Who is Molly Michael? Donald Trump allegedly tried to silence aide regarding classified documents at Mar-a-Lago
MIAMI, FLORIDA: Former President Donald Trump is facing allegations that he attempted to silence his aide Molly Michael regarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate. The accusations shed light on an ongoing legal battle and the broader controversy surrounding Trump's handling of classified materials.
Molly Michael's role and resignation
Molly Michael, who reportedly began working for Trump in the White House in 2018 and continued as his aide after his departure, resigned last year due to her alleged concerns about Trump's refusal to return documents he took from the White House.
Her role in this matter came to public attention when she testified before the January 6 Committee, investigating the events surrounding the Capitol riot.
Michael is believed to be the individual referred to as "Trump Employee 2" in special counsel Jack Smith's indictment. The indictment states that this person handled many of Trump's White House-era boxes at Mar-a-Lago and provided Trump with photos of these boxes, which were later included in the indictment.
ABC News reported on Tuesday that Michael had informed investigators about Trump's efforts to silence her. When Trump learned that the FBI wanted to interview Michael last year, sources revealed that he allegedly told her, "You don't know anything about the boxes."
Michael's growing concern reportedly stemmed from Trump's repeated refusal to comply with requests from the National Archives office to return the classified documents he had taken. She believed that numerous people at Mar-a-Lago could easily refute Trump's claims that all documents had been returned.
Michael even asserted that maintenance workers and others had seen more boxes than the 15 Trump claimed to have returned.
Trump's alleged knowledge of classified documents
Furthermore, Michael informed investigators that Trump was well aware of the presence of classified documents in the boxes because he was familiar with their contents and had been shown a photograph of a storage room containing approximately 90 boxes.
The indictment against Trump accuses him of mishandling classified documents and refusing to return them. It includes an alleged statement from Trump to one of his attorneys at the time: "Wouldn't it be better if we just told them we don't have anything here?"
In June of the previous year, Trump's attorney, Evan Corcoran, supervised a search for classified documents at Mar-a-Lago and handed over 38 of them to the FBI, along with a statement confirming compliance with the subpoena.
However, officials remained skeptical and conducted an unannounced search of the property in August, where they discovered an additional 102 documents. According to Michael, there were even more undisclosed documents.
The investigation took a bizarre turn when Michael returned to her office after the raid and found her desk in disarray. To her shock, she discovered Trump's To Do lists, which he had prepared for her, buried under papers. These To Do lists were allegedly written on the back of documents marked as classified.
Trump pleads not guilty
Following these allegations, Trump pleaded not guilty in June to 37 criminal counts related to his handling of classified materials. Prosecutors say that he repeatedly refused to return hundreds of documents containing classified information, ranging from US nuclear secrets to national defense capabilities.
Trump has vehemently denied all charges, denouncing the probe as a political witch hunt. In response to the recent report by ABC News, Steven Cheung, a spokesperson for Trump, dismissed the allegations as "illegal leaks" from the investigation and claimed that they lacked "proper context."
Cheung called for an urgent investigation into the source of these leaks, stating, "The Department of Justice should investigate the criminal leaking, instead of perpetrating their baseless witch hunts."