Federal Judge Asks Trump's Attorneys To Turnover Names Of Individuals Hired To Search His Properties

A federal judge reportedly asked former President Donald Trump’s legal team to submit the names of the people who were hired to search his properties for documents last year.

The search was for any classified material still in his possession, reported The New York Times. Sources told CNN that the names were handed over Wednesday night.

It’s the latest development in the Department of Justice's efforts to use the court to enforce a subpoena from May 2022 that sought to collect all classified documents that Trump kept with him after leaving the White House. Trump’s lawyers had hired two people to search the Bedminster golf club, Trump Tower in New York, one of his office locations in Florida, and a storage unit in Florida where two classified documents were found. They were handed over to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

No other classified documents were found during the search of the four Trump’s properties. The DOJ had removed 11 sets of documents with classified markings from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida. It happened during a search in August 2022 for possible violations of the Espionage Act and other crimes.

The four searches that were overseen by Trump’s lawyers came amid concerns from the DOJ that not all documents had been returned to the federal government. Back then, Trump’s lawyers had offered to let FBI investigators observe the search at his Bedminster property, but that offer was declined.

On Thursday, the DOJ argued for continued secrecy around any grand jury proceedings following the May 2022 subpoena and the search last August. The argument came after media organizations sought access to more of what is happening in court behind closed doors. The DOJ said in a filing that the U.S government has not publicly disclosed any request to hold Trump or "his representatives in contempt. Nor can the Government confirm or deny whether it has made any such request." The DOJ added that to the extent any such request exists, "it and any related proceedings would be in connection with secret grand jury proceedings protected from disclosure.”

But the DOJ previously discussed the May subpoena and publicly said that officials didn’t believe the former President had fully complied.