Federal prosecutors probing possible misappropriation of classified documents at former President Donald Trump’s Florida estate will be able to question a Trump lawyer again before a grand jury, a judge has ruled in a sealed order.
The order will require M. Evan Corcoran to answer additional questions as prosecutors investigate classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago as well as possible efforts to impede that investigation. The order was described Friday by a person familiar with it, who was not authorized to discuss the sealed proceedings and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
The exact scope of the order, which is expected to be appealed, was not immediately clear. Neither Corcoran nor his attorney returned messages seeking comment, and a spokesman for Jack Smith, the special counsel leading the investigation, also did not respond to an email about the order.
A Trump spokesman said the Trump team would “fight the Justice Department on this front and all others that threaten fundamental American rights and values.”
Corcoran had appeared weeks earlier before a federal grand jury in Washington probing the Mar-a-Lago case, but had invoked attorney-client privilege, refusing to answer some questions. This privilege protects lawyers from being forced to share details of conversations with clients with prosecutors.
Prosecutors can avoid that privilege if they can convince a judge that an attorney’s services were being used in furtherance of a crime—a doctrine known as the felony-fraud exception. Arguing to the outgoing chief justice of federal court Beryl Howell in Washington, DC, the Justice Department invoked an exception in the case that more testimony was needed.
Howell issued an order on Friday to give at least some additional testimony before the end of his term as chief justice. He is being replaced as chief justice by James “Jeb” Boasberg, Obama’s running mate who has served on the federal bench since 2011.
Corcoran is considered relevant to the investigation in part because last year he drafted a statement to the Justice Department saying he had “diligently searched” for classified documents at Mar-a-Lago in response to a subpoena. was done. Months later, however, FBI agents searched the home with a warrant and found approximately 100 additional documents with classified markings.
The Justice Department is investigating whether Trump or someone in his orbit obstructed its efforts to recover all classified documents, including top-secret material, from his home.
As chief justice, Boasberg will oversee federal grand juries, including those handling the Trump cases, in courthouses and preside over sealed disputes like Corcoran.
Separately, former Vice President Mike Pence has said he will challenge a grand jury subpoena that seeks to compel him to testify in the special counsel’s Jan. 6 investigation. Pence has argued that because he was performing his role as President of the Senate on January 6, as he presided over a joint session of Congress to certify the election results, he was entitled to address his functions under the Constitution. He was saved from being forced to do a “speech-or-debate” clause that shields members of Congress.
It’s unclear how that disagreement will be resolved.