Federal prosecutors investigating former President Donald Trump’s handling of national security documents want to question one of his confidants about a claim that Trump had declassified national security documents he took when he left the White House.
That claim has hovered over the investigation since the confidant, Kash Patel; Trump himself; and other allies said publicly that Trump had declassified the documents while still president.
No evidence has emerged that Trump did so, and Trump’s lawyers have not repeated the claim in an ongoing court dispute with prosecutors over materials seized by the FBI during a search of Mar-a-Lago, his Florida estate, in August.
But the Justice Department’s interest in questioning Patel about the claim shows that prosecutors see it as potentially relevant to their investigation into the handling of the documents and whether Trump or his aides obstructed the government’s efforts to reclaim them.
The push for the testimony has also created friction between the Justice Department and Patel’s lawyers, who have argued that the department could use his statements against him if they build out a larger obstruction investigation.
The Justice Department has publicly acknowledged that obstruction is among the crimes it is investigating.
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