Two Trump lawyers could be witnesses or targets in FBI investigation

At issue is an interaction that took place on 3 June in which, according to a court filing submitted by the justice department in a separate but related case on Tuesday, the two lawyers made representations that they had complied with a grand jury subpoena that subsequently proved to be false.

But before Bratt departed, Bobb produced and signed a letter certifying that all and any documents responsive to the subpoena were being turned over, while Corcoran indicated that the records the government had sought were confined to one storage room, the filing said.

According to the search warrant and court filings, the justice department is investigating among other crimes whether there was potential obstruction of justice with respect to how Trump and his lawyers have seemingly been resistant to return documents belonging to the government.

But the case, and how the justice department might approach the issue, remains complex.

The question for federal prosecutors becomes whether the two Trump lawyers willfully misled the justice department so that Trump could keep the documents, or whether the lawyers made the representations because they themselves were misled by Trump.

Such a step would immediately run into an issue about attorney-client privilege, since the kind of information the justice department would be trying to extract for a potential obstruction case targeting Trump would be protected communications between Trump and his lawyers.

The privilege exists to protect the rights of defendants who might have committed an offense, since they need to be able to speak candidly with their lawyers about what happened without the fear that prosecutors could use their discussions against them at a trial.

Ultimately, the issue for the justice department is whether the attorney general, Merrick Garland, gives his approval to move ahead with an extraordinary prosecution for obstruction against the former president, and whether Garland does so against his lawyers.

If Garland decides against pursuing an obstruction indictment, then, even though justice department investigators might seek testimony from Bobb and Corcoran anyway, they are unlikely to secure meaningful information unless it also litigates the privilege issues in court.