The New York Times has a new piece out this afternoon focused exclusively on Christina Bobb, the OAN anchor-turned-Trump lawyer who has found herself particularly wrapped up in the Mar-a-Lago records-stashing scandal (and, now, potentially in the DOJ’s crosshairs).
It adds to a similar report yesterday from NBC, and there are a few details from the Times’ new version that are worth noting. Like NBC’s, the Times’ is based on anonymous sources, so take the story — and the perspective from which it is told — with whatever dose of salt you wish.
According to the Times, sometime this spring Bobb was first contacted by a member of Trump’s legal team about signing off on that now-infamous document affirming that a “diligent search” had been conducted by Trump’s team at Mar-a-Lago. Trump lawyer Evan Corcoran reportedly met with Bobb this spring at Trump’s Florida resort and asked her to put her name to a statement affirming a search had taken place and all relevant records were given back to the government.
Bobb reportedly felt taken aback by the request and suggested to one of the Times’ sources that she didn’t have a firm “grasp” on what was going on at the time. As was reported and revealed in a court record related to the FBI’s Mar-a-Lago raid unsealed in August, Bobb did eventually sign the document.
In the Times words:
Ms. Bobb, a 39-year-old lawyer juggling amorphous roles in her new job, was being asked to take a step that neither Mr. Trump nor other members of the legal team were willing to take — so she looked before leaping.
“Wait a minute — I don’t know you,” Ms. Bobb replied to Mr. Corcoran’s request, according to a person to whom she later recounted the episode. She later complained that she did not have a full grasp of what was going on around her when she signed the document, according to two people who have heard her account.
Ms. Bobb, who relentlessly promoted falsehoods about the 2020 election as an on-air host for the far-right One America News Network, eventually signed her name. But she insisted on adding a written caveat before giving it to a senior Justice Department official on June 3: “The above statements are true and correct to the best of my knowledge.”
The Times, like NBC, also reported that Bobb agreed to a voluntarily interview with the Justice Department, which took place on Friday. She reportedly told the DOJ that another Trump lawyer, Boris Epshteyn, was involved in the arrangements surrounding her signing off on the document.
Per the Times:
Mr. Corcoran, she told the Justice Department, had walked her through how he had conducted a search of a storage facility at Mar-a-Lago for the documents. She said she had believed at the time she signed the attestation in June that it was accurate, according to a person with knowledge of the situation.
Before documents related to that search were unsealed in August, Bobb had reportedly asked for her name to be blacked out. It was, of course, eventually reported that Bobb was in fact the “custodian of records.”
The Best Of TPM Today
Here’s what you should read this evening:
New from Josh Kovensky: DOJ Calls Trump Declassification Bluff In SCOTUS Filing
Supreme Court Opens Door To Lawsuit Chaos In Pennsylvania Weeks Before Major Elections
Hannity Airs Biden’s Supportive Voicemail To Hunter, And Nobody Knows Why
Cassidy Hutchinson Is Cooperating With Georgia DA’s MAGA Election Meddling Probe
From ProPublica: The Globetrotting Con Man And Suspected Spy Who Met With President Trump
How To Steer Money For Drinking Water And Sewer Upgrades To The Communities That Need It Most
Sasse Flees Protesters At University Of Florida
Yesterday’s Most Read Story
After Gleefully Embracing Kanye West, Right-Wing Figures Reposition In Response To Antisemitic Posts — Kate Riga
What We Are Reading
Why Republicans Could Prevail in the Popular Vote but Lose in the House — Nate Cohn
What Will Happen in Georgia? — Ronald Brownstein
Kinzinger backs Democrats in contested statewide races — Caroline Vakil