Lawyer's notes show Trump wanted to fight back against classified documents subpoena: report

Former President Donald Trump's attorney Evan Corcoran took potentially incriminating notes about the classified documents stashed at the Mar-a-Lago country club — and federal prosecutors have obtained them, according to a report that broke Monday.

CNN then obtained new information about what was in the notes — including that the former president intended to fight a subpoena for the documents.

"Donald Trump asked whether he could push back against Justice Department efforts last year to recover any classified documents still in his possession during conversations with his lawyer over compliance with a federal subpoena, according to multiple sources familiar with notes taken by his lawyer and turned over to investigators," reported Paula Reid, Kaitlan Collins, Katelyn Polantz, Kristen Holmes and Sara Murray.

The report explained that special counsel Jack Smith had obtained dozens of pages of the lawyer's notes that he took last spring when first dealing with the document scandal.

Earlier reporting indicated that the notes also indicate the storage room where the classified documents were placed was left unattended for significant periods — and that Trump was "irritated" about how much information Corcoran was taking down.

"Some sources close to the former president say he was merely asking Corcoran for legal advice when he inquired about whether they could beat back the subpoena. But Trump has offered shifting explanations for why he did not return all the classified documents in a timely fashion. Trump has said he had 'the absolute right' to take the documents as recently as this month at a CNN town hall," said the report. "Smith obtained the notes after an extraordinary court fight that ended with a federal judge ruling there was sufficient evidence to suggest Trump used his attorney in furtherance of a crime. That allowed prosecutors to pierce attorney-client privilege and obtain Corcoran’s notes and additional grand jury testimony from him."

According to the report, however, "Corcoran’s notes don’t explain how the FBI was able to find hundreds of additional classified records in its court-authorized search of the property, including in Trump’s office at the resort in August 2022, according to one of the sources."