- A rift has opened up among Donald Trump's lawyers over the Mar-a-Lago probe, The NYT reported.
- One lawyer, has been frozen out over suggesting closer cooperation with the DOJ, the report said.
- The DOJ is investigating Trump's handling of top secret documents after leaving office.
A rift has opened in Donald Trump's legal team over how to respond to Mar-a-Lago classified documents case, The New York Times reported.
According to the Times, the rift was prompted by the Department of Justice telling Trump's team it believes he still possesses government records, even after the FBI raid in August which seized hundreds of files from his home.
Two sources told The Times that attorney Christopher Kise put himself at odds wth Trump by advocating creating a "forensics team" of independent investigators to meticulously inspect whether Trump has any further records.
Per The Times, Trump was initially open to the idea, the report said, but was later persuaded by other attorneys to take a more aggressive approach, leading to Kise being sidelined.
Trump has offered a shifting array of defenses in response to the raid, claiming that it's part of a political plot to destroy him, and that he had declassified swaths of top secret records found at Mar-a-Lago.
But his lawyers have not attempted to make those claims in court, where they are trying to prevent the DOJ from accessing thousands of the documents seized by the FBI, arguing that they are protected under privilege rules.
A special master is currently reviewing the documents seized on August 8, and will decide which documents the DOJ will be able to review in its investigation.
"The weaponized Department of Justice and the politicized F.B.I. are spending millions and millions of American tax dollars to perpetuate witch hunt after witch hunt," said a Trump spokesman in response to the report.