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Judge Denies DOJ Effort To Hold Trump Team In Contempt Of Court Over Classified Docs

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Trevor Schakohl Legal Reporter
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A federal judge rejected the Justice Department’s (DOJ) request to hold former President Donald Trump’s team in contempt of court for not fully complying with a May subpoena for every document with classification markings that he possessed, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.

Trump’s team had not yet designated a custodian of records to sign a document assuring that all classified materials were handed over to the federal government, despite the DOJ seeking a sworn, written statement to that effect, according to The Washington Post. The judge ultimately told the DOJ and Trump’s legal team during the sealed proceedings to settle the matter on their own, sources said, ABC News reported.

“The President and his counsel will continue to be transparent and cooperative, even in the face of the highly weaponized and corrupt witch-hunt from the Department of Justice,” Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Hillary Clinton was allowed to delete and acid wash 33,000 emails after they were subpoenaed by Congress, yet absolutely nothing has happened to hold her accountable. If the Department of Justice can go after President Trump, they will surely come after any American who they disagree with.” (RELATED: Special Counsel Investigating Trump Was Key Figure In IRS Targeting Scandal)

The FBI’s August raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort discovered 11 sets of classified documents. Trump’s attorneys had previously claimed that Mar-a-Lago was diligently searched for classified documents, the Post reported.

WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA - NOVEMBER 15: DNC welcomes Donald Trump to the 2024 GOP Primary by driving a mobile billboard around Mar-A-Lago on November 15, 2022 in Palm Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jason Koerner/Getty Images for DNC)

WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA – NOVEMBER 15: DNC welcomes Donald Trump to the 2024 GOP Primary by driving a mobile billboard around Mar-A-Lago on November 15, 2022 in Palm Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jason Koerner/Getty Images for DNC)

A two-person search team hired by Trump’s attorneys reportedly discovered two documents with classified markings in a Florida storage unit where the General Services Administration sent Trump’s possessions following his presidency, an anonymous source told CNN. The searchers did not find any such documents in New York’s Trump Tower, Bedminster golf club or a Florida office location, according to the source.

“President Trump is the only one who stands in the way of the un-American weaponization of law enforcement,” Cheung said.

The DOJ did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.

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