Trump’s Aides and Lawyers Could Be Witnesses in Documents Case
The indictment filed against the former president last week included some hints on who they might be.
Chief among the possible witnesses mentioned in the indictment is Molly Michael, Mr. Trump’s former assistant, who worked for him in the White House and then went on to work at Mar-a-Lago, according to two people familiar with the matter. Ms. Michael is described as “Trump Employee 2” and appears at several key moments laid out in the charging document.
A lawyer for Ms. Michael did not respond to a message seeking comment.
Prosecutors described a text she sent another employee about how far away from Mr. Trump the boxes should be stored: “Anything that’s not the beautiful mind paper boxes can definitely go to storage,” she wrote in one message. At another point, the indictment says, Ms. Michael took a photograph of boxes before Mr. Trump went through at least some of them in late 2021, as National Archives and Records Administration pressed for their return.
Mr. Trump has been skeptical of Ms. Michael since she left his employ at the end of last summer, according to one person familiar with his thinking. By then, she had been approached multiple times by investigators who had begun their inquiry into the material in the spring, according to the person familiar with the comments.
The indictment also makes reference to “Trump Representative 1,” who was said in the indictment to have sent a message to Ms. Michael in late 2021, searching for an answer about how many boxes Mr. Trump was planning on returning to the archives. That representative was the lawyer Alex Cannon, according to two people familiar with the matter. Mr. Cannon, who no longer works directly for Mr. Trump, declined to comment.
Mr. Cannon was in touch with officials at the archives and repeatedly urged Mr. Trump to return the government records in his possession, according to multiple people familiar with his discussions with the former president. The indictment focuses narrowly on allegations of obstructing the grand jury subpoena for remaining documents, but like others around Mr. Trump, Mr. Cannon could provide a window into that period of time.
Source: The New York Times
