “weaponised law enforcement”.
The document investigation is one of several legal woes Mr Trump is facing as he considers whether to run again for president in 2024.
New York state’s attorney general recently filed a civil lawsuit accusing Mr Trump and three of his adult children of fraud and misrepresentation in preparing financial statements from the family real estate company.
The Trump Organization also is set to go on trial on October 24th on New York state criminal tax fraud charges.
Separately in Georgia, a grand jury in the Fulton County is investigating efforts by Mr Trump to overturn the former president’s 2020 election defeat. — Reuters