A federal judge has ordered Donald Trump’s attorney, Evan Corcoran, to provide additional testimony as part of an investigation into the former president’s handling of classified documents, a source familiar with the matter told CNN.
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Corcoran will likely become one of the most crucial witnesses in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s criminal investigation into possible mishandling of classified records after the Trump presidency and obstruction of justice.
U.S. District Judge Beryl Hoyle said in a sealed order that prosecutors at the Department of Justice had met the criminal fraud exception threshold for Corcoran, the source said.
The decision imposes another loss on Trump in court. His team and allies tried to prevent Smith’s investigators from learning about the former president’s direct conversations with some of his closest advisers.
France Press agency
The development was particularly notable because of the charges prosecutors allegedly brought against Trump as he argued before the judge for grand jury testimony.
Corcoran, an attorney-turned-witness, had previously testified before a grand jury but refused to answer certain questions, citing attorney-client privilege.
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The department told the judge it should not avoid responding because its discussions with the former president may have been part of an attempted crime.
Howell’s decision is one of his last decisions on disputes sealed before a grand jury as chief justice. The Obama appointee has repeatedly asked the Justice Department for information about Trump’s actions during his tenure as D.C. District Court Chief Justice, but he was expected to step down from his administrative position on Friday.
When Corcoran first testified before a grand jury in January, he was asked what happened before the August search for Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence.
Corcoran wrote a statement in June confirming that the Trump team had conducted a “diligent search” and that no classified documents were left at Trump’s residence in Florida.
Subsequently, the FBI searched the Mar-a-Lago Palace and found hundreds of government documents, including classified documents, which raised questions about the lawyer’s testimony.
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