Dozens of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Staffers Receive Subpoenas
The legal investigations into former president Donald Trump roll on, with news breaking Thursday that dozens of Mar-a-Lago staffers, including members of Trump’s inner circle at the Florida estate, have been subpoenaed to testify in front of a grand jury probing the former president’s handling of classified documents.
Multiple sources familiar with the situation described the escalating situation to CNN and said that one of Trump’s advisers who moved with him to Florida — communications aide Margo Martin — appeared Thursday before the Washington, D.C., grand jury. In addition to the handling of classified documents, special counsel Jack Smith is investigating the former president’s alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.
Smith has sought information from a variety of people: Trump’s attorneys who represent him in the matter as well as people who work on the grounds of Mar-a-Lago, including a housekeeper and restaurant servers. According to CNN, investigators are trying to learn if anyone heard anything in their daily duties or whether they saw boxes or documents in Trump’s office suite.
Last summer, FBI agents recovered more than 100 classified documents during a search of Mar-a-Lago. Trump’s legal team has turned over additional materials since then.
“They’re casting an extremely wide net — anyone and everyone who might have seen something,” a source told CNN.
Investigations in other parts of the country are gaining steam as well.
Former Trump fixer Michael Cohen testified in front of a New York grand jury on Monday. Porn actress Stormy Daniels did not appear before the grand jury herself, but she met with New York prosecutors on Wednesday, according to the Hill. A final decision on an indictment, related to a hush-money payment paid by Cohen to Daniels on Trump’s behalf, is expected soon.
In Georgia, where the Fulton County district attorney is investigating Trump’s alleged attempts to interfere in the 2020 election, a third recording involving Trump was played to the grand jury. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution was told by five members of the grand jury that they listened to Trump placing a call to late Georgia house speaker David Ralston. They said they heard the president ask Ralston to convene a special session of the Legislature to overturn Joe Biden’s narrow victory in Georgia.
Ralston, who died in November, did not accede to Trump’s demand to convene a special session.
