Special counsel seeks to force Trump lawyer to testify, reports say

A Justice Department prosecutor is asking a federal judge to force a lawyer for former President Donald Trump to give additional testimony to a grand jury investigating how scores of documents with classification markings wound up at Trump’s Florida home, according to several news outlets.

Special counsel Jack Smith is trying to defeat attorney-client privilege claims from Trump lawyer Evan Corcoran by arguing that the privilege has been voided because Corcoran was being used to carry out a crime or fraud, The Associated Press and other news outlets reported on Tuesday night, citing unidentified sources familiar with the situation.

Corcoran, a former federal prosecutor, was involved in delivering some of the documents with classification markings in response to a grand jury subpoena last year. He also helped prepare a declaration attesting that all responsive records had been provided, although another Trump lawyer, Christina Bobb, ultimately signed that document after modifying it.

It’s unclear what criminality Smith contends Corcoran’s testimony could expose, but previously unsealed court records show that prosecutors convinced a magistrate who issued a search warrant in August for Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate that there was evidence of obstruction of justice as well as potential offenses related to classified information.

The search found about 100 documents with classification markings that prosecutors contend should have been returned to the National Archives.

Corcoran did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday. A spokesperson for Smith declined to comment.

A Trump spokesperson referred to the special counsel’s investigation as a “targeted, politically motivated witch hunt,” adding: “The weaponized Department of Injustice has shown no regard for common decency and key rules that govern the legal system.”

Under court rules, Smith’s motion to compel Corcoran’s testimony would be heard by the chief judge of the U.S. District Court in Washington, Beryl Howell, an appointee of former President Barack Obama. Such proceedings are typically held in secret, although rulings sometimes become public.

Howell is set to turn over the chief judge’s post next month to a colleague, James Boasberg, also an Obama appointee.

Attorney General Merrick Garland named Smith as a special counsel in November, assigning him to take over the ongoing investigation into the sensitive documents at Trump’s home, as well as separate probes into efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and issues related to fundraising associated with the election and its aftermath.