Force Trump to nominate records custodian, prosecutors to urge judge

The hearing before the chief US judge for the District of Columbia, Beryl Howell, marks a fraught moment for the former president as he stares down a criminal investigation into unauthorized retention of national security information at his Mar-a-Lago resort.

The Trump lawyers have resisted designating a custodian of records and providing a sworn statement despite repeated requests. That has deeply frustrated prosecutors who told the legal team that if they did not provide a second attestation, they would seek judicial enforcement.

It was not clear whether the department initiated the contempt proceeding before or after the two additional documents were found. The Trump legal team is understood to have turned over the two new documents as soon as they were discovered, the source said.