In the days following the FBI’s search at
Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump
claimed that the developments “came out of nowhere.” It was among the former president’s more outlandish claims about the scandal.
After all, officials from the Justice Department and the National Archives spent months
pleading with the Republican and his team, urging them to comply with the law and return the sensitive materials Trump improperly took. Those appeals were ignored.
But there’s fresh evidence that Trump wasn’t just under pressure from officials outside his political operation, he also was facing related reminders from one of his own lawyers. The New York Times
reported overnight:"A onetime White House lawyer under President Donald J. Trump warned him late last year that Mr. Trump could face legal liability if he did not return government materials he had taken with him when he left office, three people familiar with the matter said. The lawyer, Eric Herschmann, sought to impress upon Mr. Trump the seriousness of the issue and the potential for investigations and legal exposure if he did not return the documents, particularly any classified material, the people said."