Testimony sought in documents case

Trump attorney privilege challenged

The prosecutors have sought approval from a federal judge to invoke what is known as the crime-fraud exception, which allows them to work around attorney-client privilege when they have reason to believe that legal advice or legal services have been used in furthering a crime.

Federal prosecutors overseeing the investigation into former President Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents are seeking to pierce assertions of attorney-client privilege and compel one of his lawyers to answer more questions before a grand jury, according to two people familiar with the matter, adding an aggressive new dimension to the inquiry and underscoring the legal peril facing Trump.

The prosecutors have sought approval from a federal judge to invoke what is known as the crime-fraud exception, which allows them to work around attorney-client privilege when they have reason to believe that legal advice or legal services have been used in furthering a crime. The fact that prosecutors invoked the exception in a sealed motion to compel the testimony of the lawyer, M. Evan Corcoran, suggests that they believe Trump or his allies might have used Corcoran’s services in that way.

Among the questions that the Justice Department has been examining since last year is whether Trump or his associates obstructed justice in failing to comply with demands to return a trove of government material he took with him from the White House upon leaving office, including hundreds of documents with classified markings.

In May, the Justice Department issued a subpoena for any classified documents still in Trump’s possession, after he had voluntarily turned over an initial batch of material to the National Archives that turned out to include almost 200 classified documents. In June, Corcoran met with investigators and handed over more than 30 documents in response to the subpoena.

Another lawyer for Trump, Christina Bobb, then signed a statement asserting that a “diligent search” had been conducted at Mar- aLago, Trump’s residence and private club in Palm Beach, Fla., and that there were no additional documents bearing classification markings.

But when the FBI searched Mar-a-Lago in August, agents found more than 100 additional classified documents.

Corcoran recently appeared before a grand jury in U.S. District Court in Washington and is believed to have asserted attorney-client privilege on behalf of Trump in refusing to answer certain questions related to his representation in the documents investigation, according to three people familiar with the matter.

But after his appearance, Corcoran received notice that the Justice Department was seeking to use the exception to break through his assertions of privilege, the people familiar with the matter said.