Florida Grand Jury Hints at Unknown Complexity in Trump Documents Investigation

The latest twist in the investigation into former President Donald J. Trump’s handling of classified documents is the surprise revelation that a previously unknown federal grand jury in Florida has recently begun hearing testimony in the case.

The Florida grand jury is separate from the one that has been sitting in Washington for months and has been the center of activity for prosecutors investigating whether Mr. Trump mishandled classified documents after leaving office or obstructed efforts to recover them . Those who have appeared before or been subpoenaed by the Grand Jury in Washington in recent months, said people familiar with the investigation, include more than 20 members of Mr. Trump’s Secret Service.

But there is some evidence that the grand jury in Washington, based in the city’s federal courthouse, may have stopped hearing testimonies in recent weeks, according to three people familiar with its operation.

As for the Florida grand jury, which began hearing evidence last month, only a handful of witnesses have testified or will appear before it, according to those familiar with its operation. At least one witness has already testified there and another will testify on Wednesday.

It’s an open question why prosecutors assembled Florida’s grand jury — which sits in the Federal District Court in Miami — and whether it’s the only one to hear testimony. This uncertainty, largely due to the secretive nature of grand juries, serves to underline just how much about Special Prosecutor Jack Smith’s management of the documents case remains out of the public eye.

“We know only a small fraction of what officers and prosecutors know, so it’s dangerous, if not impossible, to fathom the government’s strategy from afar,” said Chuck Rosenberg, a former U.S. attorney and FBI official. . “It’s like the man berating an umpire for missed calls from the cheap seats.”

But while much is shrouded in mystery, legal experts and those familiar with the investigation suggested there may be a number of reasons why Mr. Smith chose to have at least some elements of the case go to a Florida grand jury. . His decision could have major consequences for the course of the investigation.

In simple terms, those familiar with the case said, if both grand juries are in operation, it suggests prosecutors are considering filing charges in both Washington and Florida. It is possible that Mr. Trump will be charged in one jurisdiction, while other people involved in the case will be charged in another jurisdiction.

But if only the Florida grand jury is currently hearing testimony, it suggests two possibilities.

One is that the Washington investigation has largely concluded and prosecutors are now ready to make a decision on whether to press charges while they weigh other possible charges in Florida.

The other is that Mr. Smith has decided Florida is the right location for any charges he might bring in the case and has moved the entire grand jury there, they said.

(Another possibility is that the Florida grand jury will only hear evidence for the convenience of local witnesses — though that option seems less likely since more than one witness has appeared before it.)

It wouldn’t be all that unusual if Mr. Smith’s team opened the documents search in Washington and then chose to move it to Florida because of legal issues related to its location, said Brandon L. Van Grack, a former federal prosecutor who worked on cases involving national security and classified material.

“In situations involving classified information, it is common for prosecutors to be unsure of where to conduct an investigation in Washington, Virginia or Maryland,” said Mr. Van Grack. “The point is just because it starts there doesn’t mean it has to end there. You don’t know what your potential hooks are until you’ve done a thorough research.”

Mr. Van Grack said it would be relatively easy to move a grand jury investigation from Washington to Miami if necessary. Prosecutors should simply read the first grand jury transcripts to the new grand jurors or let federal agents give them a summary of the main points.

If Mr. Smith considers filing charges in both Washington and Miami, the latter may involve potential targets who live and work in Florida. For example, investigators have examined the role of two of Mr. Trump’s associates at Mar-a-Lago, his private club and residence, for their role in the storage and security of classified documents there.

Even if the grand jury in Washington is now on pause, it is possible that it will reconvene and vote to indict Mr. Trump. However, if that’s not the case and only the Florida grand jury is still in effect, that could indicate that Mr. Smith’s office had concluded that a case against Mr. Trump or his aides should only take place in Florida, the people familiar with the matter said.

There would be reasons for that latest decision, said Timothy Parlatore, a lawyer who resigned from Trump’s legal team last month. Many of the central events in the document investigation took place when Mr. Trump lived in Florida, he said.

Mr. Trump lived in Mar-a-Lago when he and his lawyers first began negotiating the return of government records to the National Archives in late 2021. And the first treasure trove of classified documents the archives discovered was in a batch of 15 boxes of documents that Mr. Trump sent to Washington from Florida.

Florida is where Mr. Trump lived when the Justice Department issued its subpoena last May for the return of all classified documents in his presidential office’s possession. And when Washington prosecutors sought to meet with Mr. Trump’s lawyers to enforce that subpoena and collect all relevant material, it took place at Mar-a-Lago.

After prosecutors began to believe that Mr. Trump was still holding classified material even after the subpoena, they sent the FBI to search Mar-a-Lago. Agents removed another 100 or so classified documents discovered at the Florida compound in violation of the subpoena.

But prosecutors could still try to find a Washington venue for charges against Mr. Trump, especially given that moving a potential case to Miami would not be without risk for Mr. Smith and his team.

A Florida jury may be more sympathetic to Mr. Trump than a Washington jury. And the judges in the Southern District of Florida — including Aileen M. Cannon, who made an unusual decision to suspend the investigation early to allow an outside arbitrator to review the documents seized at Mar-a-Lago judge – might be more inclined to rule in favor of Mr. Trump than those in Washington.

Jonathan Swan reporting contributed.