A former assistant to Donald Trump reportedly told federal investigators that the former president repeatedly wrote to-do lists on classified documents, which he then gave to his aides.
Molly Michael, who worked as an aide for Trump from 2018 to 2022, alleged to federal investigators that she received multiple task lists from Trump written on notecards that she later identified as classified documents, ABC News reported, citing sources close to the matter.
These documents had apparently been used to brief the former president about international relations, including preparing him for phone calls with foreign leaders. Michael reportedly discovered the notecards following the FBI’s August 8, 2022, raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.
Michael claimed she arrived back at her office space at Mar-a-Lago to clean up the day after the raid and found the documents under a drawer organizer.
The report also indicates that Michael grew concerned about Trump’s response to the National Archives’ request to return all government materials after he left office in 2020. She alleged to investigators that more than 90 boxes were kept by Trump in the basement of his Mar-a-Lago estate near the end of 2021.
Trump eventually turned over 15 boxes containing roughly 200 classified documents to the National Archives in February, but Michael told investigators that he then became less cooperative with the agency. Months later, the Justice Department issued a grand jury subpoena that ordered Trump to return all government documents.
Prior to a planned search of the Mar-a-Lago storage room by Trump attorney Evan Corcoran, Trump allegedly had multiple boxes removed, and only 38 documents were discovered.
Three months later, the FBI conducted an unannounced search of the estate and apparently found an additional 102 documents that Trump had not presented in the past.
After hearing that the FBI requested to interview Michael, Trump told Michael, “You don’t know anything about the boxes,” she told investigators.
But a spokesperson for Trump told ABC News, “President Trump did nothing wrong, has always insisted on truth and transparency, and acted in a proper manner, according to the law.”
Additionally, the spokesperson claimed that the statements made by Michael were “illegal leaks” and did not include the “proper context and relevant information,” per ABC News.
Trump pleaded not guilty to 37 criminal charges relating to the government documents in June, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.