February 14, 2023

DOJ, citing crime-fraud exception, seeks to compel Trump attorney to testify in documents probe: Sources

WATCH: Trump had team search for docs at his properties: Sources

Justice Department investigators probing former President Donald Trump's handling of classified documents after leaving office have asked a judge to overrule attorney-client privilege and compel one of Trump's attorneys to appear before a grand jury, multiple sources have confirmed to ABC News.

The DOJ is making the request on the basis of the crime-fraud exception, sources said, which allows for attorney-client privilege to be suspended in cases where it is suspected that legal services were rendered in the commission of a crime.

MORE: DOJ revelations could place Trump lawyers in legal peril of their own, experts say

The development was first reported by the New York Times.

As previously reported by ABC News, DOJ officials said in a filing last summer that lawyers for Trump certified in early June that a "diligent search" of Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate turned up just 38 classified documents, all of which were safely secured in one storage room. Two months later, when FBI agents raided the premises, they found more than 100 additional classified documents -- some of which were located outside of the storage unit, including in Trump's office desk, the DOJ said.

Jonathan Ernst/Reuters, FILE
Donald Trump announces he will once again run for U.S. president in the 2024 U.S. presidential election during an event at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla. Nov. 15, 2022.

Prosecutors are now seeking to compel one of the Trump attorneys who made that certification to investigators, Evan Corcoran, to answer the grand jury's questions.

They are also seeking to have Corcoran answer questions about one of Trump's current top aides, sources tell ABC News.

Neither Corcoran nor a representative for Trump immediately responded to a request for comment from ABC News.