Federal investigators say confidants of President Biden and former President Donald Trump have deleted or attempted to delete evidence related to the pair’s hoarding of classified national security information.
But while Biden’s ghostwriter, Mark Zwonitzer, will not face criminal charges, two of Trump’s employees are being sued along with the former president.
Special Counsel Robert Hur’s report on Thursday concluded that Mr. Biden, 81, “intentionally retained and disclosed classified materials” and that Mr. Zwonitzer had “significant probative value” in the overall command. It was also revealed that the official’s audio had been deleted.
Zwonitzer recorded his conversations with Biden to gather material for the current president’s 2017 memoir, “Promise Me Dad.” This is the second collaboration between the ghostwriter and the CEO.
The 61-year-old told investigators that he was “aware that there was an investigation going on” when he reviewed the material, adding: “I’m not going to say what percentage of my motive was that.” I answered.
“When asked whether he had deleted the recordings to prevent investigators from obtaining them, Mr. Zwonitzer responded that he had not,” the report explains, noting that the authors did not agree with the investigators’ request for information. He pointed out that the author claimed that he had no idea that he would approach him.
Authorities later subpoenaed Mr. Zwonitzer, but only then did he tell investigators that he “realized there was still audio on the laptop that I didn’t know was on it and that I wanted to use it for this investigation.” I decided to save it,” he said.
“Our investigation…did not reveal any evidence that Zwonitzer communicated with anyone regarding his decision to delete the recordings,” the report said, adding that FBI agents later identified the deleted audio as “one He added that they were able to restore it, albeit in a limited manner. It looks like the file cannot be found. ”
Investigators also found that Zwonitzer “kept nearly verbatim transcripts of the recordings, did not delete or attempt to delete them, and did not delete or attempt to delete those transcripts, including in each incomplete recovery file.” He also said that he had submitted it to us.
Ultimately, prosecutors considered charging Zvonitzer with obstruction of justice, but decided not to.
President Trump’s employees
In contrast, Special Counsel Jack Smith, in connection with his alleged role in trying to delete Mar-a-Lago surveillance footage after the Department of Justice notified him it wanted to see it. Two of President Trump’s colleagues were ultimately charged.
According to the indictment, on June 23, 2022, the day after prosecutors emailed President Trump’s business lawyer about a draft subpoena for surveillance footage, the former president spent about 24 minutes with maintenance worker Carlos de Oliveira. I made a call.
Two days later, Mr. de Oliveira and Mr. Trump’s valet, Walt Nauta, “walked around with flashlights and observed and pointed out surveillance cameras.” The following Monday, Oliveira allegedly told his employees that “his boss” wanted the server removed.
After all, the indictment does not allege that the surveillance footage was actually destroyed. President Trump denied ordering the destruction.
De Oliveira was charged with four crimes, including conspiracy to obstruct justice, making false statements, and concealing property.
Mr. Nauta was charged with six crimes, including charges related to alleged concealment and obstruction of justice.
Mr. Huh is deeply involved in Mr. Trump’s lawsuit
Looming over Mr. The contrast is especially stark given that Trump and Biden are expected to face off in the election.
Mr. Xu briefly addressed some of these concerns in his 388-page report.
“With one exception, there is no record of the Justice Department indicting a former president or vice president for mishandling classified administration documents. That exception is former President Trump.”
While Heo stressed that it is “not our role” to assess President Trump’s situation, he drew attention to some key differences with Biden.
“Most notably, despite being given multiple opportunities to return classified documents and avoid prosecution, Mr. Trump allegedly did the opposite,” Huh’s team said. is writing. “He also obstructed justice by cooperating with others to destroy evidence and lie about it.”
Hillary Clinton, one of President Trump’s past political opponents, also had thousands of emails deleted from her server shortly after the now-defunct House Select Committee on Benghazi issued a subpoena in 2015. and was subject to similar scrutiny.
At that time, Mr. Clinton A close aide insisted on its deletion. months ago. The FBI also said it found “no evidence that additional work-related emails were intentionally deleted for purposes of concealment.”
President Trump faces 40 criminal charges related to the Mar-a-Lago classified documents trial. He denies any wrongdoing and has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
