(WASHINGTON) — The Justice Department has offered Trump aide Kash Patel an immunity deal to testify before a grand jury probing former President Donald Trump’s mishandling of documents marked as classified found at Mar-a-Lago, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.
Patel appeared before a grand jury probing the handling of the documents last month and repeatedly invoked the Fifth Amendment.
The immunity deal for Patel wouldn’t necessarily shield him from prosecution and wouldn’t protect him from any information investigators receive independent of his testimony.
But experts argue the extension of an immunity offer, nonetheless, could signal the advanced stage the investigation is currently in and how investigators are increasingly zeroing in on Trump’s attempts to hold on to documents that were among the most highly protected government intelligence.
Patel didn’t immediately respond to a text message seeking comment, and it’s not clear how he or his team will respond to the DOJ’s offer. A lawyer representing Patel declined to comment. Department of Justice officials declined to comment.
On Aug. 9, the day after FBI agents raided Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate and found scores of documents marked classified, Patel issued a statement calling the raid “unlawful” and saying “corrupt government gangsters” had engaged in “the blatant weaponization of our government for political gain.”
On Monday, Patel appeared on “The Benny Show,” a right-wing podcast, and said, “I’m all in with the boss, and you know that.” Patel was responding to a question about whether he would accept the FBI director post if Trump were to be reelected in 2024.
“First I tell people, let’s win the midterms,” Patel said. “And then let’s see what he does and, you know, you and I think I know what he’s going to do. And then it’s a two-year lift and you know what, they’re going to come after us.”
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