New evidence suggests Trump hid classified documents in Mar-a-Lago after subpoena

The evidence, based on witness statements, security camera footage, and other documents, led investigators to believe that the boxes were taken out of storage after Trump received the subpoena, said the Post.

Sources also told the Post that investigators have evidence that Trump asked people around him to deceive officials looking to recover the documents at his home and consulted with lawyers on how he could keep the documents.

Moreover, The New York Times previously reported that security footage showed a longtime Trump staffer moving boxes out of a storage room before and after the Justice Department issued its subpoena in May.

While Trump‘s team returned some classified documents following the subpoena, the FBI’s August search turned up more than a hundred that hadn’t been returned, several media outlets reported at the time.

The U.S. Code says anyone who “willfully and unlawfully conceals, removes, mutilates, obliterates, falsifies or destroys” government documents is guilty of a crime carrying a penalty of up to three years in prison.

It also states that the the removal of official records include disqualification from holding any federal office. So Trump’s plans to run for president again in 2024 could collapse.

So if Trump were to be charged and convicted of removing, concealing, or destroying government records under that law, he would seem to be ineligible to become president again.

However, the law briefly received a close look in 2015, after it came to light that Hillary Clinton, then widely anticipated to be the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, had used a private email server to conduct government business while Secretary of State.

Some Republicans argued that the law should keep Clinton out of the White House. However, several legal scholars noted that the Constitution sets eligibility criteria for who can be president, and argued that Supreme Court rulings suggest Congress cannot alter them.

The Constitution allows Congress to disqualify people from holding office in impeachment proceedings, but grants no such power for ordinary criminal law.

A former federal judge then decided that the analysis was “spot on” and Clinton was never charged with any crime related to the use of the server.

Moreover, classified documents were also found at Biden's former office in Washington in November 2022 and in January 2023 at his Delaware home, several media reported.

Marc Elias, a Democratic lawyer who served as general counsel for Clinton’s campaign, tweeted that while any conviction under Section 2071 might not ultimately bar Trump from seeking the presidency again, a legal fight over it would still be important.

Recently, Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity that he would "have the right" to take documents from the White House, falsely claiming that the Presidential Records Act gives him "the right to take stuff" and "the right to look at stuff."

However, Trump's legal problems continue on multiple fronts and seem to be getting worse. Last week he was indicted for paying “hush money” to an adult film star in 2016.

Moreover, The Justice Department has two known active investigations connected to the former President, one on the effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Jan. 6 2021, and the other involving the handling of classified documents.