The Department of Justice (DOJ) is urging a federal judge to hold former President Donald Trump’s legal team in contempt of court over their failure to adhere to a subpoena that was issued earlier this year.
The subpoena, which was issued in May, required Trump to turn over all documents marked as classified that he improperly removed from the White House after his departure from the presidency, and for his legal counsel to affirm that no additional classified documents remained in his possession.
A lawyer for Trump had signed such an affirmation in June, but the DOJ later found evidence that the former president still had a significant number of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida, leading to an unannounced FBI search of the property in August.
Now, in part because no member of Trump’s legal team will affirm that he no longer has such documents, the DOJ is urging U.S. District Court Judge Beryl Howell to hold Trump’s team in contempt of court for failing to comply with the subpoena order.
According to some reports, the primary reason that Trump’s legal team is refusing to comply with the subpoena is that nobody wants to be designated as Trump’s custodian of records, as they could potentially be held legally responsible if more classified documents are found later on. Indeed, the DOJ has said that it believes Trump is still hiding materials, and just this week, two more classified documents that Trump had taken from the White House were found in a storage facility near Mar-a-Lago.
It’s unclear if the contempt request came before or after those documents were found.
A spokesperson for Trump has decried the DOJ’s calls for his lawyers to be held in contempt of court, saying that the former president and his legal counsel “continue to cooperate and be transparent” in the DOJ’s investigation. That assertion contradicts the known timeline of events since Trump left the White House, however.
When Trump left office in January 2021, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) tried to get Trump to return documents that agency officials knew he had taken. Trump refused to comply with their requests for almost a year, only relenting late in 2021, when the agency threatened to involve Congress in the matter.
In January 2022, after NARA retrieved some of the records from Mar-a-Lago, officials alerted the Justice Department that some of the documents were marked as classified. The DOJ filed a subpoena in May, which it executed in June, demanding that Trump turn over all classified documents he had taken from the White House and affirm that no additional materials were in his possession, which a lawyer did on his behalf.
When video surveillance and other evidence indicated that the former president was still keeping classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, the DOJ obtained a warrant to search the property, finding more than 100 additional documents in Trump’s possession, including in his personal living quarters.
If Judge Howell agrees with the DOJ’s assertion that Trump’s legal team should be held in contempt of court, Trump and his lawyers will likely be subject to some form of sanction, potentially in the form of a fine.
Some legal experts believe that the DOJ’s request is a strong indication that Trump may face additional charges in the future.
“This just reached a whole new level of seriousness,” said Ryan Goodman, a former special counsel for the Department of Defense, noting that the contempt request “adds significantly to the likelihood of indictments.”
Help us Prepare for Trump’s Day One
Trump is busy getting ready for Day One of his presidency – but so is Truthout.
Trump has made it no secret that he is planning a demolition-style attack on both specific communities and democracy as a whole, beginning on his first day in office. With over 25 executive orders and directives queued up for January 20, he’s promised to “launch the largest deportation program in American history,” roll back anti-discrimination protections for transgender students, and implement a “drill, drill, drill” approach to ramp up oil and gas extraction.
Organizations like Truthout are also being threatened by legislation like HR 9495, the “nonprofit killer bill” that would allow the Treasury Secretary to declare any nonprofit a “terrorist-supporting organization” and strip its tax-exempt status without due process. Progressive media like Truthout that has courageously focused on reporting on Israel’s genocide in Gaza are in the bill’s crosshairs.
As journalists, we have a responsibility to look at hard realities and communicate them to you. We hope that you, like us, can use this information to prepare for what’s to come.
And if you feel uncertain about what to do in the face of a second Trump administration, we invite you to be an indispensable part of Truthout’s preparations.
In addition to covering the widespread onslaught of draconian policy, we’re shoring up our resources for what might come next for progressive media: bad-faith lawsuits from far-right ghouls, legislation that seeks to strip us of our ability to receive tax-deductible donations, and further throttling of our reach on social media platforms owned by Trump’s sycophants.
We’re preparing right now for Trump’s Day One: building a brave coalition of movement media; reaching out to the activists, academics, and thinkers we trust to shine a light on the inner workings of authoritarianism; and planning to use journalism as a tool to equip movements to protect the people, lands, and principles most vulnerable to Trump’s destruction.
We urgently need your help to prepare. As you know, our December fundraiser is our most important of the year and will determine the scale of work we’ll be able to do in 2025. We’ve set two goals: to raise $110,000 in one-time donations and to add 1350 new monthly donors by midnight on December 31.
Today, we’re asking all of our readers to start a monthly donation or make a one-time donation – as a commitment to stand with us on day one of Trump’s presidency, and every day after that, as we produce journalism that combats authoritarianism, censorship, injustice, and misinformation. You’re an essential part of our future – please join the movement by making a tax-deductible donation today.
If you have the means to make a substantial gift, please dig deep during this critical time!
With gratitude and resolve,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy