By Eric Tucker
WASHINGTON — A lawyer for Donald Trump was back in court Friday after being ordered to answer questions before a grand jury investigating the possible mishandling of classified documents at the former president’s Florida estate.
M. Evan Corcoran entered federal court in the District of Columbia early Friday morning, one week after a federal judge ruled in favor of the Justice Department in forcing Corcoran to answer additional questions before a grand jury that has been hearing testimony for months. He did not make any comments as he arrived at the building, and left several hours later without saying anything.
The interest by prosecutors in Corcoran’s testimony reinforces the legal dangers confronting Trump, making clear the department’s continued focus on whether the ex-president or any of his representatives obstructed government efforts to recover hundreds of classified documents taken from the White House to Mar-a-Lago at the end of his term. A search warrant affidavit released last August showed that investigators were examining potential violations of multiple crimes, including obstruction and the willful retention of national defense information.
Corcoran is relevant to the investigation because he drafted a letter that was given to the department last June asserting that a “diligent search” for classified documents had been done in response to a subpoena and that all records responsive to that subpoena were being provided. The letter was accompanied by the return of roughly three dozen documents with classified markings.
But prosecutors have said in court filings that they developed evidence showing that additional classified documents remained at the property. The FBI returned with a search warrant on Aug. 8 and removed roughly 100 additional classified documents, the filings show.
Attorney-client privilege traditionally shields lawyers from being forced to share details of their conversations with prosecutors. Corcoran…
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