JUST IN: Key Aide Kash Patel Spotted At Grand Jury Even As Trump Looks For Way Out Of Mar-A-Lago Jam
L: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images R: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Former Trump administration official Kash Patel was spotted making an appearance before a grand jury even as former President Donald Trump‘s team has launched a PR gambit looking to “move on” from the Mar-a-Lago probe.
According to a new report from CNN’s Katelyn Polantz, Zachary Cohen, and Casey Gannon, Patel was spotted at a federal courthouse in Washington, DC, Thursday. He was making an appearance before the grand jury in the bombshell investigation of Trump for crimes involving the Espionage Act from documents seized in a search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort home:
Kash Patel, a top adviser to former President Donald Trump who has been deeply involved in disputes over classified records Trump kept from his presidency, appeared recently before the federal grand jury looking into the handling of documents at Mar-a-Lago, sources familiar with the matter tell CNN.
Patel spent several hours throughout the morning of October 13 before a grand jury at the US courthouse in Washington, DC. But it’s not clear if Patel answered the grand jury’s questions or declined to respond citing his Fifth Amendment protections, which is within his rights.
He is one of a handful of advisers around Donald Trump after his presidency who could have legal risk related to the Mar-a-Lago situation, according to court records and the sources, though it’s unclear if he is a target of the Justice Department probe. Patel served as a national security and defense official during the administration, and this summer became one of Trump’s designees to interact with the National Archives and the Justice Department as both agencies have tried to repossess classified records Trump kept from his presidency.
Patel was named in the search warrant that was served during the Mar-a-Lago raid.
Perhaps not coincidentally, this news of the DoJ’s aggressive pursuit of the Mar-a-Lago case came just hours after CNN reported Trumpworld sources floating an olive branch, saying Trump is “worn out” and looking to “move on” from the probe — which Mediaite founder and NewsNation host Dan Abrams pointed out was a fairly obvious PR ploy.
