A federal judge this week ordered Evan Corcoran, an attorney for former President Donald Trump to testify regarding Trump’s handling of classified documents.
District Judge Beryl Howell ruled that Corcoran must answer questions from a grand jury formed by special counsel Jack Smith. Corcoran previously cited attorney-client privilege regarding some answers before the grand jury.
The case regarding the former president gained considerable attention following an August 2022 raid of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.
In particular, the special counsel is interested in a document written by Corcoran in June 2022 that stated there were no classified materials at the president’s home.
The Department of Justice backed Smith’s argument compelling the former president’s attorney to testify in order to determine if there was an effort to plan a crime. The judge agreed with this reasoning in her order.
In December 2022, Howell declined to find the former president in contempt of court after protracted negotiations regarding the documents.
Howell’s Friday decision also comes a day after dozens of workers at Mar-a-Lago received subpoenas to testify before the grand jury. Such subpoenas would be related to what the staffers at the estate observed while working at Mar-a-Lago.
Trump is not the only public figure that is under scrutiny for the handling of sensitive documents. Multiple documents from President Joe Biden’s time as a senator and vice president have been uncovered in multiple locations, including Biden’s home.
In January, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed special counsel Jack Hur to investigate Biden’s management of these classified documents. Smith began his investigation in November 2022 after an appointment by Garland.
The former president is also under scrutiny by the Manhattan District Attorney related to alleged payments to former adult actress Stormy Daniels. Prosecutors indicated that there may be further action in the near future while backers of the president reject these accusations.
Former President Donald Trump's 2024 campaign team stressed that the Manhattan district attorney's office considering criminal charges against him is just "the latest witch-hunt." https://t.co/UuTWypx4os pic.twitter.com/HI49mD0tC8
— NEWSMAX (@NEWSMAX) March 17, 2023
Trump denied any allegations of a relationship with Daniels, posting on Truth Social that he hadn’t spoken to the former actress since taking a photo with her on a golf course “close to 18 years ago.” The former president called the allegations against him a witch hunt.
