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Judge Jeb Boasberg submitted a filing refusing to unseal any grand jury information about the investigation into Egypt's alleged attempt to funnel $10 million to Donald Trump's campaign in 2016.
Political and legal affairs reporter Kyle Cheney cited the judge saying that the Washington, D.C. "Circuit's strict interpretation on grand jury secrecy ties his hands."
Ahead of Donald Trump's 2017 inauguration, a corporation linked to Egyptian intelligence asked the bank to "kindly withdraw" nearly $10 million in cash—100,000 hundred-dollar bills. The staff put the bills in two large bags weighing about 200 pounds, records said, according to an Aug. 2024 report by the Washington Post.
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"The discovery intensified a secret criminal investigation that had begun two years earlier with classified U.S. intelligence indicating that Egyptian President Abdel Fatah El-Sisi sought to give Trump $10 million to boost his 2016 presidential campaign, a Washington Post investigation has found," the report continued.
Later reports revealed that former Attorney General Bill Barr purportedly inserted himself into the matter and attempted to run interference for Trump.
The judge said in the filing, "The contemnor corporation in question is the National Bank of Egypt; applicants ask the Court for further unsealing of those documents to, at a minimum, reveal the identity of the corporation and nature of the investigation."
Judge Boasberg went on to cite the grand jury's efforts to subpoena information that the corporation fought throughout 2018.
"First, after the corporation refused to produce the pertinent records, the court held it in civil contempt and assessed a daily $50,000 fine against it until full compliance," the documents say.
"The files nonetheless keep secret the identity of the contemnor and the nature of the investigation," said the judge.
Trump remains at the center of the investigation.
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