Judge Denies DOJ Request to Hold Trump and His Lawyers in Contempt Over Classified Docs Subpoena
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A Justice Department request to hold former President Donald Trump and his legal team in contempt for failure to comply with a subpoena was denied by a federal judge on Friday.
CNN reported Thursday that federal prosecutors asked U.S. District Court Chief Judge Beryl Howell in Washington, D.C. to hold Trump and his lawyers in contempt for failing to comply with a May subpoena regarding classified documents believed to be in the former president’s possession.
Trump’s legal counsel argued he had been fully cooperative.
“President Trump and his counsel continue to cooperate and be transparent, despite the unprecedented, illegal, and unwarranted attacks by the weaponized Department of Justice,” Steven Cheung, a spokesman for Trump, said.
According to ABC News, Howell declined the DOJ’s request on Friday evening:
A federal judge in Washington declined to hold former President Donald Trump or his legal team in contempt of court following a court hearing Friday as the Justice Department had requested, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.
The judge instead urged the Justice Department and Trump’s legal team to resolve the dispute themselves, the sources said.
In a statement after the ruling, Cheung categorized the DOJ as having been weaponized.
“If the Department of ‘Justice’ can go after President Trump, they will surely come after any American who they disagree with,” Cheung said. “President Trump is the only one who stands in the way of the un-American weaponization of law enforcement.”
It is not clear exactly what the Justice Department sought in its May subpoena. Trump’s home was raided in August by the FBI when agents took custody of classified materials.
According to the Washington Post, attorneys for the former president uncovered additional documents marked classified this week while searching a storage unit in Florida and Trump’s New Jersey estate:
Lawyers for Donald Trump found at least two items marked classified after an outside team hired by Trump searched a storage unit in West Palm Beach, Fla., used by the former president, according to people familiar with the matter.
Those items were immediately turned over to the FBI, according to those people, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
