An employee at former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago country club flooded a room containing the facility's security log computers while draining the pool last October, – and prosecutors consider it suspicious, reported CNN on Monday.
"While it’s unclear if the room was intentionally flooded or if it happened by mistake, the incident occurred amid a series of events that federal prosecutors found suspicious," reported Katelyn Polantz, Jeremy Herb, and Kaitlan Collins. "At least one witness has been asked by prosecutors about the flooded server room as part of the federal investigation into Trump’s handling of classified documents, according to one of the sources."
According to the report, witnesses have testified that the flood did not damage the computer equipment. However, if the flood was part of a deliberate attempt to damage the equipment, it could be evidence in a potential obstruction case.
"The incident, which has not been previously reported, came roughly two months after the FBI retrieved hundreds of classified documents from the Florida residence and as prosecutors obtained surveillance footage to track how White House records were moved around the resort," said the report. "Prosecutors have been examining any effort to obstruct the Justice Department’s investigation after Trump received a subpoena in May 2022 for classified documents."
Trump is being investigated for storing classified documents at the club after he left the White House.
Other key witnesses involved in the investigation include Walt Nauta, a military valet Trump took from the White House to Mar-a-Lago, as well as a maintenance worker at the facility who helped Nauta move boxes of documents containing classified records ahead of federal agents searching the premises.
The investigation is wrapping up with charging decisions imminent, according to recent reports.
Trump has claimed that he did nothing wrong and has an unlimited right to declassify and take home documents as needed, even without going through any proper channels or telling anyone about it. However, recently obtained audio evidence shows Trump telling guests at his Bedminster golf club in New Jersey that he couldn't share the details of a classified document detailing a possible attack on Iran, suggesting Trump in fact knew he doesn't have blanket declassification authority.