Prosecutors ask judge to hold Trump's office in CONTEMPT over document subpoena

Prosecutors are asking a federal judge to hold Donald Trump's office in contempt of court for failing to properly meet the terms of a subpoena ordering the return of all classified documents.

Lawyers for the justice department asked U.S. District Court Judge Beryl A. Howell to impose sanctions, according to sources familiar with the contents of a sealed filing, suggesting growing frustration over private talks designed to ensure the former president has handed over all the papers.

However, the Washington Post reported that the judge has yet to hold a hearing on the matter.

A day earlier it emerged that lawyers for Trump had uncovered still more classified government material that was removed from the White House – this time in a South Florida storage unit that housed material shipped in bulk from the White House.

Former President Donald Trump's legal team faces being held in contempt of court as courtroom tussles over the return of presidential records continue

An FBI search at Mar-a-Lago uncovered 100 documents marked classified in August

A contempt order could involve a daily fine, that would have to be paid until the judge ruled that Trump's team was complying properly with the subpoena. 

The request for the judge to intervene follows reportedly mounting frustration from the Justice Department with Trump's team.

In June, the former president's lawyers declared that the had conducted an diligent search for White House records. 

Weeks late, FBI agents searched Trump's Mar-a-Lago where they found 18 documents marked as top secret, 54 marked secret, 31 marked as confidential, and 11,179 government documents or photographs that had no classification markings.

Since then the two sides have tussled over how to handle the case. Sources told the newspaper that Trump's legal team has refused to appoint a custodian of records who would attest that all classified materials had been returned. 

Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said the former president's lawyers continued to cooperate with the Department of Justice.

'This is a political witch hunt unlike anything like this country has ever seen,' he told the Washington Post.

The president maintains an office in the Florida club he owns

Details of the latest twist emerged a day after news of more classified material being found at a Trump property.

Trump attorneys undertook an inventory of a Florida storage unit after being asked in court to assert that Trump had been responsive to a government subpoena seeking documents that are the property of the government.

That process took them to the storage unit, which was the destination for 3,000 pounds of items shipped from Virginia to Florida by Trump aides and government workers, according to the Washington Post. 

'It was suits and swords and wrestling belts and all sorts of things,' a person familiar with the unit told the paper. 'To my knowledge, he has never even been to that storage unit. I don’t think anyone in Trump world could tell you what’s in that storage unit.'

Meanwhile, Trump's legal team failed to challenge a ruling by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals after a three-judge panel issued a ruling ending the role of a 'special master' who was to sort through items seized from Mar-a-Lago to weigh privilege claims.

Trump-appointed U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon had handed down that decision after Trump's team sued in Florida. 

But the court panel issued a harsh rebuke to the decision, and Trump's team decided not to bother with an appeal to the full Appeals Court. 

'The law is clear. We cannot write a rule that allows any subject of a search warrant to block government investigations after the execution of the warrant. Nor can we write a rule that allows only former presidents to do so,' wrote the court,' wrote the judges. Each were appointed by Republican presidents.

They said to do so would 'violate bedrock separation-of-powers limitations.'