FBI interviewed Trump White House lawyers about documents at center of Mar-a-Lago search: report
The FBI has reportedly interviewed former Trump White House counsel Pat Cipollone and his deputy Patrick Philbin about the documents the former president stored at his Mar-a-Lago residence that were seized in a search last week.
The lawyers were questioned about how boxes of White House documents came to be stored at the Palm Beach, Fla., resort past the end of Donald Trump’s presidential term, The New York Times reported Tuesday.
The National Archives reportedly contacted Philbin when it became aware of the missing documents, but Trump resisted its efforts to reclaim the records, some of which were allegedly marked as classified.
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“It’s not theirs, it’s mine,” the former president allegedly argued about the records.
Fifteen boxes of records were returned to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in January, according to a NARA release, including “paper records that had been torn up by former President Trump.”
NARA says Trump’s possession of the documents after the end of his time in office violates the Presidential Records Act, which requires their preservation and transfer to the National Archives.
The Justice Department, to which the National Archives had referred the matter, reportedly issued a subpoena for documents that they believed remained at Mar-a-Lago in May.
According to the Times report, a Trump lawyer signed a document affirming that classified material had been turned over, but officials had reason to believe additional records continued to be stored at the residence.
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JUST IN: FBI interviewed Trump White House lawyers about documents at center of Mar-a-Lago search: report https://t.co/C2qapqYd2U pic.twitter.com/sBHHyXwdGw
— The Hill (@thehill) August 16, 2022
Philbin tried to facilitate NARA getting the boxes back, per several people familiar with the events. Trump repeatedly told advisers he didn’t want to give material back. https://t.co/gFemBRLQNp
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) August 16, 2022
Patrick Philbin, Trump’s deputy White House Counsel, who Trump appointed to make sure Trump records ended up properly at the National archives, tried to get Trump to turn over the records. Trump refused, saying the records are “mine,” “not theirs.”https://t.co/VxIkPwBSay pic.twitter.com/fTfHyiXOfV
— Orin Kerr (@OrinKerr) August 16, 2022
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