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Some people have the absolute worst luck. Like Donald Trump, who suffered an unfortunate incident at Mar-a-Lago last year when a pool flooded and ended up spilling into the server room. That just happens to be where the club kept all the surveillance video logs that might include information about the comings and goings around the pool locker where the former president apparently kept some of the nation’s most delicate secrets. Thankfully, CNN reports that prosecutors were told that the flood did not damage any of the equipment.
And it’s particularly rotten luck, because it’s deja vu all over again for this guy! Decades ago, when New York City auditors launched a probe over allegedly delinquent payments from the then-Trump-owned Grand Hyatt, key documents that Trump’s lease obligations required him to maintain and turn over got lost… in a flood.
As Raw Story notes:
“In September, 1988, the Hotel informed us that it could not locate seven of the twelve monthly general ledgers, because they ‘were discarded after they were severely damaged by water when the room in which they were stored was flooded,’” the report said.
Imagine having to deal with devastating water damage… and whenever investigations zero in on key materials in your possession!
From the CNN report:
Prosecutors for special counsel Jack Smith have been asking questions in recent months about the handling of surveillance footage at Mar-a-Lago resort and discussions Trump’s employees had about the surveillance system after the subpoena last summer for the footage, according to multiple sources.
Recently, investigators have asked questions indicating they are trying to determine if workers at Mar-a-Lago received specific direction from above, particularly from Trump himself, to obstruct the investigation.
Summer subpoena… October flood. Terrible timing to suffer Superstorm Clogged Drain.
From the perspective of prosecutors, who are reportedly focused on possible “gaps in the surveillance footage,” the 1988 flood must raise an eyebrow or two. But is it something they could take to court? Rule 404(b) would typically bar evidence of prior acts to prove conformity, but there’s an exception to prove absence of accident.
That said, raising an event over 10 years old — indeed 35 years old at this point — is generally frowned upon as too remote in time. Assuming these are the only floods, of course.
Just terrible… luck.
Revealed: Mar-a-Lago wasn’t the first time Trump ‘evidence’ was flooded [Raw Story]
Exclusive: Mar-a-Lago pool flood raises suspicions among prosecutors in Trump classified documents case [CNN]
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.
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