Federal judge declines DoJ plea to hold Trump in contempt of court over classified records

The US chief district court judge for the District of Columbia, Beryl Howell has denied the plea from the Department of Justice, on Saturday, to hold Donald Trump's office in contempt of court as it failed to fully comply with a subpoena, according to sources familiar with proceedings, reported The Guardian. The subpoena has demanded the return of all documents bearing classified markings. 

Recently, the top federal judge was sought by the US Justice Department, and the court hearing was scheduled for Friday at the US district court for the District of Columbia that was supposed to impose sanctions until the former president’s office is deemed to be in compliance with the May subpoena. This plea was put forward after Trump's office failed to get the former president’s lawyers to designate a custodian of records to certify all records were returned. While responding to the subpoena, Trump's lawyer Evan Corcoran had submitted a folder of documents to the US Department of Justice and had asked Trump's second lawyer Christina Bobb to sign a conditional certification as she had not done the search, reported by the Guardian previously. 

Howell denies DoJ's plea

During a closed-door hearing on Friday, the chief US judge for the District of Columbia Beryl Howell told the DoJ to resolve the issue with Donald Trump's legal team itself as a contempt ruling would not hold, said the sources to the Guardian.

The former president and his lawyers would “continue to be transparent and cooperative even in the face of the highly weaponized and corrupt witch-hunt from the Department of ‘Justice’”, stated the spokesperson to the Guardian. 

The exact details of the hearing have not been clear as the case is under seal. But the judge's latest move has led to the victory for Trump's office as he continues to cope with a criminal investigation into unauthorized retention of national security information at his Mar-a-Lago resort and obstruction of justice. The investigation by the FBI at Mar-a-Lago had found a storage unit in Florida that had held boxes of material that belonged to Trump which has reached 105 after two more documents have been found recently.