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It’s usually not a good sign when your lawyers testify in the grand jury probe against you, and former President Donald Trump may learn that the hard way.
We learned recently that Trump lawyers Christina Bobb and Evan Corcoran reportedly testified in special counsel Jack Smith’s grand jury probe into the former president’s handling of classified material at Mar-a-Lago. It’s one of the two probes Smith was appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland to handle, the other being the Jan. 6 investigation, which is also progressing against the former president along with state probes in Georgia and New York.
And while it may sound aggressive to have lawyers testify, Smith merely appears to be taking the step of determining the full extent of Trump’s potential obstruction. That’s because the Trump team's representations to the Department of Justice have already come under scrutiny in the investigation that required a court order to search the former president’s Florida residence and seize evidence last year. As The Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday:
Ms. Bobb had previously spoken with federal investigators. In an October interview, Ms. Bobb said Mr. Corcoran had assured her that he conducted a thorough search of Mar-a-Lago before he asked her to certify that all records requested by a subpoena had been returned, the Journal reported. Ms. Bobb at the time insisted on adding language to the certification that said she was acting “based upon the information that has been provided to me,” and “to the best of my knowledge.”
And the full extent of the Trump team’s cooperation in the matter is still unclear. So Smith likely wants to see how directly he can tie all of this to the former president himself. (Trump has denied any wrongdoing in this case.)
As I’ve written previously, Trump’s potential obstruction of the documents investigation could be what earns him criminal charges, based on past DOJ precedent, as opposed to what we know about the documents situations involving President Joe Biden and former Vice President Mike Pence. There's no reason for Biden and Pence to worry about charges based on what we know to date.
So while the Mar-a-Lago case isn’t Trump’s only legal danger, and we don’t know what the lawyers told the grand jury, this latest news does not necessarily bode well for the former president.