A federal judge on Friday ruled that a lawyer for former President Donald Trump cannot use attorney-client privilege to get out of answering questions in the criminal investigation of the ex-commander in chief’s mishandling of classified documents.
District Judge Beryl Howell ordered attorney Evan Corcoran to provide additional testimony to a grand jury hearing evidence against Trump, arguing in her ruling that the Justice Department met the threshold for the crime-fraud exception for attorney-client privilege, according to CNN.
Prosecutors allege that Corcoran was used by Trump in furtherance of a crime or fraud, which would overcome the shield of attorney-client privilege, according to the news outlet.
When Corcoran first appeared before the grand jury in January, he reportedly refused to answer questions about his discussions with Trump in the lead-up to the August FBI raid of his Mar-a-Lago estate.
Special counsel Jack Smith is investigating Trump for obstruction of justice and criminal violations of the Presidential Records Act.
Corcoran is one of at least three Trump attorneys who have reportedly appeared before the federal grand jury — Alina Habba and Christina Bobb being the other two.
Corcoran drafted a statement signed by Bobb in June 2022 that declared that Trump’s team had fully complied with a subpoena seeking classified documents being housed at Mar-a-Lago.
Two months later, the FBI recovered hundreds of pages of classified material during its search of Trump’s Palm Beach, Fla., club and residence.
Judge Howell’s ruling comes one day after a report that at least two dozen Mar-a-Lago staffers — including restaurant servers and a housekeeper — have gotten subpoenas as part of Smith’s probe.
Investigators are reportedly interested in what staff at Trump’s private club and residence may have witnessed while working at the property.
At least one Mar-a-Lago employee who reportedly spoke to investigators was seen on security camera footage helping Trump aide Walt Nauta move boxes out of a storage room on the property.