Kash Patel, former chief of staff to the Acting United States Secretary of Defense Christopher C. Miller in the waning days of the Trump administration and a top aide to the former president, was spotted outside a federal courthouse in Washington, D.C.
Patel reportedly spent several hours in front of a grand jury as the Mar-a-Lago documents probe heats up. Prosecutors at the Department of Justice believe Trump may have violated the Espionage Act through the unauthorized transportation and storage of government records at his Florida estate after leaving office.
An ex-U.S. attorney went so far as to predict that Katel's interview means an indictment is looming over Trump.
Business Insider reports:
A staunch Trump loyalist, Patel was controversially appointed to a Department of Defense role in the final months of Trump's presidency, then was given a job liaising between Trump and the National Archives over documents Trump held onto after leaving the White House.
According to CNN, Patel, who still works for Trump, spent several hours before the grand jury in Washington, D.C., on October 13.
It's unclear if Patel answered any questions or invoked his Fifth Amendment right.
Since the August FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago, Patel has played a lead role in Trump's defense, including stating he witnessed the former President declassify information while in the White House notes Insider:
“On the way out of the White House he issued further declassification orders declassifying whole sets of documents,” he told Fox News.
Some experts disagree, arguing that the declassification process involves specific procedures.
The former president has also claimed he declassified the documents while in office, however, the special master assigned to examine the documents told Trump's legal team they must produce evidence of that fact.
The Justice Department has sought to continue reviewing the sensitive documents but has been met with a series of legal setbacks. However, earlier this month the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit released a one-page order that set a new timeline for the case, ordering that multiple rounds of paper briefs by the DOJ and Trump conclude by Nov. 17.
Last week, reports revealed that a key witness in the ongoing Mar-a-Lago investigation was a White House employee who continued working for Trump after he moved to Florida.
The Washington Post reported Wednesday that an unnamed Trump employee had provided critical evidence to investigators — telling them that he moved boxes at the former president's request at a time when the government was seeking the return of classified material, including some highly sensitive items, from Mar-a-Lago.
The witness account was corroborated by security-camera footage, the people familiar with the case said, giving investigators key evidence of Trump's behavior as they probe potential crimes including obstruction, destruction of government records or mishandling classified information.
In early October, Trump asked the Supreme Court to lift a stay granted by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit that allowed the Justice Department to review more than 100 classified records taken from Mar-a-Lago during its August search.
“Nonetheless, the Eleventh Circuit granted a stay of the Special Master Order, effectively compromising the integrity of the well-established policy against piecemeal appellate review and ignoring the District Court's broad discretion without justification,” they wrote. “This unwarranted stay should be vacated as it impairs substantially the ongoing, time-sensitive work of the Special Master.”
This story is developing. Stay with American Liberty News for the latest updates.
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What indictments? Nothing from J6 Comm day 1
The continuation of the J6 WANNSEE CONFERENCE for the completion of their FINAL SOLUTION to destroy Pres. Trump and all those associated with him!