DOJ finds ‘insider witness’ in Trump Mar-a-Lago documents probe: report

The Justice Department has found an “insider witness” as investigators probe former President Trump’s handling of classified documents, according to a new report.

The New York Times, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that the unidentified person now cooperating confidentially with the investigation has worked for Trump at Mar-a-Lago. 

According to the report, the scope of the insider witness’s cooperation is not yet clear, nor is the timeline, but the witness reportedly gave investigators a picture of the storage room where some materials were held. 

The investigation, led by Special Counsel Jack Smith, has shown signs of intensifying. The new insider witness, the Times reports, appears as part of a broader effort to figure out whether Trump personally ordered boxes of the sensitive material to be moved out of the storage room. 

Investigators are looking into whether Trump failed or refused to comply with government requests for certain records to be returned after the end of his presidency, as is required under the Presidential Records Act. 

After the DOJ subpoenaed Trump for the documents believed to still be in his possession, FBI agents executed a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago and recovered classified documents last summer.

The Times also reported that “nearly everyone” who works at Mar-a-Lago has been subpoenaed in the probe.

The inquiry into Trump’s document handling is one of two probes into the former president led by Smith. The second investigation focuses on efforts by Trump and his allies to interfere with the transfer of power after losing his reelection bid in 2020.