Trump lawyers meet with officials on confidential documents case

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump’s lawyers met with Justice Department officials Monday as a decision loomed over whether to file charges for handling confidential documents at the former president’s Florida residence.

Trump’s lawyers requested a meeting with Attorney General Merrick Garland two weeks ago to raise concerns about what they allege was prosecutorial misconduct and overreach by the team led by special counsel Jack Smith. But a meeting of defense attorneys with Justice Department officials is also often used as an opportunity to try to persuade them not to file criminal charges.

A trio of Trump lawyers — James Trusty, John Rowley and Lindsey Halligan — walked out of the Justice Department building in Washington on Monday morning after more than an hour inside. They got into a black van and did not answer questions from reporters.

It was not clear who from the Justice Department attended the meeting. Spokesmen for Smith and the Justice Department had no immediate comment on the meeting.

After it was over, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform: “How is it possible that the Department of Justice is accusing me, that I did nothing wrong?” when no other president has been impeached. He referenced the investigation into his 2016 opponent, Hillary Clinton, which ended without criminal charges, and another ongoing investigation into the presence of confidential documents in an office and at the home of President Joe Biden. He characterized what happened as a “witch hunt.”

Unlike the Trump investigation, however, Biden’s representatives initially alerted the Justice Department to the discovery of confidential documents and consented to the voluntary FBI searches. The FBI investigating Trump obtained a search warrant in August and recovered about 100 additional documents from Mar-a-Lago.