Trump lawyer was 'materially misled' in possible 'ploy' to hide docs: new evidence

Evan Corcoran, the attorney tasked with helping former President Donald Trump find classified documents at Mar-a-Lago to turn over to comply with a Justice Department subpoena, was "steered away" from searching the former president's private office by aides, which turned out to be where many highly classified documents were being kept, reported The Guardian on Monday.

"[Corcoran] recounted that several Trump aides had told him to search the storage room because that was where all the materials that had been brought from the White House at the end of Trump’s presidency ended up being deposited," reported Hugo Lowell. "Corcoran found 38 classified documents in the storage room. He then asked whether he should search anywhere else but was steered away, he told associates. Corcoran never searched Trump’s office and told prosecutors that the 38 papers were the extent of the material at Mar-a-Lago."

"The assertion that there were no classified documents in Trump’s office or elsewhere proved to be wrong when the FBI retrieved 101 classified documents months afterwards, including from the office, which was found to be where the most highly classified documents had been located," said the report. "Corcoran’s previously unreported account, as relayed to the Guardian by two people familiar with the matter, suggests he was materially misled as the special counsel Jack Smith examines whether his incomplete search was actually a ploy by Trump to retain classified documents."

The report does not specify which aides to Trump waved him off searching in the former president's office — and a spokesperson for Trump denied the allegation, saying, "This is completely false and rooted in pure fantasy."

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All of this comes amid reporting that special counsel Jack Smith is nearing the conclusion of the Mar-a-Lago documents case, which legal experts have suggested could result in federal criminal charges for the former president.

In addition to this case, Smith is also investigating the former president's involvement in the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, Fulton County, Georgia prosecutor Fani Willis is investigating Trump and his allies for election interference in that state, and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has brought charges against Trump for falsifying business records in the alleged $130,000 hush payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels.