Evan Corcoran, a key member of former President Trump’s legal team, has recused himself from the investigation into Trump’s handling of classified documents after he was questioned by a grand jury last month, according to The Washington Post.
Trump is under investigation by Special Counsel Jack Smith over allegations that he intentionally mishandled classified documents during and after he left office, including storing documents at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida and hiding them from federal investigators.
Corcoran will still represent Trump in other cases, including Smith’s investigation into the former president’s role in the Jan. 6 insurrections.
He spoke to a grand jury last month after a court ruled that his communications with the former president did not fall under attorney-client privilege.
Federal prosecutors argued that the communications were part of a crime, and therefore not under privilege, according to the Post.
The Justice Department is expected to be considering obstruction of justice charges against Trump, focusing on a subpoena for classified documents made by the federal government after he left office.
Trump claimed to have already handed over all of the classified documents in his possession. However, while executing a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago last August, officials discovered boxes of additional documents.
Corcoran was key in communicating between the Trump team and federal investigators during the document search and preceding subpoena’s demand for documents.
Because the grand jury sessions were secret, it is not known how Corcoran was questioned.
Still, recusing yourself from a case in such a scenario is standard legal ethics, according to the Post.
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