Washington Post reporter Carol Leonnig and former acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal explained that it was almost certain based on the information that was included in the Justice Department court filings that they most likely had an inside source.
Speaking to MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace on Thursday, Leonnig said it might be the reason that folks reportedly said Trump was "unhappy and displeased" while he was at his Virginia golf course this week.
"While there are a lot of conspiracy theories floating around about why he was there, his mood is pretty obvious," Leonnig explained. "He is on multiple fronts under investigation. And he knows, based on all the subpoenas flying around, and some were returned, including Mark Meadows, the request by DOJ for texts, all these things flying around have given the Department of Justice a lot of information. He must know by now as well, Nicole, that somebody in his inner circle, somebody close to him, close to him at Mar-a-Lago, close to him in his White House has been cooperating with the Department of Justice to make clear that there was a high degree of certainty that they would find classified records. Still at Mar-a-Lago after Donald Trump's lawyers insisted they had done a diligent search and none were to be found."
She went on to say that based on what legal analysts have said and the activity of the Justice Department, they may refer it to potential obstruction of justice, potential retention and concealment of government records.
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"They are at the place where there's a lot of subpoenas flying around, and that is was Donald Trump or some of his aides and allies engaged in a seditious conspiracy to start that pretty frightening insurrection at our Capitol on January 6th?" she asked.
Katyal agreed with Leonnig, noting that it's clear that Trump is scared, referring to Betsy Woodruff Swan's reports saying that Trump has paid his lawyer at least $3 million from the "Save America PAC."
"$3 million is extraordinary, extraordinary money to do a case," said Katyal. "If you talked to the general counsel of any large company, they'll say maybe a couple of times we've done that and paid that much for a case. But that's a lot. That means there's one of two possibilities. Possibility one is that this lawyer, who was the former Florida solicitor general is demanding a super premium because he's never going to work again."
The second option is that he's overwhelmed with the legal work to do.
"I do think it's remarkable that Trump does at the end of the day manage to find new legal counsel when virtually every attorney that has gone near him thus far wound up the source of a federal probe or ethics violations or this and that," Katyal said. "But $3 million evidently he's talked to at least one person."
The host went on to ask about the possibility of the insider giving the DOJ all of the info.
"It would seem that [the DOJ] is aided by someone who can point them to surveillance footage, by someone who could say, 'There's still more,' or 'It's not all in the storage room, check the office,'" Wallace noted.
Katyal said that the obstruction case was "very strong" against Trump after the search. If it turns out there are more documents he hasn't turned over despite the subpoena and the search warrant, it's guaranteed.
"I think most people that worked at the Justice Department have said, Nicole, they must have a source or sources on the inside," he continued. "It's just too hard to think they would have known to go in, know where exactly to go in, and get these documents. So, I certainly think there is a source or sources on the inside. I also think that Donald Trump himself recognizes it.
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