Legal Experts Mock Reported Mar-a-Lago Flood in IT Room

Prosecutors investigating former President Donald Trump are reportedly homing in on a Mar-a-Lago employee who in October drained a swimming pool at Trump's residence, flooding an information technology (IT) room that contained surveillance footage logs, according to an exclusive report from CNN.

Sources told CNN that the flooding is among a series of events that the Department of Justice (DOJ) finds "suspicious" as federal prosecutors probe Trump's handling of the classified documents recovered about two months earlier from his estate in Palm Beach, Florida.

According to the report, it's unclear if the room was intentionally flooded, and prosecutors have heard testimony that the IT equipment in the room was not damaged. However, the flood could play a role in the DOJ investigation of whether Trump obstructed federal efforts to retrieve the classified documents.

Since federal officers raided Mar-a-Lago in August to recover the documents, the DOJ has issued several additional subpoenas seeking information on methods used to store the files at Trump's estate and who might have had access to them. Prosecutors have requested testimony from several employees of the residence and have also issued subpoenas for security footage from Mar-a-Lago.

CNN's report, which was unable to be verified by Newsweek ahead of publication, reached the attention of several legal experts on Twitter, who speculated that the room had been flooded on purpose to aid Trump in the investigation.

"It's really unfortunate for Donald Trump that his staff is so incompetent they nearly destroyed the server room at Mar-a-Lago," tweeted national security attorney Bradley Moss.

"Next up: my dog ate the docs?" wrote Andrew Weissmann, former federal prosecutor who led the DOJ's Special Counsel Office from 2017 to 2019.

Los Angeles Times senior legal affairs columnist Harry Litman also poked fun at the report, writing, "In the, 'are you kidding me?' Department, from [CNN]." Randall Eliason, former U.S. assistant attorney for the District of Columbia, responded to a tweet from CNN Kaitlan Collins about the story, writing, "The script writers have really jumped the shark at this point."

According to a report from The New York Times last month, prosecutors have issued several subpoenas to The Trump Organization seeking surveillance footage from Mar-a-Lago, and have questioned several witnesses on why there are apparent gaps in the footage already obtained by the DOJ. The department has also subpoenaed the software company that handles surveillance footage for The Trump Organization, including at Mar-a-Lago, read the report.

Newsweek has reached out to Trump's press team via email for comment Monday evening.

Monday's report arrives a few days after CNN first reported of an audio recording obtained by prosecutors that included Trump saying he was in possession of a classified Pentagon document. In the clip from July 2021, the former president reportedly says that he could not share the document with his associates because they did not have the clearance to view it.

Litman previously tweeted that if the recording is real, the evidence against the former president "is game, set match as far as intent and guilty knowledge go" in the DOJ's investigation. Trump has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in relation to the Mar-a-Lago probe and has previously said that he had declassified the material before leaving office.

Trump's lawyers also met with DOJ officials on Monday as prosecutors approach a decision on whether to bring criminal charges against the former president in relation to the classified documents, reported the Associated Press. Although the details of the nearly two-hour meeting were unclear, Trump later posted on his Truth Social account, indicating that an indictment may be nearing.

"HOW CAN DOJ POSSIBLY CHARGE ME, WHO DID NOTHING WRONG," Trump wrote as part of an all-caps rant posted to his social media platform.