Former DOJ prosecutor says Trump’s empty folders are “a game changer”
On Friday’s edition of MSNBC’s “Deadline: White House,” former DOJ prosecutor Andrew Weissman, a veteran of the Robert Mueller investigation, claimed that the 43 empty classified document folders that were allegedly found by the FBI at Mar-a-Lago should raise alarm bells.
Some legal experts, like former CIA and State Department official David Priess, have emphasized this doesn’t necessarily mean the contents of these folders are missing, and it may simply be that the FBI separated the folders and contents to itemize them. But Weissman is not so sure.
“Tell me what, as we are here at 5:00 on Friday, what is your sense of what we understand about the nature of this investigation, that even former Attorney General Bill Barr has to sort of concede and acknowledge is a pretty good case?” asked anchor Nicolle Wallace.
“Two thoughts,” said Weissman. “So first thought, really revolves around those empty folders. Ever since we learned that there was a search warrant and learned that there were classified documents, what was in the back of everyone’s mind was the fear that these didn’t all stay at Mar-a-Lago, and was there any dissemination. That is the reason why government documents are supposed to stay with the government, classified documents are supposed to stay in a SCIF and top secret documents, more than that, are highly restricted in terms of who has access. And that is because of the concern that they get into the wrong hands.”
“And when you see how many folders were empty, that is the thing that causes you to take a deep breath and really be concerned about what happened to them,” continued Weissman. “It is very reason for this investigation and for the Department of Justice to be taking these actions. And the second thing that crossed my mind is we have learned a lot about Mar-a-Lago, that that is not the only place that the former president has a residence. And although he was given a grand jury subpoena that called for him to produce documents wherever located, that was not — we know that was not complied with.”
“So the second thing in my head is, what steps are being taken to make sure that the government has scooped up everything, especially given the concern about these getting into the wrong hands?” Weissman added. “You can be sure that our adversaries are looking at this and having a field day, and figuring out how they might be able, if they haven’t already, gained access to these documents.”
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