Flooded Pool – An Accident or Effort to Hide Donald Trump Activity with Classified Documents?
Did Donald Trump and his staff at Mar-a-Lago conspire to obstruct justice in the investigation regarding classified documents found at his resort home?
What Did Donald Trump Do?
A new revelation has prosecutors reportedly suspicious.
An incident happened at the former president’s home that could be a coincidence, accident, or premeditated act that is somehow related to the case.
A swimming pool was drained at Mar-a-Lago in October, and it may have flooded an IT control room that housed computer servers which stored footage from video surveillance cameras.
Some experts think it could have been deliberate.
The Media Is Suspicious of the Incident
Why are prosecutors concerned? This video could show that Trump’s employees moved additional boxes containing classified documents in an effort to hide them from investigators.
It is not clear if the computer servers were so damaged as to destroy the surveillance video that would have shown more hiding of boxes or if any classified documents were, for example, shredded by Trump staffers.
Prosecutors have asked at least one witness whether this was an accident or an intentional act to keep additional video clips out of the investigation. Before the flooding of the pool, the FBI found hundreds of classified documents along with some video footage at the former president’s residence in August of 2022.
Are Donald Trump Employees Trying to Hide Something?
Investigators are wondering if Trump’s employees have something to hide and are using the pool drainage as an excuse when they were really trying to obscure the probe. CNN said the incident calls into question whether “Trump or a small group of people working for him, took steps to try to interfere with the Justice Department’s evidence gathering.”
Not Clear If It Was Trump’s Idea
Investigators have already subpoenaed footage from Trump’s surveillance cameras, and it is not clear how much of the video the former president’s attorneys have turned over. Special counsel Jack Smith and prosecutors are wondering whether the pool flooding was intentionally done to destroy evidence or if it was an accident. They may also suspect that Trump called for destruction of the video which would show that he is obstructing the investigation.
Investigators are looking at whether there are gaps in the video that has been turned over or whether it had been “tampered with.” CNN said its sources have identified Trump’s personal attendee or “body man” Walt Nauta as someone who acted with other staffers to move boxes of materials that had classified documents. There is also an un-named maintenance employee who was responsible for draining the pool that led to a flood that may have damaged the computer room and affected the server that stored the footage.
Two employees of Mar-a-Lago responsible for the security of the resort home have been questioned by the grand jury. They may have discussed the surveillance video.
An analysis of this news about the pool flooding, if true, is tricky. Maybe it happened by accident or perhaps it was a deliberate act. It is unclear whether any video recordings were damaged or destroyed from the pool water.
It is important to note that Trump has not been charged with any crimes and the draining of a pool, in and of itself, is not illegal. It would be difficult to find out what actually happened without another witness who would say that the flooding was intentionally done at the orders of the former president. Trump may not even know such details about his house and the pool drainage could simply be a matter of routine maintenance.
The pool incident is somewhat suspicious but does not show clear obstruction of justice. It could be that the left-leaning CNN is looking for any event to tie Trump to illegally interfering with the evidence collection. Trump is likely to say he has no recollection of the pool drainage and flooding. So, without a witness coming forward to say that Trump put something in writing – like a text or an email – it will be difficult to connect the former president to the pool incident.
But Trump’s attorneys must be getting worried. They just had a meeting with special counsel Smith and prosecutors at the Department of Justice on June 5. These events sometimes portend that indictments are imminent, and the flooding incident could come up again in a potential criminal trial.
Author Expertise and Experience
Serving as 19FortyFive’s Defense and National Security Editor, Dr. Brent M. Eastwood is the author of Humans, Machines, and Data: Future Trends in Warfare. He is an Emerging Threats expert and former U.S. Army Infantry officer. You can follow him on Twitter @BMEastwood. He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science and Foreign Policy/ International Relations.
