A federal judge ordered former President Donald Trump's lawyers to turn over the names of the private investigators he used to search for classified materials in his possession.
The investigators were hired by Trump's attorneys last year after a federal judge advised them to determine if Trump retained any classified documents. A previous search at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida uncovered classified materials that he took when he departed the White House.
Chief Judge Beryl Howell from the Federal District Court in Washington, D.C., issued the order Wednesday, two people familiar with the matter told The New York Times.
The Times also reported that the order to reveal the names seems to be leading in the direction of the Justice Department questioning the private investigators about their search efforts.
Trump's legal team hired an outside group to search at least two of his properties to ensure they had fully complied with a May subpoena from the Department of Justice, The Washington Post reported last month.
The other properties were reportedly Trump Tower in New York and Trump's golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.
During the search, at least two classified documents were recovered from a storage unit in West Palm Beach, Florida.
In May, a grand jury issued a subpoena to compel Trump to deliver any classified documents still in his possession to the National Archives and Records Administration. While his attorneys provided additional documents in June, the FBI raided Mar-a-Lago in August after obtaining evidence that the residence still contained classified materials.
The agency recovered hundreds of documents with classified and sensitive markings.
In November, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Jack Smith as special counsel to lead the investigations into the classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago and potential efforts by Trump to alter the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, including the breach of the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021.
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