looks like Trump's lawyers may have stepped on their dicks with the latest filing
Andrew Weissman, a longtime Justice Department veteran and an MSNBC legal analyst, wrote overnight that the Team Trump filings that led to these new disclosures were “
a huge misstep.” Weissman added that the Justice Department used its latest response “to disclose damning proof of a series of crimes, which it would not otherwise have been able to do.”
Quite right. Federal law enforcement knew it had his damning evidence of alleged crimes at Mar-a-Lago, but at this point in the investigation, it couldn’t share any of this information publicly. But thanks to Team Trump and its infinite wisdom, the Republican and his attorneys effectively forced the Justice Department’s hand, insisting that federal officials make their case to a judge.
And what a case it is. The Justice Department’s filing, for example, argues that it gathered evidence “that efforts were likely taken to obstruct the government’s investigation,” with government records “likely concealed and removed” before the FBI’s search.
The implication seems to be that, as far as investigators are concerned, as Trump came to believe officials really did expect the return of the materials the former president took, he and his team may have taken deliberate steps to hide them.